Mantis Shrimp

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Jtisle506

Jtisle506

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Nov 16, 2012
Messages
182
Soon i will be setting up my 10-20gal mantis shrimp tank, i wanted to start this thread to anyone who has experience with any type of mantis. I still am undecided on what species i want in the tank. Post pics, tell stories, i want to hear from you guys.
 
There's a really cool peacock mantis build on here somewhere. I will try to search the user for you! I saw one at the LFS for $90 a peacock mantis shrimp. Not sure if my spare 10g would be sufficient. He was caged in a 3 g smaller tank within a tank at the store
 
Right now im leaning towards a 10gal but i want a peacock so im stumped, i defiantly want a smasher not a spearer, is there a smasher that is colorful i can keep in a 10???
 
I have no idea about the smasher/speared thing, but I just wanted to say that I've never really understood the mantis fascination. Then I saw a video the other day of one breaking into a clam. I kinda get it now. I had only ever seen pics, and they're kinda creepy looking, and then add in the fact that thy kill EVERYTHING. Lol. But seein it move around in the video and drag the clam into it's burrow after banging at it was kinda cool.
So, rock on mantis fans!! :)
 
Just be careful because 10 and 20 gallon aquariums are made of thin enough glass where the mantis shrimp can break it. I've heard of it happening before, but it's probably rare. Safer to go with acrylic though...
 
obscurereef said:
Just be careful because 10 and 20 gallon aquariums are made of thin enough glass where the mantis shrimp can break it. I've heard of it happening before, but it's probably rare. Safer to go with acrylic though...
Click to expand...

So rare its actually never been documented. This myth has been perpetuated over the years by the fact that a mantis strike is as fast as a .22 caliber bullet.

There is actually no evidence that a mantis can or has cracked/broken aquarium glass. Most mantis owners i know use glass tanks, no problems.
 
The smashers are really cool looking. I watched a thing on animal planet about them which was amazing. I think they are fascinating and beautiful. They have amazing eye sight too. It was breaking down how fast they could smash and had a camera that would slow it down enough so they could see the full movement of them smashing. Forgot what the show was called but it was interesting. I wish you luck in finding everything you need!
 
Schism said:
So rare its actually never been documented. This myth has been perpetuated over the years by the fact that a mantis strike is as fast as a .22 caliber bullet.

There is actually no evidence that a mantis can or has cracked/broken aquarium glass. Most mantis owners i know use glass tanks, no problems.
Click to expand...

I totally agree. Its fun watching people get all worked up over this topic but in reality its probably just a myth, and if it has actually happened its probably only happened once or twice. What makes me think it woul be really hard for a mantis to crack a glass wall of a tank is that fact that its a wall. Its smashers are more powerful if they hit something inbetween the two of them like a crab or shrimp. A mantis would not have a good angle on a glass wall so i dont think it would be possible.
 
It's the tank bottom you need to be concerned about. It isn't a myth. Smashers, once they get full sized have more than enough strength to break the bottom of a 10 gallon. Probably would never happen, but I would lay a piece of egg crate under the sand, or a sheet of acrylic. They are awesome critters.
 
I was most likely going to either put egg crate or acrylic on the bottom, the tank is going to be glass and im not worried about the mantis hitting the glass. The smasher just is way cooler due to the fact that it just breaks open things with ease, i also want to try and put a chromis or damsel in the tank to have something in the water collum. The spearer would just kill the fish. I narrowed the selection to either the peacock, purple spot, orange spot, or the tiger mantis. On bluezooaquatics.com all of those mantis i listed are on there, the peacock and orange get bigger and have a min tank size of about 25gal, the purple and tiger only get 3in and have a min of 10gal. The most colorful is defiantly the peacock which catches my eye. The other 3 are still nice looking but on the website nothing states spearer or smasher, anybody have a clue?
 
Schism said:
So rare its actually never been documented. This myth has been perpetuated over the years by the fact that a mantis strike is as fast as a .22 caliber bullet.

There is actually no evidence that a mantis can or has cracked/broken aquarium glass. Most mantis owners i know use glass tanks, no problems.
Click to expand...

Sorry for the misinformation. I thought I read it somewhere, but don't remember. Thanks for correcting me and I agree.
 
My understanding and according to Dr. Roy there, a Mantis over 5" (7" is usually the MAX) has the capability to crack the glass.

I currently have my 4" in a 10 gallon while his 40 gallon is coming together. He uses his raptorials to break up the rock I have to help create his burrow, which I might add is 4"+ down to the glass bottom.

He is quite active throughout the day and night, and a 10 gallon is truly insufficient even now. His 40 gallon will be quite an improvement along with a thicker glass and an acrylic sheet on the bottom. I'm doing this even though I'm providing him with a PVC-type burrow. It's cheap insurance.

The Gonodactylus Smithii is a beautiful "Smasher" sometimes referred to as a "Mini-peacock" usually Maxing at 3.5". That would be much more at home in a 10 gallon aquarium.
 
TLTGF said:
Great link:

Roy's List of Stomatopods for the Aquarium
Click to expand...







Wow thats amazing, really cool, thanks. Thanks to your help I've decided on my setup.

I'm going to keep a purple spot mantis. I chose this mantis due to the fact that i have a max tank size at 10 gallons due to space issues. Thus mantis is rated excellent for active and interactiveness and has great color on its body. I found a tank online through petco named "Aqueon Evolve LED Aquarium Kit". For 80$ you get a 8 gallon acrylic tank with a overflow type looking thing on the back which is used as a filter, then u get leds that come from the back anf fold over about 8in above the tank. I love this setup due to the fact that all i would need is this tank and the mantis would be a low cost efficient setup around 140$. I would set this up in a month and would be a birthday gift so i wouldnt spend a dime. The only thing that i may have to figure out is a cover of some sort so the mantis doesn't jump out, the tank is rounded at the front corners so it might be tough, any ideas for a cover on this tank?
 
The purple spot genus name is the G. Smithii as TLTGF stated above, this mantis would be perfect for a 10 gallon
 
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