Squirrel_reefer
Call me Squirrel
This will be mostly a progression thread to show the maturing of my new Peacock Mantis
A little history on the tank and Mantis...
Once upon a time I had a nice 55g mixed reef that was just getting onto its feet. I had several fish die unexpectedly and I was dealing with out of wack parameters as a consequence. I was planning to move soon anyway so I broke down the tank and my remaining livestock for the move. Once I got settled in to my new place... aka my parents house.... I set up a 20g tank to serve as temporary holding tank until I could move. I was running the same equipment as the 55g, a wet/dry with bio-balls and sponge along and for lighting an Arctic T247b.
Problems began almost immediately, the only tank inhabitants were a yellow tail damsel, a blood red fire shrimp and handful of inverts/cleanup. I would consider myself "experienced" since I have had successful mixed reefs in the past (40g and 30g) but honestly when I setup this temp tank I made some massive rookie mistakes. Firstly I used all the same sand, yes 3 bags give or take worth of sand in a 20g.... I know I know.... Secondly The center piece of the tank was a MASSIVE barnacle skeleton I had in the 55g, easily 25 heads, this thing was a detritus nightmare, and coupled with the sand, it killed my damsel, im sure of it. Along with the damsel I had several new plants that I had just added, start to whilt (kelp looking plants in the Cheato family) So I had a fallow tank for a little while with just the blood red to look at, Kinda like being single for a little while just to find yourself. I decided to stop being lazy about the tank and roll up my sleeves and get to it. I did water changes regularly, I scraped the barnacle for some dry rock, I slowly removed a $#^% load of sand and sat back and waited patiently.
Within the next month, my tank was starting bounce back. I added a SunSun 110 power head to improve circulation, and that made a big difference. At this point I had thrown in a Six-Line that my buddy no longer wanted, to see how he'd do. IMO six-lines are basically indestructible so if I couldn't keep him I was going to turn in my reefer card. My plants started to grow back at this point and my rock started to cure. I was so happy to see it coming back. I added a Yasha White Goby to the tank so I could have more fish to look at and then eventually some soft corals.
Now comes the fun part... For about 5 years (literally) I have been researching Mantis Shrimp of every kind, and I decided one day I would keep a Peacock in a species specific tank. Well... about that... on the local aquarium facebook page this kid put a juvenile Peacock for 40$ (not bad IMO because of shipping cost to order online) and I jumped on it immediately. When I went go look at it, I almost couldn't see him. He was inside a seashell that had been placed in a jar inside a fallow 55g tank. I scooped him up and took him home. Never before had I been so mesmerized by livestock. He was flipping and rolling around in the bag and he would follow my finger anywhere I moved it. I was literally in love. I built him a small quarantine "tank" and let him get used to being in something larger than a jar. needless to say he loved it.
Fast forward a month and now I live in a forever home. I scrapped the wet/dry for a refugium I built and the mantis lives freely in the tank with a lawn mower blenny, the Yasha, and the Six-line. Believe it or not, the mantis is actually very chill with the fish. He even shares a burrow with the Yasha. I wont lie, they have tangled before over the burrow but the Yasha was victorious. The whole idea of getting a young mantis was to condition him to a mixed reef environment. I have no doubt once he gets bigger he'll start killing some inverts but for now he doesn't even pay them any mind. We'll see what happens going forward. And now as your reward for reading the wall of text....the pics
Make sure to select 1080HD on all videos
Please excuse video quality
A little history on the tank and Mantis...
Once upon a time I had a nice 55g mixed reef that was just getting onto its feet. I had several fish die unexpectedly and I was dealing with out of wack parameters as a consequence. I was planning to move soon anyway so I broke down the tank and my remaining livestock for the move. Once I got settled in to my new place... aka my parents house.... I set up a 20g tank to serve as temporary holding tank until I could move. I was running the same equipment as the 55g, a wet/dry with bio-balls and sponge along and for lighting an Arctic T247b.
Problems began almost immediately, the only tank inhabitants were a yellow tail damsel, a blood red fire shrimp and handful of inverts/cleanup. I would consider myself "experienced" since I have had successful mixed reefs in the past (40g and 30g) but honestly when I setup this temp tank I made some massive rookie mistakes. Firstly I used all the same sand, yes 3 bags give or take worth of sand in a 20g.... I know I know.... Secondly The center piece of the tank was a MASSIVE barnacle skeleton I had in the 55g, easily 25 heads, this thing was a detritus nightmare, and coupled with the sand, it killed my damsel, im sure of it. Along with the damsel I had several new plants that I had just added, start to whilt (kelp looking plants in the Cheato family) So I had a fallow tank for a little while with just the blood red to look at, Kinda like being single for a little while just to find yourself. I decided to stop being lazy about the tank and roll up my sleeves and get to it. I did water changes regularly, I scraped the barnacle for some dry rock, I slowly removed a $#^% load of sand and sat back and waited patiently.
Within the next month, my tank was starting bounce back. I added a SunSun 110 power head to improve circulation, and that made a big difference. At this point I had thrown in a Six-Line that my buddy no longer wanted, to see how he'd do. IMO six-lines are basically indestructible so if I couldn't keep him I was going to turn in my reefer card. My plants started to grow back at this point and my rock started to cure. I was so happy to see it coming back. I added a Yasha White Goby to the tank so I could have more fish to look at and then eventually some soft corals.
Now comes the fun part... For about 5 years (literally) I have been researching Mantis Shrimp of every kind, and I decided one day I would keep a Peacock in a species specific tank. Well... about that... on the local aquarium facebook page this kid put a juvenile Peacock for 40$ (not bad IMO because of shipping cost to order online) and I jumped on it immediately. When I went go look at it, I almost couldn't see him. He was inside a seashell that had been placed in a jar inside a fallow 55g tank. I scooped him up and took him home. Never before had I been so mesmerized by livestock. He was flipping and rolling around in the bag and he would follow my finger anywhere I moved it. I was literally in love. I built him a small quarantine "tank" and let him get used to being in something larger than a jar. needless to say he loved it.
Fast forward a month and now I live in a forever home. I scrapped the wet/dry for a refugium I built and the mantis lives freely in the tank with a lawn mower blenny, the Yasha, and the Six-line. Believe it or not, the mantis is actually very chill with the fish. He even shares a burrow with the Yasha. I wont lie, they have tangled before over the burrow but the Yasha was victorious. The whole idea of getting a young mantis was to condition him to a mixed reef environment. I have no doubt once he gets bigger he'll start killing some inverts but for now he doesn't even pay them any mind. We'll see what happens going forward. And now as your reward for reading the wall of text....the pics
Make sure to select 1080HD on all videos
Please excuse video quality
Last edited:
