New species only mantis shrimp tank?

ZitoDragon · Aug 25, 2016

Hi!
I have a bit of an odd question. Mantis shrimps are my absolute favorite animals. After some preliminary research I have seen they are tough sons of nutcrackers, and might be a good animal for a complete newbie to start with.
I want to make a species only tank for a mantis shrimp. I don't care what species, all though I would love suggestions. Perhaps at some point I will try introducing one or two fish, but nothing is going in that tank that I don't fully expect to be pummeled to death by a mantis shrimp. (I have heard too many horror stories about the little buggers wiping whole tanks.)
I have a thirty gallon tank that has been used for freshwater fish in the past. (I have done very well with them and with reptiles in the past.) I need to know exactly what would be required/recommended for the shrimp tank. What lighting? Filters? Salinity? Do I need to buy live rocks/sand? What species of shrimp? Food? I'm sorry that I am a total noob. I don't currently know anyone who does saltwater, so I can't ask around, but I know what a commitment it can be. Obviously I want the cheapest setup possible, but I want my Mantis to be comfortable.

Thanks for any help!
If I've posted this to the wrong forum I am sorry.

Mark Shelly · Aug 25, 2016

The only mantis shrimp aquarium I have seen is at the Atlantic City Aquarium in NJ. It was a sparse tank with one live rock (maybe this is to make it easier to clean. I think it was a peacock mantis shrimp. But I can't confirm. I don't know the tank specifics. You should be able to use cheaper lighting that that required for corals so algae may be less of a problem. Some have been found in coastal rivers so some may be able to take a range in salinity. Many are from coral reef so regular seawater and temperatures should be good for those. Research the one you want.

ZitoDragon · Aug 25, 2016

She's beautiful. Thanks for the info. The more I read the more in seems like they are really hard to kill, which is great for me, not so much for those who got them on a live rock.

NeiDan · Sep 1, 2016

Any common mantis needs the same things: Sand of a mixed grade, some need deeper sand beds than others but 3-4 inches is fine for most species. Rubble to build with (size of rubble depends on the mantis). Heat and salinity in line with a common saltwater aquarium (1.024-1.026, 75-79F), live rock, and a burrow. Small smashers can build their own burrows in rocks, larger ones should be supplied PVC. A protein skimmer would be nice, but generally good water flow and live rock is all the filtration you need.

A 30 gallon is a perfect size for peacock mantis shrimp. They're outgoing, big (maxing out at about a foot), attractive, and smart. You should line the bottom with a sheet of acrylic to prevent him trying to burrow through the glass. You'll also want to give him a U-shaped PVC pipe approximately 1.5 times his width and 2 times his length for him to burrow in. While they can make makeshift homes out of rocks and rubble it is sometimes not secure enough for them to molt successfully. Avoid super bright lights, as they are a deep water species, and feed them snails, hermits, small crabs, and chunks of assorted frozen food. Try to soak food in Selcon, a food supplement, every once in a while to encourage healthy molting. You may or may not have success with a fish, I'd suggest a damsel since they're cheap and hardy. Keep the shrimp well fed if you want any hope of it surviving.

My follow up species recommendation is P. ciliata. They're a little bit smaller (maxing out at ~4 inches), have a wide variety of color but usually aren't as strike, but they can be very outgoing and they're a spearer, which is interesting. They will almost certainly eat fish, but will usually leave snails and hermit crabs alone. They should have a PVC burrow as well, although they tend to do okay burrowing under rocks if the sand bed is sufficiently deep and the rock sufficiently large. I'd recommend getting them from KP aquatics, since they're just about the only place I know of that can properly identify them and my past experiences have been good (though I haven't gotten a mantis shrimp from them personally) http://www.kpaquatics.com/

Lemme know if I can answer any more questions, I've spent a lot of time studying mantis shrimp care, have owned a handful and love to spread the knowledge.