tank size for peacock mantis

[beoks]

id like to set up a tank at work but have very little room and we have a great picture of a mantis up and makes me want one. would be very simple set up, how small of a tank could i put one of these guys in.

 

[gotfish]

Most of the time I see them in little 5 gallon cubes in stores. Once they grow out a bit though I'd assume that would be too small. I'm sure a normal 10g would suffice though.

 

[seattle989]

ive seen em go in very small pico tanks. i however feel bad if they are not in at least a 10-20 gallon just because the peacock get around 6-7inches adult i think? Any ways probably the prettiest mantis around and i plan on getting one myself when the lfs has a nice specimen. the males ones have a more brighter shimmering emerald color .keep in mind smaller tanks will create a higher chance of bad water chemistry, more maintence and higher rate of shell disease. Since they usually only eat invertebrates and crustaceans u got to keep in mind they are pretty messy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLPob7yUKO0

this link below is probally one o the sickess pico mantis reef tanks ive ever seen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS8oSnBdCxU

 

[beoks]

i have room for a 10 gallon easy maybe a 20 if i push my luck, i thought i would just add a false back to the 10 an put cheato and live rock make a little biocube wana-be. plus there is a fish store close to the shop so wate changes will be easy. i jsut didnt know if a ten would be enough

 

[gotfish]

Here's what I've done with an all in one tank I've made. Might be what you're looking to do. It's only a 5.5g, but the same principle applies. http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43164

 

[seattle989]

do u plan on just species tank? or u want to put corals in it to? but i agree gotfish's build is pretty sweet if your tight on space.

 

[clevergeek]

ive seen em go in very small pico tanks. i however feel bad if they are not in at least a 10-20 gallon just because the peacock get around 6-7inches adult i think? Any ways probably the prettiest mantis around and i plan on getting one myself when the lfs has a nice specimen. the males ones have a more brighter shimmering emerald color .keep in mind smaller tanks will create a higher chance of bad water chemistry, more maintence and higher rate of shell disease. Since they usually only eat invertebrates and crustaceans u got to keep in mind they are pretty messy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLPob7yUKO0

this link below is probally one o the sickess pico mantis reef tanks ive ever seen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SS8oSnBdCxU

I was in your LFS (Blue Sierra?) the other day, and they had a pretty nice looking peacock in stock, and a smaller sand-colored mantis. They wanted $50 for it.

Too steep for me, but it was pretty, and seemed very interested in anything moving outside the tank. I never knew they could focus their eyes so noticeably, and even "blink"?

 

[seattle989]

oh im aware but im pretty sure its female looking at its appendages and color .they had a beautiful large one in stock once but was snatched up the day after i saw it but thanks for the look out though.

 

[gotfish]

A place for pets in Burien usually has at least 1, but right now they have 2. I didn't really look too close, but I'm pretty sure they are both black. They charge $39 for theirs. They did have a peacock in about a month ago that they had for quite a while. It was about 3" long. Was always pretty neat to watch them feed it.

 

[beoks]

ya i read your build the other night i got the idea from someone on nano reef but thats just about exactly what i want to do. it will be a shop tank, only a mantis but knowing me we will prob put some corals in it as well. i measured i have enougth room for a 20 long, will that be enough filtration?? any ideas or changes? How is the5.5 working?

 

[gotfish]

A 20L should work just fine. If you were gonna do it like the way I and many others have done with the fuge/return on one end of the tank, I'd section if off at maybe 8". The fuge/return section would then be 8x12. I'd then section that with 8x8 for the fuge and 8x4 for the return. Stuff that fuge with macro and another good idea would be to get a media bag long enough and lay it at the bottom of the divider between the fuge and return. Any water that would go from the fuge side to the return side would have to pass through that carbon in the media bag. Go with a MJ1200 and I'm sure you'd have enough turnover along with the macros/carbon and a good amount of L/R to keep the tank pretty clean.

Hopefully all that stuff above makes sense. If not, I could whip up a diagram for ya.

The tank is right now cycling and probably will be ready for a couple snails and maybe a frag of some xenia here in a week.