Help with setting up a peacock mantis shrimp tank

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ReefManik

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 20, 2010
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Hi guys, i just joined this forum as it seems pretty solid for information and people seem to know what their talking about on here so i thought id start here for some good advice. I have never set up a marine aquarium before but i have done a lot of reading in these last few weeks and i have a vague understanding of what ill need and what to do.

Im wanting to set up a tank for a Peacock Mantis shrimp as i find them a fascinating creature but im not too sure on all the things ill need.
So far im having a 30g, half inch thick arcylic aquarium built to house the shrimp.
So far on my check list of things to buy and some questions about them:

Red Sea Prizm Skimmer Pro (are these any good? Im struggling to find a decent HOB skimmer for the tank the red sea seems to come with everything just plug in and use).
1x Aquaclear Power Head 50 (270gph will i need more than one?)
2x T8 tubes (marine white and blue) I have heard intense light can damage the mantis so will T8 tubes be adequete over T5HO? Obviosuly MH is out of the question
8kg live rock (enough rock for a 30g?)
20kg live sand
API Saltwater Testkit
Hydrometer
Salt Mix
Heater

I think thats everything there, if im missing anything or if anybody has owned a mantis shrimp before some pointers will be much appreciated.
Thanks :D
Oh im living in the UK so alot of skimmers like the Aquac Remora i cant purchase as they dont sell them over here and shipping from sites like marine world is about $175 international... Bummer
 
octopus makes some decent HOB skimmers. i'd rather have one of those.
skip the aquaclear power head. look at hydor koralias or similar. they are affordable and decent.
intense light can damage a shrimp? i never heard that. i'd love to see a link to that info. btw, any fixture will do. you don't need a high output fixture.

i would probably go with about 25 pounds of rock (12kg+-)

i was not impressed with the aqua-c remora anyway, and wouldn't recommend it. no sweat!
 
Skip the skimmer. Weekly 10-20% water changes will do the same thing. I've heard that nano skimmers aren't very good anyway. Remember, if you do any in tank cleaning, kevlar gloves over chainmail. The mantis will strike hard and fast and it will hurt.
 
Ok so i went down to me LFS today to get a quote on a tank for the mantis apparently im going to need a tank thats practically bullet proof and its going to be quite costly :S. I wont be getting the mantis from this LFS as they don't know anybody who supplys them i will be getting it from a different one, however the guy from the shop when i was talking about it too him raised a very interessting point. How will i transport it? Obivously a polythene bag is out of the question and a polystyrene box would probably be even worse, A metal container is no good as the salt would make it release all sorts of chemicals.
Does anybody have any suggestions?
 
how about a plastic container, like tupperware.
btw, i don't know how true that is about the light hurting their shells. they are caught in shallow water. it's anything but dim there. i am guessing it's a problem if you have no hiding spots for it, and they have no shelter for days on end. i saw something about "shell rot". at the moment i can only find hearsay and no concrete data about it.
i'll keep looking.

and yep, the nano skimmers are junk. kdogg has some good advice. try it without the skimmer for a while, just do your water changes and see how it goes. you can always get a skimmer later if need be.
 
I wouldn't be too worried about the bullet-proof part. I would use a standard glass aquarium and go to your local hardware store and get a piece of plexiglass cut to cover the bottom of the tank. That seems to be the portion were most people get into trouble. You will also need to use some PVC piping to create a "burrow" and tunnel with escape hatch if you want it to stay in the same place and not create its own burrow somewhere at random in the tank.
 
By supplying a "burrow" and tunnel / escape hatch, you could aquascape around the PVC... otherwise you could run the risk of a rock slide I'd imagine... assuming of course the shrimp uses the PVC.
 
Ah! ok cool now that makes a lot of sense. and so what, the shrimp is automatically going to pick up on the pvc burrow/tunnel and not make its own? hmm.

and what does this particular shrimp do? cuc? sand sifter?
 
They're viciously predatory shrimp.

Their signature is that they can "punch" with their claw with a force that is strong enough to break bone, shells, and anything else you stick in front of them.

:)

Look at page 1 for a link on what Mantis shrimp are like.

This is the reason Mantis Shrimp are kept alone, because they will murder almost anything else you put in the tank.
 
just bag the mantis, as long as you dont piss it off it wont strike, it will probably be more scared than aggressive of some 123123 times its size, also (Shrimp) sells plenty of different types of mantis, spearers and punchers
 
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