Tank Journal Archive

[Kharn]

:worshipawesome info,i really cant wait for spike to molt to see if hes colors change:D and ill take the heater out if its not needed lol one less thing putting the power bill up lol oh and if i wanted to give him a DSB would sand work ok? i would love to see him dig hes own hole so i dont have to see the pvc in there ??

My thoughts on DSBs may very widely to others and its something I cannot speak for (LONG term as my longest and deepest acting DSB was "only" 6months+ old, not even mature yet).

Having said that, I had 0 problems during that time and have heard from MANY others (inc Dr. Caldwell) that having such a DEEP DSB (often over a foot) along with the spearers in it, has been no problem and he has had them for over a decade...

If your going to give it something to dig in, I strongly recommend giving it very fine sand (all fine sand don't do layers of coarseness as I did originally, did nothing that except hinder the spearers (they didn't use the coarse stuff...)) along with a sand bed at least as deep as the animal itself is long (or can get long so in your case at least 10cm deep), this will promote a growth spurt in the animal as it gives it maximum coverage and a natural setting (noted by Dr. Caldwell, they do best in DSBs, its just natural but will thrive none the less in PVC, P.ciliata is very hardy).

One thing that you can do to "Maximize" your chances of seeing it yet not harm the animal in anyway (as I did) is actually "enforce" it to burrow where you want it to (in a way...your tank is much smaller then mine, same goes your species is different..it may not want to burrow altogether!)... Either way, starting with a bare tank...line the entire back half of the tank with base rock (10cm deep/high for you) then add your sand up till that 10cm height, then put your live rock on top of your base rock, this would force the mantis to burrow towards the front of the tank rather then the back, worked a charm for me.

 

[josh]

My thoughts on DSBs may very widely to others and its something I cannot speak for (LONG term as my longest and deepest acting DSB was "only" 6months+ old, not even mature yet).

Having said that, I had 0 problems during that time and have heard from MANY others (inc Dr. Caldwell) that having such a DEEP DSB (often over a foot) along with the spearers in it, has been no problem and he has had them for over a decade...

If your going to give it something to dig in, I strongly recommend giving it very fine sand (all fine sand don't do layers of coarseness as I did originally, did nothing that except hinder the spearers (they didn't use the coarse stuff...)) along with a sand bed at least as deep as the animal itself is long (or can get long so in your case at least 10cm deep), this will promote a growth spurt in the animal as it gives it maximum coverage and a natural setting (noted by Dr. Caldwell, they do best in DSBs, its just natural but will thrive none the less in PVC, P.ciliata is very hardy).

One thing that you can do to "Maximize" your chances of seeing it yet not harm the animal in anyway (as I did) is actually "enforce" it to burrow where you want it to (in a way...your tank is much smaller then mine, same goes your species is different..it may not want to burrow altogether!)... Either way, starting with a bare tank...line the entire back half of the tank with base rock (10cm deep/high for you) then add your sand up till that 10cm height, then put your live rock on top of your base rock, this would force the mantis to burrow towards the front of the tank rather then the back, worked a charm for me.

thats a great idea im going to get some sand tomorrow but im going to wait till spike is better b4 i do make the DSB:)

 

[josh]

bit of a update on spike he must be in one of the pipes because i cant see him:) i hope i see him soon

 

[Kharn]

patience is a virtue in this hobby :D

 

[josh]

hmm bad news i found spike in the middle of the tank upside down and dead :(

 

[chimaera]

Crap. That sucks, josh.

 

[josh]

sure dose!:(

 

[Kharn]

:( I am sorry for your loss

Something must of seriously been wrong ='[

Its such a tough species....the only things that can come to mind are outside agents (house hold cleaning chemicals are utterly LETHAL to stomatopods and not just cleaning agents, things like perfume (after shave) etc. as well I am extremely paranoid about this side of stomatopods, Dr. Caldwell has lost Hundreds maybe thousands of stomatopods to STUPID PATHETIC NON ENGLISH READING MEXICAN CLEANERS!!!!!! He puts a sign up in his lab for them to stay out and not clean it but they go in sometimes and when they do he looses 80-90% of all stock.

