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pouchedrat · 03/09/2017, 06:32 PM

Hello all, I am new to saltwater, as well as to mantis shrimp. I fell in love with mantis shrimp almost 20 years ago, and had a short-lived saltwater aquarium set up maybe 15 years back. No local fish stores would order me one, and online buying wasn't exactly an option back then (I had one aquarium store flat out tell me if they got it in I had to come immediately to pick it up otherwise it was getting flushed).

That being said, my husband actually gave me the go-ahead to get a mantis shrimp! The information has vastly improved on care on them since back then!!!

So far my set-up is as follows:
40 gallon breeder tank, 40 pounds live sand, gravel and other sand, 30 pounds live rock, a few pieces of dry rock I liked at the LPS.
protein skimmer meant for a 100 gallon tank (thing is big.. oh well), UV sterilizer (what is this for? bought it anyway and have been running it... not sure if it is necessary), HOB filter, and full spectrum LED lights for coral growth that are programmable and dimmable.

The only inhabitants in the tank so far are a sacrificial yellowtail damsel for cycling, and what I've identified as a green star polyp coral frag (miscellaneous coral frags at pet store. lol)

I am currently waiting for the U shaped PVC pipe to dry, had coated it with sand.

SO MY QUESTION is: is this OK? Did I go to far? Not far enough? Am I missing anything crucial? My peacock comes in tomorrow (I'll see if the ID is correct when he comes I guess).

I had a problem with an online dealer having a peacock up for sale when he didn't even have one. I ordered it over a week ago, and they never replied. Eventually they told me they didn't have one but could send me another species.. then they only had small species for sale for the same price (I paid a lot). I debated whether or not to just keep the 40g for a single tiny species of mantis shrimp and to mostly keep it for soft corals, knowing full well it would rearrange stuff anyway. Or to cancel the order.. Well today another online dealer had the O. scyllarus for sale this morning and I snagged that bad boy up ASAP, so the other order is cancelled. (then he emailed me back later to say it came in finally.. omg... nothing works out for anyone. I hope what I got is correct, cause the first dealer's new acquisition certainly looked correct in the pics).

So yeah. anything missing? Is this ok? I've already named it Rainbow Randolph and it's in the mail next day delivery right now as we speak.

I'm tempted to get the first dealer's peacock just for the heck of it, but I don't have a second saltwater tank all cycled up to spare... gah.

03/09/2017, 06:32 PM	#1
pouchedrat Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2017 Location: MD Posts: 13	Newbie here, is everything correct? Hello all, I am new to saltwater, as well as to mantis shrimp. I fell in love with mantis shrimp almost 20 years ago, and had a short-lived saltwater aquarium set up maybe 15 years back. No local fish stores would order me one, and online buying wasn't exactly an option back then (I had one aquarium store flat out tell me if they got it in I had to come immediately to pick it up otherwise it was getting flushed). That being said, my husband actually gave me the go-ahead to get a mantis shrimp! The information has vastly improved on care on them since back then!!! So far my set-up is as follows: 40 gallon breeder tank, 40 pounds live sand, gravel and other sand, 30 pounds live rock, a few pieces of dry rock I liked at the LPS. protein skimmer meant for a 100 gallon tank (thing is big.. oh well), UV sterilizer (what is this for? bought it anyway and have been running it... not sure if it is necessary), HOB filter, and full spectrum LED lights for coral growth that are programmable and dimmable. The only inhabitants in the tank so far are a sacrificial yellowtail damsel for cycling, and what I've identified as a green star polyp coral frag (miscellaneous coral frags at pet store. lol) I am currently waiting for the U shaped PVC pipe to dry, had coated it with sand. SO MY QUESTION is: is this OK? Did I go to far? Not far enough? Am I missing anything crucial? My peacock comes in tomorrow (I'll see if the ID is correct when he comes I guess). I had a problem with an online dealer having a peacock up for sale when he didn't even have one. I ordered it over a week ago, and they never replied. Eventually they told me they didn't have one but could send me another species.. then they only had small species for sale for the same price (I paid a lot). I debated whether or not to just keep the 40g for a single tiny species of mantis shrimp and to mostly keep it for soft corals, knowing full well it would rearrange stuff anyway. Or to cancel the order.. Well today another online dealer had the O. scyllarus for sale this morning and I snagged that bad boy up ASAP, so the other order is cancelled. (then he emailed me back later to say it came in finally.. omg... nothing works out for anyone. I hope what I got is correct, cause the first dealer's new acquisition certainly looked correct in the pics). So yeah. anything missing? Is this ok? I've already named it Rainbow Randolph and it's in the mail next day delivery right now as we speak. I'm tempted to get the first dealer's peacock just for the heck of it, but I don't have a second saltwater tank all cycled up to spare... gah.