Mantis Shrimp

[Stephen]

I've set up a 29 gallon for a mantis shrimp. I've also read just about everything I can find about them on the net. I've still got one question though. How much should I expect to pay? I've only asked around at one store so far since the tank hasn't cycled and he qouted a price of 28.00 for a "peacock mantis shrimp". Is that too much or the going rate? Another question. Do I have to wait for it to cycle? I've read these things are indestructible?

I'd also like to add a star fish and a tube worm or 2. Will they fair with the mantis shrimp? Any other tank mates that would survive and be possible?

The tank;
29 gallons
3 inches of crushed coral
26 pieces of live "fuji" rock (about 38 pounds)
1 Coralife 50/50 bulb
1 Coralife Actinic Blue bulb
Undergravel Filter with 1 AquaClear 201 Powerhead in each back corner
Emperor 400 Power Filter
80 degrees

[VoodooChild]

If you have live rock in there it should be well on it's way to finishing a cycle. Otherwise I probably would wait, just so you don't loose a somewhat expensive animal. Though cheapest I've seen them around here is $50, but I've only seen the fancified breeds, like gold mantle or something something...anyways, I don't know how they'd fair, but I think that you'll have a hard time with any tank mates. And how come so much light? Corals would probably be ok if the mantid doesn't trample all over them, but otherwise I'd get rid of a light. If it's all actinic, you might have a better chance of him coming out sooner, though I'm sure once he corresponds food to daylight that shouldn't be a problem.

[kreblak]

Too bad you didn't just get lucky and get some mantis shrimp in on your LR! Anyway, mantis shrimp are pretty indestructable, but they can and do succumb to ammonia poisoning. I'd make sure your water parameters are good to go before adding an expensive animal.

[BrianH]

Although I'm no mantis expert, $28 seems to be a fair price for a peacock. If you browse the various SW boards you might find someone looking to give one away, but they are not normally peacocks.
I would also ditch the undergravel filter. Although I don't have direct experience with mantis, I would be afraid that being an invert, they are also very susceptable to high nitrates. Therefore I would ditch the undergravel filter and run the HOT filter with no media. The 38lbs. of LR should handle your biological filtration needs.
Good luck.

Brian

[mogurnda]

I agree with Brian about the UG filter. It may be fine, but some mantis species dig, and would render the filter pretty useless.

[Stephen]

Thanks for the info. I'm going to take the UGF out tonight since it seems to be useless. I didn't get much on my live rock unfortunately. Just some colorful algea, small blue-ish bubbly looking thing, small feather dusters(?), and a couple of other things I've never seen before. A friend seems to think some of it is various types of coral. All of it is very very small. I told the store I purchased everything from what I was doing and besides looking at me like I was crazy, he suggested the lighting setup.