His most recent loss which was an absolute tear jerker (I nearly punched my PC screen) was a mated pair of large L.macs that he had.................for 15yrs.

Did you wash that PVC before adding it (like where was it stored prior to the tank?)

Please don't be disheartened by this unfortunate event ='[ it hurts me A LOT as I cannot help but feel partly responsible -_- (who have you been asking for help / advice ?...)

I will say this...although I got Zuzu the Unique out in time...I never put trust into "small" tanks/systems (mostly because of my own failures) they just require too much attention, even though the aspect of a small tank is very fun and unique, it has been my personal experience that through my nano, I was heading down....a bad path however...ANY tank I have had that holds more then 150L has proven to be exceptionally successful (primary reason as to WHY all the tanks in each stand are connected, not to save on costs but to help provide stability, I WOULD NEVER of done 10 single tanks).

I feel for you, as you are the first person whom has reported back a death to me...its hard isn't it and it's why some people do not name there stomatopods because as soon as you start giving names out...you start to get really attached.

The question is now that things have happened that you cannot change...what are you going to do ? Will you continue on your endeavor to obtain and maintain a stomatopod, or are you going to move on to something else ?

As cold as it may sound...these animals are extremely "cheap" to maintain (likely the cheapest : cost wise marine animal to keep, which is a VERY VERY good thing).
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Spike shall live on in our memories, lest we forget. :(

P.S. How big was Spike ? The species "only" gets to a maximum size of 95mm (small as far as the 400mm L.mac's go by...)

 

[firebird]

:(
So sorry to hear your news

 

[josh]

thanks so much kharn you make me feel so much better :) and yes i will stay on my endeavor to obtain and maintain a stomatopod but i think i need a bigger tank first ? and the pvc was new and i did wash it so i dont think it was that, but really i dont no what did it all the levels are fine in the tank there is even heaps of bristle worms in there that are live and well? do you think he could of be old and couldnt take the change? because when i took him out of then tank i wanted to see how long he was and he was 98mm from the tip of hes eyes to the tip of hes tail?so thats a little bit more then 95mm ?and yes Spike will live on in our memories, lest we forget. :(p.s Kharn plz dont feel responsible for hes death all you did was help if not for you he would of probably been died long ago, all i can say is thank so much for all your help:)

 

[josh]

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[Kharn]

thanks so much kharn you make me feel so much better :) and yes i will stay on my endeavor to obtain and maintain a stomatopod but i think i need a bigger tank first ? and the pvc was new and i did wash it so i dont think it was that, but really i dont no what did it all the levels are fine in the tank there is even heaps of bristle worms in there that are live and well? do you think he could of be old and couldnt take the change? because when i took him out of then tank i wanted to see how long he was and he was 98mm from the tip of hes eyes to the tip of hes tail?so thats a little bit more then 95mm ?and yes Spike will live on in our memories, lest we forget. :(

Well 98mm is large and it may very well be that he was an ol' sea dog =)

As far as keeping a tank stable I don't think anyone would object to having a larger system the general theory has always been, the more water volume the more stable said water is going to be (changes of parameters happen a lot slower then in comparison to a small tank).

This was my 1st setup and very successful! One of the primary reasons I started to scheme about my current setup (due to the ease of keep/maintenace).

The display tank was a 1200mmL x 450mmW x 450mmH tank which I filled with 3 kinds of substrate (wrong move but I got talked into it by LFS guys rather then listen to Dr. Caldwell...since fixed with new systems =D). There was a sump attached to the tank it was, 1000mmL x 300mmW x 350mm H with a consistent water depth of around 150mm, filtration was an FX5 canister filter which also provided half of the overall flow in the tank (other half was a Tunze Magnetic Powerhead) that is it for equipment, inside the FX5 was Seachem Matrix Media + Large (1-2inch) chunks of dead coral.

Not much really...there was anywhere between 230L - 115L (50/50 sand bed mix) in the Display tank & 40L - 80L in the sump