Nano Mantis tank-algae over growth?

[Sneaker]

I have my mantis shrimp in a nano tank, what can I put in there to keep it clean without having the mantis shrimp kill it?

 

[Sneaker]

To clarify, I don't want the mantis shrimp to make a meal out of any cleaners, if I make sure the mantis shrimp is fed well will the regular cleaners be ok?

 

[biotoxin]

i dont think a mantis would bother snails.

 

[reefrunner69]

If you can...remove the mantis to it's own tank, it will most likely go after your live cleaners before eating the food you give it.

 

[cj10488]

With my mantis I have misc crabs in the tank.. Every once in a while I get bored and kill a crag and move it towards his Den.. He loves to try and drag it into his home and devour it... FWIW depending on the mantis species I truely dont think you can keep anything in there without the possibility of him getting Eaten.. I had a Blue Legged hermit sneak its way in some how and I found him destroyed after a while..

HTH,
James

 

[biotoxin]

i dont really see the appeal of having one. Kind of like a blue ring octo, they're pretty but better left in the oceans. There's a reason its dubbed The Thumb Splitter

 

[cj10488]

they're pretty but better left in the oceans

But for those of us who have had them hitchhike into our tanks it is the only ethical and humane thing to do.. When those of us who purchase LR we purchase everything that comes with it.. Taking the chances of mantis ect.. Therefor IMO i feel that if one should happen to find and catch a mantis it would be better for them to keep him in his own tank instead of killing it..

James

 

[biotoxin]

Actually it would be better to just let them go but since we dont live near tropical waters i know what youre saying If i had one hitchhike i would probably sell it or give it away, predatory tanks arent my thing.

 

[Sneaker]

So there is nothing I can to to clean the tank of algae with out it getting killed by the mantis shrimp...?

 

[biotoxin]

Algae is part of a normally cycling tank and nothing to get stressed about. Usually its just because you have a high phosphate level in your water. Get some ro/di and it will clear up, also get a magnetic scrubber for the algae on the glass

 

[smokiums]

Building on the mantis shrimp deal; how do you get rid of one that stuck in one of you favorite rocks? I bought a shrimp trap and put krill inside, nothing.

Any ideas?

Currently, I've seperated the rocks from the others buy placing it in my fuge.

 

[reefrunner69]

Mix up some SW to the same SG as your tank, but instead of RO water, use carbonated water to mix it. Also have some reg SW ready, dip the rock in the carbonated SW and the mantis should flee the rock, the fizzing drives them nuts. Once the mantis has jumped ship....dip the rock in the reg SW and put it back in the tank

 

[cj10488]

One thing that I was also told was that you can place the rock on a piece of eggcrate over the water.. The Mantis being smart will hopefully jump thru to the water below to survive..

hth,
James

 

[smokiums]

Awesome. Thanks again.

 

[Sneaker]

Mix up some SW to the same SG as your tank, but instead of RO water, use carbonated water to mix it. Also have some reg SW ready, dip the rock in the carbonated SW and the mantis should flee the rock, the fizzing drives them nuts. Once the mantis has jumped ship....dip the rock in the reg SW and put it back in the tank

This works really well, This is basically what I did.

 

[CountZero]

How do Mantis shrimp hitchhike in? I guess the Rock I got was a bit different, cause I couldnt see anyplace where a critter could hide while I was pulling off the dead sponges and whatnot.
Zero

 

[reefrunner69]

They live in holes in the LR and stay there when the rock is harvested and subsequently shipped.

 

[CountZero]

Ahh, So they start out very small initally? Do I have to worry about getting my "Thumb Split" when I go to rearrange the rock in my tank next week?
Zero

 

[iczed]

Sneaker, I noticed in your gallery that your 30 gal. has a spout thing towards the center. It looks nice. What is it/where did you pick it up?

 

[MantisFreak]

Depending on the species of mantis you have, some snails might be fine. It will definately prefer your live food (clean-up crew) to prepared food for a while. However, they will generally migrate to the foods that take the least amount of work. (In other words after a while, they might ignore your clean-up crew and wait for you to bring it food).

While most of the hitchhikers that people get are smashers vs spearers, it is possible that you have a spearer. O.s. (Peacock mantis) are common and Neogonodactylus Wennerae are common with Florida LR.
Most mantis are not capable of breaking glass. However, full grown O. Scyllarus, G. Chiragra and N. Californiensis can do this. I kept an O.s. in a 7.5g eclipse while I was waiting for an acrylic tank to arrive.

In short, there is the possibility of your mantis killing any clean up crew for a while. It is also possible that if you keep your mantis well fed, it won't do this often. Magnetic cleaners and scrubbers (with a handle) are always good. Regardless of whether you have a spearer or smasher keep your hands out of the tank as much as possible. You can accomplish a lot with a dedicated pair of plastic salad tongs.

Here is a good I.D. website http://blueboard.rimlife.com/mantis/

BTW----my hitchhiker mantis in my reef tank (AAARRRGGGHHH!!!) is the expensive one. That's the one that is killing snails. My O.s. in it's own species tank is fed by me and it isn't expensive at all.


Here are some other good links
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/aquarius/index.html
http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpestmshrimp/a/aa110498.htm
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2003/11/14_shrimp.shtml (the video on this link is not for the faint of heart)