Tank size for adult Peacock Mantis
 

Hello all,

I am wondering if any you out there have/are keeping a Peacock Mantis in a cube tank. I have an empty Innovative Marine 40 gallon cube that was used for a quarantine tank for my reef tank and am considering using it as a species only Mantis shrimp tank setup. This will be a long term setup for a Mantis and want to make sure it is suitable housing for this species. Any comments are welcomed.

IMO a peacock shouldn't be in anything with a foot print smaller then a 40 breeder. They like to roam around the tank a lot. So depends on how the cube is setup but usually cubes tend to be fairly tall and not so great on the foot print.

I'm sure it would be fine, just not ideal.

Thanks for your reply! I will keep researching for a more suitable species.

I think a 40 cube would be fine for all but the largest O. scyllarus. Just make sure that the animal has a good burrow. Lots of pieces of coral rubble give the animal something to do building and re-landscaping.

Roy

Thanks for the insight Roy. I still have not made up my mind on whether or not a Peacock would be a good fit for this size tank since all of my research( and I have done a ton of research!) says that this animal can reach a size of approximately 6 inches. I have a lot of live rock rubble and enough live sand( will be taken from my 180 gallon reef tank) to be used for this tank. This tank will be a long term species only Mantis tank so I want to do this right the first time. Am wondering if anyone in this forum has kept this species at 6 inches in length in a tank this size footprint or smaller. I will not be using PVC pipe for a burrow but will be using large pieces of live rock and rubble and will let this animal build his own burrow the natural way as it would in the wild. I would like a Peacock due to its color vibrance but in no way will I place it in a tank that will be insufficient for its long term care so am gathering as much opinion from those who know that I can. Thanks again for your response!

The largest O. scyllarus recorded is 175mm and it is rare to see one larger than 170mm. If you get a peacock larger than 15cm you can expect it to live at most a year or two. In my experience the size of the aquarium foot print is not as important as water quality and water quality is more directly correlated with volume than substrate area. Most of my large O. scyllarus are kept in 20 gallon tanks and I seen no evidence that they do worse in terms of longevity than animals housed in 100 gallon systems. Notice that I am only discussing health, not well being. That is determined more by diet, substrate type, lighting, activity near the aquarium, etc.

Roy

Thanks for your information and this is good to know. I have heard the many myths that these animals will break aquarium glass( I personally would have to see it before I believed it) and having cared for large O. scyllarus over the years have you ever witnessed these animals breaking glass during their normal activities within your tanks? There are protective measures I can take when setting up my tank but am wondering if it would be overkill. I have several sheets of acrylic in varied thickness that I can cut to size for the tank bottom if I need to. Thanks again!

It is rare, but I have seen large O. scyllarus break glass tanks. Usually it happens when they are trying to dig but a couple of times a strike at a teasing finger caused a crack. I've never had a tank with glass thicker than quarter inch broken. Attached is a photo of my latest break.

Roy

Well I guess the proof is in the picture Roy. Thanks for the evidence. I have seen people who have posted videos of themselves intentionally agitating these animals to get them to strike. I guess I will be placing sheet acrylic on the bottom of my tank to prevent any incident of glass breaking in the future.

This was a particularly nasty peacock. It broke two tanka in less than a month. Also, it would strike the glass whenever anyone entered the aquarium room.

Very old timers will remember Instant Ocean refrigerated wooden aquarium systems that had a double glazed front viewing window. I had a Hemisquilla that took one out. It helped launch my career because it did it in front of an editor for Scientific American who was so impressed that he ask me to write an article on stomatopods.

Roy

Thats crazy! Im' glad my ternatensis didn't have an attitude. haha. He was more curious than anything. Never popped me with my hands in the tank either.

Sandman make sure you take lots of pics and post em for us when you put your tank together and get a new pal.

Will definitely do that Mndfreeze! I guess the trick now is to find a Peacock at a decent price. My friend who owns a local shop is on the hunt for one for me now. I think I am in for a long wait but that's ok.

I'm enjoying this forum and this thread especially! I'm wanting to obtain a Peacock Mantis as well, so I'm just starting the research to obtain one. Are there any on the market that would be considered a good buy for a Peacock? I'd hate to over-purchase as I'm learning that saltwater aquariums vary widely in price and features...

A standard 40 gallon breeder is a good one. Pay attention to the big pet store chains like petco and pet supplies plus. I think petco currently has its $1 per gallon sale by me so the tank will run $40. Get yourself an aluminum screen frame from a big box hardware store and some of the little corners to put it together and make a screen top. Enough sand to put a few inches in the bottom. Live rock and rubble. Heater, filter, if you want to stay on a budget a hydor Koralia water mover pump. They don’t need a whole lot.

Our local Petco has quite a few 40gal in stock. My dad has a shrimp boat that we'd go out on when I was a kid. We'd catch the local mantis shrimp and I always found them fascinating in the half gallon plastic jug I had to temporarily keep interesting things from the gulf in. I have no idea how I never ended up with bloody fingers handling those things! Lol! I believe it was always Squilla empusa.

I'm not sure this forum has been good for this "addiction..." I'm kicking around getting something like the Innovative Marine 25 Gallon Fusion Lagoon Aquarium (with screen lid!) I'm trying to find a good balance between a large tank (I'm pressed for space) and something that's really small. Either way, I'm still doing a lot of research... This tank may not be deep enough.

The various cube tanks work well as mantis tanks. It really depends on the species and how you scape it and such. Most of the species are not very big at all and like a 24 or 29/32G cube all in one tank would be great. I personally still feel they are a little to small for a peacock once it gets full grown. If size is constraint and rules out a 40 breeder then consider a tank at least with a semi wide floor plan that isn't so much tall. Unless of course you go with a spearer in which case tall is good and you need a deep sand n rubble bed.