tank without cleanup crew?
- Thread starter dz6t
- Start date
david3d
Non-member
My mantis tank is still pretty new so I can only relay my very limited experience. The tank now has been up and going for 3 weeks or so and the mantis has only been in there for a little over a week. I think the biggest and most important factor is going to be keeping the water quality good. So weekly partial water changes to keep the phosphates under control to inhibit algea growth.
On Tues I added 3 turbo snails to the tank, mainly for food but also in hopes that they would survive long enough to take care of a little bit of clean up. Well he took 2 of the snails out the first night....but he's left the third alone. So now I'm hoping he'll leave it be for a while but I think it's just a matter of time.
I had a few patches of green algea growing on some live rock. I'm not sure the type but it was a dense clump of bright green moss. The turbo snail doesn't seem to be doing anything to these patches but to my surprise today the mantis was beating the rock and pulling the algea up. He rolled it up into balls and took it into his den...I guess he uses this for building material. He's also been bashing up all my live rock and using the bits for building material...pretty interesting to watch.
-David
On Tues I added 3 turbo snails to the tank, mainly for food but also in hopes that they would survive long enough to take care of a little bit of clean up. Well he took 2 of the snails out the first night....but he's left the third alone. So now I'm hoping he'll leave it be for a while but I think it's just a matter of time.
I had a few patches of green algea growing on some live rock. I'm not sure the type but it was a dense clump of bright green moss. The turbo snail doesn't seem to be doing anything to these patches but to my surprise today the mantis was beating the rock and pulling the algea up. He rolled it up into balls and took it into his den...I guess he uses this for building material. He's also been bashing up all my live rock and using the bits for building material...pretty interesting to watch.
-David
MelodyDurham
Non-member
I was peeking into Al's hole this morning, and I noticed he'd woven some curtains and knitted a lovely sweater vest out of the algea last night. 
Maybe we should turn up the heat some?
Melody~
Maybe we should turn up the heat some?Melody~
david3d
Non-member
As it turns out his odd behaviour of gathering materials was in preparation for a molt. So that could be the reason that one snail lives. We'll see what happens once his new shell hardens up a bit. I do have some algea growing now though....some brown stuff. I'm not sure if it's just a new tank thing or what. But I'm going to try to get my alk levels up and shorten my light cycle to see if I can get that under control.
-David
-David
david3d
Non-member
That would be my guess. It's starting to cover the substrate and live rock a bit just making it look dirty. What ever it is it needs light b/c it's not on the live rock in shaded areas. I do have one patch of a purple greyish stuff that has some hairs. But this is in a spot I used to help me remove some food that was not eaten out of the tank so I'm sure it's just temporary and will clear up once the baterias and worms clean up that area. I'm also looking at getting a small power head in there to keep the water moving better.
-David
-David
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