Peacock Mantis BioCube Build

DapperCuttlefish · May 25, 2021

Hi all,

My tank is still in the cycling process. Waiting for the nitrites and nitrates to balance out ... *sigh*. Patience is a virtue though, I know I have some time to go. Was interesting to watch the diatom growth and die off.

In the meantime, it is a BioCube 16 that my husband and kids gifted me. It is the future home to a Peacock Mantis Shrimp I fell in love with, and the keeper is holding for us until the tank has finished cycling through. I have Caylpso’s space set up with 9 lbs of live rock and 5 lbs of other rock. A bag of live sand across the bottom and piled towards the back to give her some digging/burrowing space.

I will add more as I, well, add more.

Peace River · May 25, 2021

Good luck on the adventure!!!

FreshwaterConvert · May 25, 2021

A 16 gallon is gonna be small for a peacock long term, how thick is the glass on the bio cubes? There’s certainly a lot of smaller species that would be a great fit for a 16 gallon long term, so you could always start the peacock in the 16, get a bigger tank going, and when you move Calypso get a smaller species. If you’re set on the peacock that is. Regardless of what you end up doing, good luck and I’m excited for you! Mantises are so much fun

DapperCuttlefish · May 26, 2021

FreshwaterConvert said:
A 16 gallon is gonna be small for a peacock long term, how thick is the glass on the bio cubes? There’s certainly a lot of smaller species that would be a great fit for a 16 gallon long term, so you could always start the peacock in the 16, get a bigger tank going, and when you move Calypso get a smaller species. If you’re set on the peacock that is. Regardless of what you end up doing, good luck and I’m excited for you! Mantises are so much fun

The plan is to upgrade size as Calypso grows. We also have plans to add more rock for her to scuttle on and explore as she is extremely active. We have the bottom set up to absorb any burrowing impacts with a layer of acrylic. Chatting with some other peacock owners they said the only times they have noted them hitting the glass was when they were digging. If you think of any other measures I can take, let me know!

DapperCuttlefish · Jun 3, 2021

The time has come! The tank (which I have come to call Davy Jones Locker due to the mantis shrimp’s nature) has completed it’s initial cycling. I have added a couple furniture pieces for Caylpso to move around once she arrives this weekend and put in a few blue legged hermit crabs and snails in as an initial buffet smorgasbord for her arrival to help her settle in a little quicker. I’m hoping she goes from “oh no, new environment,” to “OOOO food - I like it here” in little time. We have added extra filtration as I’ve read with mantis more is better. And I installed a heater as we tend to keep the house on the chill side. And although right now the tank is staying regulated, we have it for when the weather starts dropping off and we start letting the house temp drop with it. As we live in hurricane and other sever storm prone areas, I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on back up aerators? Preferably ones that sense when the power has gone out so if we aren’t home when it happens the device will turn itself on.