*Crack* *Crack* *Crack* - A Mantis Shrimp Nano

[Jordan N.]

Yeah..... From my main build thread.

Lets be careful about talking up my patience too much just yet --It's a lot easier to say I won't easier to be patenient now than it is on month 4 or 5 without adding anything. And then at least a year for the sand bed to mature before adding the sea grass.

All i'm saying is don't be surprised if i'm starting a nano in a few months.

So I didn't quite make it to the "few months" mark before starting a new tank --I didn't even make it a week.

This is going to be a low budget tank, mainly built out of spare parts I had lying around the house.

The tank is going to be a standard 10 gallon aquarium with about a 2 inch deep sand bed capped with live rock rubble. (For the mantis to construct it's burrow with.)

LIghting is going to be a minimal as possible --Has anyone here tried to grow macro algae with just two compact fluorescents?

The aquascape as a whole is going to be pretty minimal, I'm probably going to have a total of two or three small-ish pieces of liverock and a few different strains of macro algae for nutrient up take and thats it.

Since nitrates aren't really an issue for the tank the primary filtration will be from a Marine land canister filter. As long as I stay below 50ppm nitrate it should be fine.



I'm going to try to get one of these three mantis shrimp, unfortantly finding a specific mantis other than N. wennerae or a Peacock can be fairly difficult.

My number 1 choice is Odontodactylus havanensis. This one's a smasher.




[All of these pictures were taken by Dr. Roy Caldwell]

Choice Number 2 is Pseudosquilla ciliata. This one is a spearer.





Choice number 3 is Neogonodactylus wennerae

[Europhyllia]

How ironic you are driving around in a car with a bumper sticker that is about peace while shopping for smashers and spearers...

[Third Coast Tropical]

You can get them at the coast. Some pretty big, and really cool looking. Don't recall the genus species, but they are there. Go to a bait stand and ask if they have any mixed in with their live shrimp. They will probably let you have one for free. Most of those guys call them sea lice.

[ballardjr2000]

For growing macro with CF's I grow macro in my sump/fuge with a energy saver CF from Lowes works find for the macro so I am sure you will be good to go with compacts.

[BIGBIRD123]

Glad you are going with the smasher....glass tank/spearer bad news, especially the thin-glass standard 10g.

[hobogato]

i think you may have that backwards

Glad you are going with the smasher....glass tank/spearer bad news, especially the thin-glass standard 10g.

[corruption]

Based on his research, the main smashers that are a risk to glass are the Peacock -- I said the same thing when he first mentioned the idea, and he pointed out the diminutive size of the sp. he's looking for.. I think he was planning on acrylic lining the floor of the tank as well

-Justin

[hobogato]

don-in-sa had a large peacock mantis for a long time in a 58 gallon glass tank. he also lined the bottom with acrylic on the inside since the main threat is them breaking the bottom while they are tunneling.

[corruption]

I believe the peacock was just too large for his plans -- he'd like to keep it within a small scale range..

Hey Jordan -- thats not going to use up your only spare 10 gal tank, is it? I think I only have one, for the other project...

-Justin

[profntbtr]

i may have a spare 10 lying around.