My 13.5 Gallon Mantis Shrimp Tank

[Perpetual Novice]

I began working on this tank June 9th 2019. It's an all-in-one Fluval Evo 13.5 XII that sits on my nightstand and is a species tank for mantis shrimp. This thread is to document my journey building this nano system and learning how to care for the fascinating animals inside.

Here is some backstory:

The first inhabitant was a peacock mantis shrimp named Goji (Short for the original Japanese spelling of Godzilla). I bought the tank after I had already picked up the mantis shrimp from the fish store. I have always wanted to keep a Peacock Mantis Shrimp but had never seen a specimen I liked at any stores near me. When I saw Goji I knew I needed to take him home. I say 'him" because his bright green color indicated that he was probably a male. I set Goji up in a quarantine tank with live rock and added a deep sandbed while I spent a few days designing the EVO tank.

I knew a nano tank with a mantis shrimp would struggle with nutrient export as mantis shrimps are notoriously messy eaters. Goji was also quite large (roughly 6 inches). To help manage this I decided to buy the compatible nano skimmer made for the tank as well. I have found it is quite an effective skimmer, at least in my system with so many nutrients. I also decided to keep as much live rock and sand in the tank as I could to culture as much bio-filtration as possible. But my main strategy was to decorate the tank with tons of macroalgae. Essentially the tank itself is one large refugium. I also added nitrate and phosphate absorbing media in filter socks. I will follow up with more pictures and photos of how I aquascaped and cared for Goji but that's about it for tank design.

Goji was happy and healthy in the tank for about 3 months until I made a horrible mistake that cost him his life. I added red feeder seaweed to the tank as I thought it would make a good cost-effective alternative to other decorative red algae. The seaweed was a huge mistake. It began to die off right away and release its nutrients into the tank. What I didnt know is that seaweed, especially red seaweed, contains a lot of iodine. Elevated levels of iodine in the water trigger invertebrates to start molting and that's exactly what Goji did. Except he wasn't ready to molt. He closed the entrance to his burrow and molted inside. I knew better than to disturb a molting mantis shrimp so I waited for him to emerge. 3 days later my water suddenly became extremely foggy and I knew he had died. Not only that, but his remains were difficult to remove completely. Despite my best efforts to clean him up and do water changes, I couldn't stop the tank from crashing hard. The entire tank died off along with Goji. It was terribly sad.

Now the tank sits neglected on my nightstand with only the algae that hung on. But I have recently resolved to try again. After weeks of searching, I have finally found a mantis shrimp that will be arriving this week. I am extremely excited to start fresh.

So that's where I am starting this thread. My tank is starting over from scratch and the work begins now!

Below is a video I made of Goji and his tank before he passed. Also a photo of the tank in its prime.

 

[Perpetual Novice]

Feel free to post on this page. I love feedback and advice.

 

[Stoney]

RIP Goji, was an awesome looking shrimp. I've wanted a peacock for almost a decade at this point lol, only seen one at an LFS. Is your new shrimp a peacock too?

 

[Perpetual Novice]

RIP Goji, was an awesome looking shrimp. I've wanted a peacock for almost a decade at this point lol, only seen one at an LFS. Is your new shrimp a peacock too?

Yeah, it is. I've struggled so hard to find one even online. I'm not even sure what the color of this one is yet.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

RIP Goji! He looked awesome. Good luck building the new home for the coming specimen! I can’t wait to see it come along.

 

[Stoney]

Is there more than one variation of peacock mantis? Wasnt aware, all the ones I've seen look pretty similar.

Btw I cringed pretty hard when he hit the glass lol. You sure that's safe? I've read about smaller species breaking through molded plastic specimen containers.

 

[Perpetual Novice]

Is there more than one variation of peacock mantis? Wasnt aware, all the ones I've seen look pretty similar.

Btw I cringed pretty hard when he hit the glass lol. You sure that's safe? I've read about smaller species breaking through molded plastic specimen containers.

Their main body color can vary from orange to green with some being almost red and others near neon green. Ive read that males are usually the green ones but also that local populations have adapted different colors depending on the substrate around their burrow (seagrass vs reef rock). I added some pictures below.

