Mantis shrimp, will they climb out?

[manowar669]

My fiance loves crustaceans, and has wanted a mantis for a while. We've had the tank set up for months, and finally found a peacock mantis. My only question is, will this guy climb out of the tank like freshwater crustaceans?

[jojo22]

Not to my knowledge, or at least I have neve rheard of them climbing out. An eggcrate lid would never hurt though!!

[LittlePuff]

They can, especially when spooked. They are very quick.

[Fish_Baby]

Can't like, mantis shrimp break glass...here is a link I found kinda helpful...http://saltaquarium.about.com/cs/msubpestmshrimp/a/aa110498.htm

[jojo22]

The species that smash thing instead of poking them can!!

[Germanman]

they usually dont climb out but should have a good lid...and never keep them in glass aquariums...they can break the glass only thick acrylic.

[LittlePuff]

Depends on which type of mantis you get.

[manowar669]

It's a good-sized peacock.

[jojo22]

You will need an acrylic tank, they can smash thru glass.

[AW2EOD]

You will not need an acrlyic tank, for any species of mantis.

100% of the time, when you hear of them breaking glass, it's the bottom pane of glass, due to their burrowing. This is mainly the keepers fault, for not providing a deep enough sand bed. The mantis burrows, reaches the bottom of the tank, thinks it's rock and pounds away at it until it causes a crack...they will NOT "smash thru glass".

You can VERY easily solve this problem by laying down a piece of plexi, cut to fit, into the bottom of the glass tank and then cover that will an ample sand bed.

I've kept a total of 4 Peacocks (as well as 5 other species) and have never once had any of them break glass. All were also kept in 20gal. tanks, without plexi and all grew to adult size (aprox. 5" - 6").

And, as others have said...a lid is a good idea. I had one get spooked, one time and jet out of the tank, only to crash a good 3', onto the hardwood floor, and break it's shell.

[jojo22]

COOL, I have never owned one as I implied in my first post, Great to hear from someone with first hand knowledge, I have been playing with the idea of getting one, you may have some PM's in the future if you don't mind.

[manowar669]

Our peacock is about 5". Brilliant color. The right eye is damaged (maybe from fighting with another mantis?). He seems unaffected by the damaged eye. Anyone know if his eye can/will heal (maybe with the next molt?). Within 30 minutes of being placed in the tank, he ate 2 large ghost shrimp (fun to watch) and he's chasing a large female guppy we put in there. He knocked a small piece out of the liverock (which has a natural tunnel he's already claimed), apparently to "customize" it. Fascinating creatures to watch.

[Germanman]

You will not need an acrlyic tank, for any species of mantis.

100% of the time, when you hear of them breaking glass, it's the bottom pane of glass, due to their burrowing. This is mainly the keepers fault, for not providing a deep enough sand bed. The mantis burrows, reaches the bottom of the tank, thinks it's rock and pounds away at it until it causes a crack...they will NOT "smash thru glass".

You can VERY easily solve this problem by laying down a piece of plexi, cut to fit, into the bottom of the glass tank and then cover that will an ample sand bed.

I've kept a total of 4 Peacocks (as well as 5 other species) and have never once had any of them break glass. All were also kept in 20gal. tanks, without plexi and all grew to adult size (aprox. 5" - 6").

And, as others have said...a lid is a good idea. I had one get spooked, one time and jet out of the tank, only to crash a good 3', onto the hardwood floor, and break it's shell.
not to start an argument cause u have personal proof that shows they can be kept well in glass...but i have seen with my own eyes one break the glass form the left side it split the glass...and mine use to click on the acrylic tank to let me know it was hungry..so i wouldnt risk it myself...but its very interesting u have had no problems with glass..care to share a bit more?

[AW2EOD]

not to start an argument cause u have personal proof that shows they can be kept well in glass...but i have seen with my own eyes one break the glass form the left side it split the glass...and mine use to click on the acrylic tank to let me know it was hungry..so i wouldnt risk it myself...but its very interesting u have had no problems with glass..care to share a bit more?

What size tank were you using?

And...what else would you like for me to elaborate on? All but one of mine were kept in 20gal. tanks, with a deep sand bed (4"+). Filtration was usually just a Penguin HOB filter, with a small heater. I started out using only live rock but then switched to using sections of PVC (usually 1" - 1.5"), that I'd seal at one end. I'd then bury one end in the sand and cover the PVC with liverock.

Another good piece of advice is to provide plenty of little live rock rubble pieces (nothing bigger than a quarter). It's amazing to watch your mantis scurry around the tank, collecting the rubble, which he'll use to build doors onto his burrow.

You can also keep smaller fish with a smasher. I've kept small schools of Damsels, with a large Peacock, in a 50gal. cube, that I had. They'll readily accept frozen foods...I used to feed krill, small pieces of squid, fish, etc. It's still always fun to throw in a few larger hermits/snails and watch them beat the hell out of them, to get a meal.

And, jojo22...PM's are always welcomed. If a may, admin/mods (not trying to take away members), but I'm a member of another forum called Grimreefers. I actually found it, a few years ago, thru this forum.

We're an aggressive only forum, with a large section dedicated to nothing but Mantis, jojo22. If you want, you're more than welcome to check us out. We're at www.grimreefers.com

[Germanman]

guess that filled me in more lol...dont really know what i wanted to hear...the one that broke the glass wasnt mine it was a buddies and it was a 30 gallon glass plenty of rock and deep sand bed. mine was in a small acrylic at my old work.

[gomrjoe]

Wow guys,

This is a wild thread, no pun intended! The LFS that I frequent had a huge Mantis that they had been trying to sell for a while, someone finally bought it about two weeks ago, it was about 2 1/2" to 3" long. I was wondering who the heck would want one considering the havoc that they can cause but as AW2EOD has shown, for everyone, there is a tank idea just waiting to be explored! I don't think I would personally try keeping a Mantis personally, but more power to the ones who do.

I had one once in my old 46 bow years ago, it hitchhiked on a large piece of LR, and it eventually died, but not before it severely wounded a firefish that I had. The firefish lived though. The darn bugger must have tried to ambush him while he was sleeping below the rock that the Mantis was hanging out in, and cut a whole clear through my firefishes tail.

[AW2EOD]

Mantis are some fascinating creatures. Science says that humans can see in what...10,000 colors?...Mantis can see in 100.000 colors, including UV and infared light. Who can beat that?