Am I ready for a mantis?

[Joshua Kerstetter]

Having a mantis shrimp has been one of my goals since I upgraded from a 50 to a 220. I want to put him in the middle chamber of my 100 gallon sump in my fuge. I plan on putting in a bag of crushed coral, I don't want a deep sand bed, and I have sand in the display and I know they need something more than just rock to be in so crushed coral makes sense to me. On the right side of the chamber, I have a acrylic holder of sorts that keeps a piece of egg crate that stops the chaeto/sea lettuce I have in the fuge from getting into the baffles. So it would be around 1" of material and I have several pieces of live rock. I may also put in a 'ceiling' of sorts to keep the chaeto/lettuce higher in the chamber, not as it is now. There a gold streak cleaner goby in there, he's gotten through my overflow twice now and into the sump, and if he's happy there, that's great I have no reason to take him out. There's a few emerald crabs and hermits in the fuge too, I'll take them out as well. This is also a spawning area for various snails and who knows what else, you can see them on the glass. Does anyone have any input about would this be enough of a food source for the mantis? Just looking for ideas, or experiences anyone else has keeping a mantis in the fuge or sump.

 

[Big G]

Bump

 

[reef lover]

Myself id set up a species tank for one...the lit fuge might cause shell rot. Your also going to want thick glass or acrylic so he doesnt break it. I like to put acrylic sheets on the bottom so when they burrow and hit bottom they dont break it. And imo hed have that fuge void of life in a few short months.