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cjbarb

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After two weeks of random clicking driving me crazy the culprit finally came out. About 2.5” long and has been assaulting my poor snails. I have a spare 15g, will that be enough or should I rehome him?
 

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RedFrog211

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Love the colors!! 15 could last him a while, but you’ll eventually need an upgrade. Also, I’d recommend acrylic; they have been known to break glass
 

FreshwaterConvert

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The picture won’t load for me if it’s a peacock mantis for sure then eventually I’d upgrade to a 40 or close to it. However, there are lots of smaller species of mantids that would be just fine in a 15 all its life. Under the mantis section on the forum someone has stickied Roy’s List of Stomatopods, I’d suggest going and checking that out and identifying which one you’ve got. Like I said, I’m unable to see the video or photo that you posted so I can’t help in that department unfortunately
 

FreshwaterConvert

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Oh sweet ok. I was able to watch the video, that for sure is not a peacock mantis. I want to say it’s an N Wennerae and according to Dr Caldwell, it will eventually turn green under brighter reef lighting. If I’m right, then a 15 should be perfectly fine, and as long as the glass isn’t ridiculously thin it probably won’t cause any issues with that. They’re not as prone to shell rot as peacocks do corals and lighting won’t be an issue. I’m actually planning a tank around a Wennerae or a similar sized species, the purple spot (depending on availability). Give it shelled foods 3 or so times a week and don’t overfeed, mantises in general are known to bury excess and that’ll cause water quality issues.
 
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cjbarb

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Oh sweet ok. I was able to watch the video, that for sure is not a peacock mantis. I want to say it’s an N Wennerae and according to Dr Caldwell, it will eventually turn green under brighter reef lighting. If I’m right, then a 15 should be perfectly fine, and as long as the glass isn’t ridiculously thin it probably won’t cause any issues with that. They’re not as prone to shell rot as peacocks do corals and lighting won’t be an issue. I’m actually planning a tank around a Wennerae or a similar sized species, the purple spot (depending on availability). Give it shelled foods 3 or so times a week and don’t overfeed, mantises in general are known to bury excess and that’ll cause water quality issues.
Thanks! I believe you are right on the species as the rock was fresh out of the gulf. I was using the list but the bright red threw me off. I didn’t know they would change colors with age but that’s awesome.
 

FreshwaterConvert

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I didn’t know about the color change until a few days ago, it’s on the Wenneraes page in the list. I think it’s more of a lighting thing rather than age, the list said something about red specimens from lower depths turning green under brighter lighting after a few molts. Which reminds me, make sure that they can have complete darkness in their burrow when they molt, and don’t be worried if it disappears for a few days. As long as there’s no ammonia spike, it’s probably fine. Molts are the most dangerous time for the mantis and the number 1 cause of death it seems. Don’t for any reason dose iodine cause it will cause a premature molt and possibly death.
 

Steve Erekson

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I can say with almost 100% certainty that you have a wennerae. The location, the red coloration, and the white meral spot are dead giveaways. A 15g will be a great long term habitat and I wouldn't worry about it breaking glass. My wennerae is about the same size, also in a 15g tank and it has spent some days attacking the same spot on the glass over, and over, and over for 15 minutes straight or more.

I feed mine daily, even if he buries the excess food I'm really not worried about water quality when I can just do a 5g water change which is likely around 40%-50%. He has some fish and crab and shrimp roommates. Doesn't really bother the fish. He loves snails though, always trying to smack them and eat them.
 
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