60gal mantis tank

[justinl]

okay so this is my first saltwater tank and the reason i even came into SW was because of the mantis shrimp. Ill drop interesting facts about them here and there. but on to the tank. Okay so first things first, I built my own tank to fit on a big stand I already had. It was out of acrylic because some mantids can smash glass. I wanted to be prepared for anything.



I forgot to think when i bought my heater so i had to mantis proof it because it's made of glass. Ill probably get a stealth later.



fast forward a couple of months and I had my setup nearly complete!

my cloudy tank cycling. The yellow basket has a decaying shrimp in there. Smells like hell on fire if i take it out of the water.
the lighting system cost a whopping five bucks. I suppose Ill get a real aquarium light when i decide i want corals but for now it serves its purpose.


my parents are paranoid. They insisted i keep towels on the sides in case the tank spontaneously combusts. way to trust my workship guys! i won in the end and the towels are gone now.
the stand has sliding doors and i have all my stuff in there. There used to be a reallly really old busted TV which i had to gut out. On the right of the tank, the top opens up to reveal an old school radio which still works and sounds pretty good. On the left it opens to a turntable. it's sweet.


i sure hope those pics worked.

[justinl]

hmmm... the pics worked but they're wee tiny. anyone know why? you can see full versions in my gallery.
okay so what's in the tank?

70 lbs of sand, 40 lbs LR (thanks lindsayf!), rubble, two peps, small CUC
ebo heater, prism skimmer with an airvalve (it works fine!), maxijet 1200
5$ light and a coralife .75 watt moonlight.

a yellowtail damsel named Distress (what can i say? i love puns)


and a foxface named Vulpix. My sister simply calls it cow. Here he is chilling under my aquatic inukshuk. I bought the red algae for him to eat, but he ignores it completely.


On either side of the SW i have two small betta tanks (FW) where the towels used to be. Here's one named sushi. He had an identity crisis and now he thinks he's a snail...

[justinl]

okay time for the first "did you know" about mantids. Fact: a large mantis can move their smashing arms (raptorial appendages) to produce forces up to 1400 N (same force as a .22 caliber rifle bullet at muzzle velocity). It is the fastest recorded movement in the animal kingdom. not all mantids can do this though. Only the really big ones like Peacocks (O. scyllarus) and G. chiragra.

and back to me...
For a while i sat around twiddling my thumbs... I wanted a mantis and was ready to put it in. The problem was that i couldn't find one! argh. I searched and searched but to no avail. Then Ticketyboo reserved one at hidden reef and let me take it even though he was looking for one himself! Now that's looking out for a fellow aquarist. So my thanks to david!
hidden reef thought it was a peacock but it was actually a G. smithii. My close second preference. It's a "he" and very colourful. His name is Trogdor. Here he is acclimatizing in a fishbowl with a snail i got for free. Say hi troggie!

if you look closely, he's clutching a sacraficial nassarius in his claws. I wanted to see his reaction to it. The snail survived the ordeal unharmed... for now.


btw, i apologize for both my lack of a dsecent camera and utter lack of photography skills. He's much prettier in person.

[Kabong]

Looks good but are you kinda concerened you'll never see your mantis is such a large tank?

[justinl]

lol I considered that before i decided on what species of mantis i wanted. I decided on a peacock (large, pretty interactive) or a G. smithii (small but very interactive). So no im not worried really, because G. smithii are known to wander around the tank a lot.

Trogdor is in a hole in the LR right now and all i can hear is "click, click... click." Whenever he's done making his burrow he'll probably feel more comfortable wandering around. I also won't put the food right in front of his burrow. That way he'll learn to stay out when he wants to be fed. lol, that's the plan anyways.

[Fish]

Hahaha
Trogdor the burninator! Great name. Not too many mantis shrimp that have their own theme song.

Crapfully yours,
- Chad

[justinl]

oh wow! yay somebody knew where the name is from!

[muck]

The pics are small because you linked to the thumbnail version. If you right-click and use the url from the large pic it should post it in the thread as the large pic.

[justinl]

ahhh i see. okay ill do that from now on.

[rudy]

Justinl,

Very nice tank and very nice Smithii.

Just a word though, I have kept a few Smithii and find that they are less interactive in larger aquariums. I think a 5-10 gallon would do. Any more than that he may become "lost" in the environment. They are different in every situation, and yours may act differently. This is just my experience.

Depending on what your situation allows for I would ideally move your smithii to a smaller aquarium and keep on the look for a peacock. If that won't work then a smithii will be a great trading tool for a peacock.