I'm creating a Mantis tank ideas needed!

[zero_one]

I just ordered a 40 gallon acrylic tank to house a Peacock Mantis (which I'm having trouble finding one I want). I need some sugestions on these things:

- Live rock or just "normal" rock, is live really nessary?

- I want to avoid dosing kalkwasser into the tank becuase I allready do it for my other tank and its a pain, is there really any reason I should in a mantis tank? (providing I don't keep corals in the tank also)

- I don't know what type of sand to go with, course? fine? what do most people use for these guys?

- I want fairly bright lights to bring out the colors of the peacock, I'm planning on 2 65 watt PC's, one actinic and one 10K (or maybe 14K). Will a mantis tolerate this realitively bright lighting without issue?

- how much rock is nessary?

- what else can I keep in the tank that will no be moved around / eaten?

- I will be using ro/di water, whats the best filter to use, canister or hang on?

- is a skimmer a good idea? or just wasted money

- are any powerheads nessary, do mantis like lots of water movement?

finally...

- what is the best food to be feeding? I want to feed a cheep source of live food but I'm not sure what to use...

sorry for the the questions I have a lot of them, if you can't tell i'm striving to keep one of these guys as a show piece, and I'm really doing for "quality life" for the mantis.

My bugdet for this inital setup is ~ $500 if that makes a difference.... the tank was $190 so that leaves $310 for everything else including the shrimp.

[Absint Reefer]

I would'nt do a skimmer, do crushed coral just in case plans change and you want to get a spearer mantis other than corals you can have starfish

[zero_one]

what depth should the sand / crushed coral be, I know these things like to burrow so would 5 ot 6 inches be ok?

[pisces77]

Originally posted by zero_one
what depth should the sand / crushed coral be, I know these things like to burrow so would 5 ot 6 inches be ok?

That should be ok. I use LR to give a little bio help and to form a cave so the mantis doesn't have to borrow as deep. I keep an anemone, a starfish (brittles can become food), grape caleurpa, a firefish, a rainford goby, and hermits & snails (the last two are replaced on a regular basis). I do skim to keep away from weekly waterchanges. I also have a PC and the mantis doesn't seem to mind. Many mantises are diurnal (daytime active) in the wild so bright light is nothing new.

[Gonodactylus]

In a recent thread on this site, there is a discussion of what is the proper illumination to use for an Odontodactylus scyllarus. Some of the respondents state that bright, broad spectrum lighting is acceptable. I disagree. Below is the comment I was going to post on that thread, but after writing it, it seems that my thoughts on the subject applied to many species.

The question here is whether you want a healthy, "happy" O. scyllarus or do you want a show? If you want bright, broad spectrum lighting to bring out the colors of the stomatopod, this may be aesthetically pleasing to you, but it may cause problems for your animal. The colors of an O. scyllarus did not evolve to be seen by a human eye in a home aquarium filled with crystal clear water illuminated by intense, broad spectrum lighting. Aquarists really should consider the environment in which their animals normally live. Odontodactylus scyllarus are typically found at depths of 7 to 40 m and often in habitats where the visibility is not great. The ambient light in these habitats is certainly less intense than at the surface and by the time you get to 15 m, much of the UV and longer wave lengths have been filtered out. Factor in the effects of turbidity and the fact that the animals live in deep burrows that allow them to withdraw during the middle of the day when ambient lighting is most intense, and you have a species that does not typically experience "bright", broad spectrum lighting.

I cringe every time I read messages recommending bright lighting for species such as O. scyllarus. Such lights may not kill the animals immediately, but it can, in my opinion, contribute to health problems such as shell disease. If you must keep an O. scyllarus in a bright aquarium, make sure it has a long dark burrow that allows it to get completely out of the light. I would recommend at least a 30 cm length of black PVC pipe just larger than the diameter of your animal. You can bury the pipe under gravel and rubble to camouflage it. The animal can still build and manipulate substrate around the entrance, but it will be able to retreat into the dark.

If you want to keep a showy species of stomatopod with bright colors that evolved to be seen in sunny, shallow habitats, get a Gonodactylus smithii or G. platysoma. Both live in the low intertidal down to just a few meters and typically experience bright, broad spectrum light.

Roy

[zero_one]

Originally posted by Gonodactylus
In a recent thread on this site, there is a discussion of what is the proper illumination to use for an Odontodactylus scyllarus. Some of the respondents state that bright, broad spectrum lighting is acceptable. I disagree. Below is the comment I was going to post on that thread, but after writing it, it seems that my thoughts on the subject applied to many species.

The question here is whether you want a healthy, "happy" O. scyllarus or do you want a show? If you want bright, broad spectrum lighting to bring out the colors of the stomatopod, this may be aesthetically pleasing to you, but it may cause problems for your animal. The colors of an O. scyllarus did not evolve to be seen by a human eye in a home aquarium filled with crystal clear water illuminated by intense, broad spectrum lighting. Aquarists really should consider the environment in which their animals normally live. Odontodactylus scyllarus are typically found at depths of 7 to 40 m and often in habitats where the visibility is not great. The ambient light in these habitats is certainly less intense than at the surface and by the time you get to 15 m, much of the UV and longer wave lengths have been filtered out. Factor in the effects of turbidity and the fact that the animals live in deep burrows that allow them to withdraw during the middle of the day when ambient lighting is most intense, and you have a species that does not typically experience "bright", broad spectrum lighting.

I cringe every time I read messages recommending bright lighting for species such as O. scyllarus. Such lights may not kill the animals immediately, but it can, in my opinion, contribute to health problems such as shell disease. If you must keep an O. scyllarus in a bright aquarium, make sure it has a long dark burrow that allows it to get completely out of the light. I would recommend at least a 30 cm length of black PVC pipe just larger than the diameter of your animal. You can bury the pipe under gravel and rubble to camouflage it. The animal can still build and manipulate substrate around the entrance, but it will be able to retreat into the dark.

If you want to keep a showy species of stomatopod with bright colors that evolved to be seen in sunny, shallow habitats, get a Gonodactylus smithii or G. platysoma. Both live in the low intertidal down to just a few meters and typically experience bright, broad spectrum light.

Roy

Would you recomend blue lighting then? or actinic? I know actinc has UV in it which may not be a great idea.

How does 1 65 watt actinic PC and 1 10K NO bulb sound for ligthing? This will be over a 40 gallon tank. Actinc bulbs don't put out a whole lot of intnesity (ie PAR) which I suspose would be ideal. Blue colored PC's are really bright, and 10K or 6700K are probley way to harsh in PC form (6700 being out of the question I suspect due the exteme brightness), I suspect NO bulbs would be a better idea if the wide spectrum is what I'm after.

... on another note do peacocks have any "floresence" under actinc lights?

[zero_one]

or maybe I'll just go with 2 1000watt halides...... :P