I've had my peacock mantis shrimp for a few weeks now. I'd been fascinated with mantis shrimps for years and always wanted one as a pet, so dived straight in from no experience of fishkeeping at all. I've made plenty of beginner mistakes - most notably believing an LFS salesman who told me I could use bottled bacteria as an alternative to traditional tank cycling (my water quality tests proved that was a very bad idea and I'm still dealing with the results of that mistake), but my mantis shrimp is still alive and active.
I put two clown fish in the tank before the mantis arrived. I was warned not to do it, but I know at least one other reefer with clowns in his mantis tank that get left alone, and there are many other reefers with clubber mantis shrimps successfully coexisting with fish - though most seem to opt for faster and more aggressive species like the damsels or six line wrasse. I love clown fish though, so I figured it was worth a try to put my favourite fish in there since they're very cheap. It wasn't worth it. After a few days of peace, the mantis started terrorising them - chasing them around the tank repeatedly. It was horrible to watch and I took the clowns back to the LFS a couple of weeks ago.
I knew there was a pretty good chance I'd never be able to keep fish with the mantis, and that the mantis would spend most of her time in her burrow, but knowing and experiencing are two different things. For 5-15 minutes a day I've got the best pet in the world swimming around her tank, but the rest of the time it's an empty box full of wet rock, and my interest in it is fading fast. My intention was always to fill the tank with coral, but I'm pretty sure now that corals alone are not going to hold my interest.
Also I don't think I'm ever going to be at ease with the noise of her whacking the 8mm glass of my tank or (much more frequently) the inside of her PVC tubing burrow - which sound the same if you're not looking at the tank. It makes me nervous every time that she's going to break it one day. And it's possible the reason she's doing it is the 2 inch PVC tubing is too small for her (opinions vary on this). She certainly seems to be trying (unsuccessfully) to dig other caves for herself though.
I'm not sure what I want to do next, so the sensible thing is probably not to rush to a decision. My options seem to be:
I put two clown fish in the tank before the mantis arrived. I was warned not to do it, but I know at least one other reefer with clowns in his mantis tank that get left alone, and there are many other reefers with clubber mantis shrimps successfully coexisting with fish - though most seem to opt for faster and more aggressive species like the damsels or six line wrasse. I love clown fish though, so I figured it was worth a try to put my favourite fish in there since they're very cheap. It wasn't worth it. After a few days of peace, the mantis started terrorising them - chasing them around the tank repeatedly. It was horrible to watch and I took the clowns back to the LFS a couple of weeks ago.
I knew there was a pretty good chance I'd never be able to keep fish with the mantis, and that the mantis would spend most of her time in her burrow, but knowing and experiencing are two different things. For 5-15 minutes a day I've got the best pet in the world swimming around her tank, but the rest of the time it's an empty box full of wet rock, and my interest in it is fading fast. My intention was always to fill the tank with coral, but I'm pretty sure now that corals alone are not going to hold my interest.
Also I don't think I'm ever going to be at ease with the noise of her whacking the 8mm glass of my tank or (much more frequently) the inside of her PVC tubing burrow - which sound the same if you're not looking at the tank. It makes me nervous every time that she's going to break it one day. And it's possible the reason she's doing it is the 2 inch PVC tubing is too small for her (opinions vary on this). She certainly seems to be trying (unsuccessfully) to dig other caves for herself though.
I'm not sure what I want to do next, so the sensible thing is probably not to rush to a decision. My options seem to be:
- Persevere, start adding corals and hope that over time my mantis shrimp becomes more active and visible
- Try adding faster / more aggressive fish than clowns to give the tank some colour and interest
- Sell or give away the mantis shrimp and re-stock with fish. This is where I'm leaning but it seems a weird outcome given I'd never had any interest in owning a reef tank except for the purpose of keeping a mantis. Also my 52 gallon tank is too small for most of the fish I'd really like to keep.
- Cut my losses and sell everything