Peacock in Glass??

[rottbo]

I have an empty 55 and want a Peacock but am worried about having glass water and a dead peacock on the floor should I be worried or am I being paranoid????

[Kanicky]

Paranoid

It is not likely that your Mantis will break through your glass, especially in such a big tank.

[Mr Stomato]

I agree. I have 2 peacocks in glass tanks. No problems. My female is about 4" and she's in a 20L. She smacks the glass when shes hungry so if I keep her well fed she leaves the glass alone. The other one is the only one that could "possibly" crack glass. He's 6 1/2" but doesn't hit the glass at all. The particular tank I have him in is an Oceanic and has very thick panes of glass.

[elkinsda]

so a 29g would be ok too for a peacock?

[justinl]

yes 55 and 30 gal are both good enuogh voume wise for peacocks. but know that when they hit 5 inches or so, they are fully capable of breaking glass. If you go with a glass tank, line the bottom with strips of acrylic and beads of silicone. almost all of the tank breaks Ive heard of, happened to the bottom pane while the mantis was digging and wanted that clear obstacle out of the way. of course, the most sure fire way to go is just acrylic.

to give you an idea, 1/4" glass is easily broken. i would imagine 1/2" glass would be just fine. Id would still line the bottom with acrylic and silicone though, just in case.

[Guygettnby]

Originally posted by justinl
you go with a glass tank, line the bottom with strips of acrylic and beads of silicone. almost all of the tank breaks Ive heard of, happened to the bottom pane while the mantis was digging and wanted that clear obstacle out of the way.

Thanks for the heads up on that. i heard my tank make a wierd noise the other day like it was cracking and my peacock smacking something in her cave. i didnt think about the bottom of the tank being a problem until i heard that.

[KhawMengLee]

A peacock in a glass tank should be fine unless you are going to tap the glass next to his hole going, "Hey! fishy! fishy! fishy!"

The only thing I was worried about was when he dug to the bottom of the tank and I could see glass...even then he stopped and left the bottom alone.

[justinl]

like i said, most breaks happen in the bottom pane. just think about it in the eyes of a mantis. "diga diga diga diga diga, oh my, a big clear rock! better get it out of the way, smashy smashy smashy..."

[KafudaFish]

I have had my peacock in a 29 gal. for over a year and I have never had a problem or concern over the glass. I did place a layer of plexiglass on the bottom and sealed it to prevent detritus build up but really don't think it was necessary.

[Gonodactylus]

I have a couple of dozen O. scyllarus in glass 20 L tank and none of the tanks have been broken. On the other hand, the tanks are all on fiberglass aquarium racks in a room with epoxy floors and floor drains and the electrical drops down from the ceiling. Should a tank leak or break, all I will possibly lose is the stomatopod. That is very different from having a tank in your living room. The risk of breakage is very small, but if the consequences are large, it is probably prudent to use tanks with at least 8 mm glass or line the bottom with thin Plexiglass or other plastic.

I've written on this subject many times, so I won't re-hash the obvious. I have tried to recall all of the tanks that I have had broken by O. scyllarus. I came up with 8 - not including the time that I trained an animal to break tanks for the BBC. The most memorable was in 1974 when a true 7 inch male named George took out the face plate of an "Instant Ocean" 35 gallon tank while the editor of Scientific American was watching. That animal double dactyledly helped launch my career because the editor was so impressed he asked me to write an article for the journal. I wish I had had George's raptorial appendages bronzed.

Given that I have been keeping O. scyllarus in my lab since 1972 and have had probably over a thousand including very large animals that are no longer available, only 8 disasters is a pretty good safety record. (But even then, the really big guys over 6 inches went into Plexiglass protected systems.)

The bottom line is that it is up to you how much risk you want to assume. For me, if I were to keep a 6 inch O. scyllarus in an aquarium in my living room over my wife's prized hardwood floor, it would be in a very well armored tank. The cost of failure would be way too high.

Roy