Also, I was worried about the glass at first too. But getting him to strike at the glass was actually the first thing I did when I got him. If it could possibly break I wanted to know it right away rather than coming home to find my tank empty and my bedroom flooded. It quickly became clear that he couldn't break the glass so I had some fun with it from time to time. However, I have read that there is a danger of them breaking the glass at the bottom of the tank. They strike most often and most intensely when they are chiseling out their burrows. You can see Goji in the video trying to break off an annoying protrusion on the roof of his burrow. So if they burrow down to the glass bottom and try hard enough and long enough it's possible they might succeed. So in my tank, I bought a large, thin, flat rock and placed it against the bottom under the sandbed so that Goji would be striking the rock and not my bottom glass.

Also, it was funny because Goji was on my nightstand at eye level when laying in bed just a foot or two from my head. Goji had this quirky nighttime routine where he would smash the glass near my head after I turned the lights out. I would get into bed and pull up the covers then a single POP! I turn over and goji has left his burrow and up at the glass staring at me in the dark. He would then turn around and head back into his burrow as if saying goodnight.

 

[Stoney]

Their main body color can vary from orange to green with some being almost red and others near neon green. Ive read that males are usually the green ones but also that local populations have adapted different colors depending on the substrate around their burrow (seagrass vs reef rock). I added some pictures below.

Also, I was worried about the glass at first too. But getting him to strike at the glass was actually the first thing I did when I got him. If it could possibly break I wanted to know it right away rather than coming home to find my tank empty and my bedroom flooded. It quickly became clear that he couldn't break the glass so I had some fun with it from time to time. However, I have read that there is a danger of them breaking the glass at the bottom of the tank. They strike most often and most intensely when they are chiseling out their burrows. You can see Goji in the video trying to break off an annoying protrusion on the roof of his burrow. So if they burrow down to the glass bottom and try hard enough and long enough it's possible they might succeed. So in my tank, I bought a large, thin, flat rock and placed it against the bottom under the sandbed so that Goji would be striking the rock and not my bottom glass.

Also, it was funny because Goji was on my nightstand at eye level when laying in bed just a foot or two from my head. Goji had this quirky nighttime routine where he would smash the glass near my head after I turned the lights out. I would get into bed and pull up the covers then a single POP! I turn over and goji has left his burrow and up at the glass staring at me in the dark. He would then turn around and head back into his burrow as if saying goodnight.

Whoa that orange one looks crazy, guess I gotta plan for two mantis tanks now. Good to know. Btw did goji ever bother any of those fish? Was thinking about just putting the mantis in a FOWLR.

Good thinking with that rock. Hah he's testing you. That's awesome though, I hear they're more like dogs than fish in terms of interaction. Probably slightly exaggerated, but my fish arent setting a very high bar lol

 

[Perpetual Novice]

Whoa that orange one looks crazy, guess I gotta plan for two mantis tanks now. Good to know. Btw did goji ever bother any of those fish? Was thinking about just putting the mantis in a FOWLR.

Good thinking with that rock. Hah he's testing you. That's awesome though, I hear they're more like dogs than fish in terms of interaction. Probably slightly exaggerated, but my fish arent setting a very high bar lol

It was trial and error with the fish. It may sound harsh to tolerate losing fish but that's exactly what my plan was. I already fed him plenty of live food so if the fish were hunted then that's just how nature works and is part of keeping a predator. my first fish was a clownfish that disappeared overnight. next I added a triggerfish because triggers are meant to prey on crustaceans including mantis shrimp but mine is much too small. I added a canary blenny because they eat algae and because they're venomous. I'm not sure if I chose well or it was just coincidence but Goji lived happily alongside the second two for over a month. I can't guarantee they wouldn't have become food eventually. Goji was well fed and even ignored the hermits and snails that I added as a dual purpose dinner.

 

[Stoney]

It was trial and error with the fish. It may sound harsh to tolerate losing fish but that's exactly what my plan was. I already fed him plenty of live food so if the fish were hunted then that's just how nature works and is part of keeping a predator. my first fish was a clownfish that disappeared overnight. next I added a triggerfish because triggers are meant to prey on crustaceans including mantis shrimp but mine is much too small. I added a canary blenny because they eat algae and because they're venomous. I'm not sure if I chose well or it was just coincidence but Goji lived happily alongside the second two for over a month. I can't guarantee they wouldn't have become food eventually. Goji was well fed and even ignored the hermits and snails that I added as a dual purpose dinner.

