Well here we go again! Getting geared up for another build. We got the fish room built and now it’s time to get the tanks built. I want several cool specimens but this one is for a mantis shrimp!
So, normally one would have the tank setup before getting the inhabitant but I found one for sale before I was ready and since I have 5 tanks running currently I had a place to put it while the build occurs. I rarely see them for sale and never have at my local stores.
I really wanted a peacock mantis (Odontodactylus scyllarus) and it is what I thought I was going to be getting but what I got was a shrimp missing an eye that didn’t quite look like I expected. It’s huge! One member on this forum has said it looked like what an albino peacock would look like if it was a thing. It was listed as 6” to 8” and man was it accurate! After ordering I quickly started building a small den for it in the temporary holding tank.
So I won’t make you wait any longer for the introduction of my Mantis!
I took a little live rock from another tanks sump to give it a more comfy feel.
So there he is. It took several days for it to accept frozen food and only a couple hermits and a snail died getting there!
Now each morning it gladly accepts a thawed krill. Still rejects the clams on a half shell.
So now for a more permanent housing situation!
I’ve got 4 empty 40 breeders and was going to go with one of them but after seeing what it does (doesn’t do much) in a smaller tank I wasn’t going to commit a full 40 gallons to a single shrimp. I had a standard 20 gallon tank in the shed and it’s what I have settled on.
I built a new PVC tunnel for it and buried it under 40 lbs of rock rubble. Found this dry rock for $1/lb! I’ll be putting a cheap LED light over it and I’m debating running it with a Seachem tidal 75 or with a modified wet/dry filter from a 120 gallon system I bought used. I haven’t tried to fit the wet/dry under the stand yet but that’ll help decide. I’ve also got an old Aqua C remora skimmer I’ll use on it so this should be a pretty cheap build.
Here is the build so far. What do you think of the aquascape! LOL
So, normally one would have the tank setup before getting the inhabitant but I found one for sale before I was ready and since I have 5 tanks running currently I had a place to put it while the build occurs. I rarely see them for sale and never have at my local stores.
I really wanted a peacock mantis (Odontodactylus scyllarus) and it is what I thought I was going to be getting but what I got was a shrimp missing an eye that didn’t quite look like I expected. It’s huge! One member on this forum has said it looked like what an albino peacock would look like if it was a thing. It was listed as 6” to 8” and man was it accurate! After ordering I quickly started building a small den for it in the temporary holding tank.
So I won’t make you wait any longer for the introduction of my Mantis!
I took a little live rock from another tanks sump to give it a more comfy feel.
So there he is. It took several days for it to accept frozen food and only a couple hermits and a snail died getting there!
Now each morning it gladly accepts a thawed krill. Still rejects the clams on a half shell.
So now for a more permanent housing situation!
I’ve got 4 empty 40 breeders and was going to go with one of them but after seeing what it does (doesn’t do much) in a smaller tank I wasn’t going to commit a full 40 gallons to a single shrimp. I had a standard 20 gallon tank in the shed and it’s what I have settled on.
I built a new PVC tunnel for it and buried it under 40 lbs of rock rubble. Found this dry rock for $1/lb! I’ll be putting a cheap LED light over it and I’m debating running it with a Seachem tidal 75 or with a modified wet/dry filter from a 120 gallon system I bought used. I haven’t tried to fit the wet/dry under the stand yet but that’ll help decide. I’ve also got an old Aqua C remora skimmer I’ll use on it so this should be a pretty cheap build.
Here is the build so far. What do you think of the aquascape! LOL