QuestionWe are pretty familiar with the saltwater process, we have a 120 gallon, a 90 gallon and 2 40 gallon custom bullet tanks. One of the bullets is empty and after seeing a 6 inch peacock mantis at our local shop I decided I wanted to get him. But Im getting alot of washy responses to questions Im looking up and trying to answer.
One is I have heard they jump out? Is this true?
Also how sensitive are they, some people say you can not kill them and others say that if you walk by with perfume on or spray air freshener in the next room that they will die. Is this true?
And also whats the best set up for them? My husband is dead set on having the tank full of live rock, but they burrow so wouldnt more open space be best? we have 4 inches of mixed sand and crushed coral in there. Should we buy him a pvc pipe as well?
AnswerAmber,
From my experience mantis' are fairly hardy. just about as hardy as any sort of ornamental crustacean if you want a close comparison to the particular difficulty. also in my experience i have never had a mantis jump out, nor have i ever heard of that sort of thing happening. but hey! anythings possible! its best to have some sort of cover on the tank anyway just to be safe.
As for the tank setup, live rock is a good idea, not only for decoration but also for just stability of the tanks parameters. live rock holds lots of beneficial bacteria and organisms. i highly recommend it. however the shrimp are burrowers like you said, and because of this i would not stack rock too high, if you feel you need to get creative with the rock scape i would make sure the rock is very well secured so it does not fall. thats a good way to break a tank, or kill a mantis. also pvc never hurts, it could also always help keep the rockscape stable.
hope that helps you out a bit!
Marcus.