Mantis and Coral?

matty0206 · #1 06/29/2006, 03:00 PM

Ok my lfs has a green mantis for sale and i would like to get him but my wife wants soft corals and polyps in our 12g nano are the two compatible? And what about the damsel and the red foot hermits and the small snails i have?

Frostyeel · #2 06/29/2006, 03:23 PM

Mantis won't bother the coral besides moving the rocks they are on, but it will eat the snails and hermit crab and there is a chance it will eat the damsel.

Thurge · #3 06/30/2006, 08:06 AM

I have a pair of Yellow Tail Chromis and a Saphire Damsel in my Mantis Reef. Tongan Nassarius snails may stay under your mantis' radar by staying under the sand.

rudyistaken · #4 06/30/2006, 08:47 AM

Mantis are great at fragging however. In My Ternatensis tank there is always fragging going one.

thor32766 · #5 07/01/2006, 04:33 PM

yeah a manits would mess with the corals

JmLee · #6 07/01/2006, 09:55 PM

i have a 4 inch peacock with a kenya tree coral, GSP colony and zoos, He hasnt bothered any of them.

Baggerhog · #7 07/01/2006, 10:36 PM

I have not seen a Mantis mess with softies. Zoos on rock yes but softies in general no.

Uriel · #8 07/02/2006, 06:10 AM

As rudyistaken mentioned, G. ternatensis is very given to 'fragging'. Dr. Roy has mentioned that this species lives in live coral heads, and mine seems to like to whack away like she was in a fragging contest.
I have twice put small rocks with zoos in her tank, both times things ending with her 'kidnapping' the little rocks, to use as decoration somewhere. She is extremely aggressive, and trying to find them in her den would be suicide (At least for my fingers).

This brings up the only real danger for corals, the chance that the mantis might decide to show disatisfaction with your aquascaping projects. They tend to move around the rocks, with or without attached corals. I have random mushrooms in with 5 or 6 of mine, and the rocks were moved around quite a lot (And still are in a couple of cases).

The little guys don't bother much in the way of corals, at least not from my experiences, and both of my O. scyllarus ignore what little coral life is in their tanks (Low light mushrooms,a s strong lights are bad for O.s...).

-Ron

matty0206 · #9 07/02/2006, 10:43 AM

Thanks for all of the feedback I think at this point i might just put one in my 12g nano and get a bigger tank for fish and corals