Not at all, who are we to say that the life of a clownfish is worth more than a crab/snail. Would be hard to watch though. Not to mention way more expensive. So if he didn't eat the hermits/snails/fish, was he mainly getting frozen food? Those are some pretty ballsy conches hanging out next to a big mantis lol

 

[Perpetual Novice]

I just got some photos from the store that is going to be shipping me my new mantis shrimp. It arrived there last Monday and they say it will be shipped out this coming monday.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

I just got some photos from the store that is going to be shipping me my new mantis shrimp. It arrived there last Monday and they say it will be shipped out this coming monday.

Not as pretty as Goji but dang that tail is colorful

 

[Perpetual Novice]

So I wanted to go into a little bit of how I designed the aquascape. The tank is definitely small for a mantis shrimp the size of Goji or the new one coming on Monday. But from what I could find, it seems that the burrow is the most important factor in keeping a peacock mantis shrimp happy. So I tried to make it as natural as possible.

Like I said, I first laid a large, thin, flat rock across the bottom glass to protect it from being damaged from the mantis shrimp expanding its burrow. I could have used an acrylic sheet or something synthetic but I like the idea of the mantis running into a natural material like a rock instead of plastic.

Next, I built the burrow itself. I added a lot of smaller chunks of live rock around 4 inches across and used them to build a sort of igloo in the center of the tank. The inside of the igloo is roughly a foot long by 4 inches wide by 3 inches high. I made sure the entrance to the igloo faced out to the part of the tank where I could get the best view of the mantis shrimp. I made sure the rocks were sturdy and that there were no other holes going into the igloo so that it would not fill with sand.

Then I added a bunch of small chunks of coral rubble and broken rock to the tank and used them to loosely fill in the inside of the igloo so that it was completely stuffed but the rubble was still loose. Finally, I added a ton of sand up to about 4.5 inches deep. I pushed the sand inside the igloo to completely fill it up and submerge it. Only a small portion of the entrance poked out above the sand looking like a small depression in the rockwork. Effectively there was no cave anymore. Just the hint of a good spot to start digging.

Then I added Goji and watched him search the tank and get to work. He quickly decided that the depression in the rock and sand was a good spot to start digging and in no time he was tossing the coral rubble out of his expanding burrow.

** You can see him in the process of excavating the cave near the end of the video in my first post**

I like to think this helped Goji feel more comfortable since he believed he built his home all by himself exactly as he wanted it. At the very least it was a treat to watch.

This method also came with the added benefit of reducing the amount of disagreements Goji and I had over how to aquascape around his burrow. Goji placed every rock where he wanted it and didn't care what I wanted the tank to look like. So whenever I disapproved of his decorating I moved the rocks I didn't like back inside his burrow and let him place them again. I repeated this process until we both agreed on where each rock should go.

I have now filled in the cave again and am excited to do the same process again. I'll be sure to post pictures and videos of the process.

 

[Perpetual Novice]

Here are photos of the tank before and after I finished decorating.

 

[Perpetual Novice]

 

[Perpetual Novice]

I need help naming her!

 

[Perpetual Novice]

She just finished acclimating.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I have been eyeing the Mantis at my local shop for a long time!

 

[Stoney]

Really diggin that color. Goji had the classic peacock coloration, but this is cool too. How about Xena? Sounds a bit dramatic but definitely appropriate lol

 

[Perpetual Novice]

Here are the names I thought of so far. But taking suggestions as well. Xena is cool too.


Mango? (She orange)

Sushi? (She food)

Baba? (Babayaga)

Tina? (Cmon Tina couldn’t hurt a fly)

Nori? (sounds nice. Saltwater related)

Bambi (also couldn’t hurt a fly and bam sounds like a punch)

Rusty? (she orange)

Jira? (last half of gojira. The original spelling of Godzilla and connected to Goji named for the same thing)