What should I do?

Pufferpunk

Pufferpunk

New member
I just lost my Mantis shrimp. I think it might have been due to the 11 hour blackout we had last week. I thought he was fine--no stressing or gulping at the surface, so I did nothing to maintain his tank. I was really busy with the heavier-stocked ones. He was the tank mate of a purple lobster in a 40g tank--just the 2 of them--so I figured it was way understocked. He started acting weird though, right after the electricity went on. Almost like he had brain damage. I found him dead 2 days later. So I have this square tank (25x25x18) with one purple lobster (I can move) and thousands of tulip anemones covering ever inch of rock & glass (except the front), along with about 100 lbs of really nice LR. The nems looked cool for a while. Fine for a mantis tank but I think I'd like to go in another direction. Not even sure if I want to keep the tank SW or go back to FW with it. The tank is a weird shape for a puffer. I love oddball fish but most of the oddballs require live foods & I really don't think I want to deal with that right now with all the tanks I have to keep up with.

I could just get another mantis (really love them!) but I'm really tired with how the tank looks with all those nems. If I was to get rid of the nems though, that would involve the long smelly process of cooking all that rock. I could do it outdoors in a garbage can with FW & just keep dumping it out every couple of days & refilling. It's gonna be really gross though!

Ideas???
 
ColaAddict

ColaAddict

New member
why don't you just let them dry out in the hot sun to kill everything, probably not smelly way to do it too. After everythings dead, just recure the rocks.
 
ColaAddict

ColaAddict

New member
It would be easier to clean, you don't really need to handle alot of nasty water, just power wash or high pressure hose wash every once in a while. with the sun and the heat we have right now, things on the rock will dry up really fast and can be pressure washed. will be cleaner alot faster than soaking in water, because that will cause them to rot for awhile, as opposed to drying them up really fast in the hot sun and pressure washing the dry stuff off..
 
Smitty

Smitty

Premium member
You could rent a natural predator of the anemones, and let it wipe them out. That way you won't have to re cure the rock and at the same time have something different/exotic in the tank, like a butterfly fish or some sort of nudibranch maybe.
 
scotty

scotty

Member
can we see a picture? I'm kinda curious what an entire 100lbs of rock caked in nems looks like. even if you dry it out, i bet any money something survives somehow.

dwarf lion really? I've never seen one that didn't look sickly.

I say octopus garden.
 
FishBeard

FishBeard

New member
I still have that mantis hiding out in my tank somewhere. It's free if you know how to get it out humanely without moving my rockwork. The last time I saw it in the middle of the night it looked about 2" or less end to end and skinny, so no clue on age. Haven't seen any mantis molts in the tank, but still hear the telltale snapping coming from the tank.
 
Smitty

Smitty

Premium member
For 50.00, you could buy an order of live rock from tb saltwater, and get a free mantis and other goodies. :)
 
Pufferpunk

Pufferpunk

New member
Not a Peacock, I would guess... The tank really doesn't look that bad with all those nems--kinda cool, actually.
 
Pufferpunk

Pufferpunk

New member
So with the AC problems & the fact that I HATE this tank, I kinda let it go & woke up to the most horrible smell! Milky white tank. Luckily, I didn't get another mantis for there. It seems the sea apple finally bit the dust. I highly suggest against purchasing one for your tank, they are impossible to keep alive. Anyway, I drained the stinky water & moved all the rock outside. House is still pretty stinky, because of the sand & rotting tulip nems on the glass. I have to wait until tomorrow to get someone to move the heavy tank outta here.

It is now the next day. OMG, my eyes are killing me! I must have not washed my hands well enough after moving all that rock out of the tank I tore down. Lost of palys on there. :wacko:
 
poidog

poidog

Active member
get that fresh wave gel crystals, Ace carries it.... they'll neutralize the smell. May take a couple days, but it's the only thing that cleaned out the air in our house when the tank crashed last year.
 
Crooks

Crooks

New member
So are you now willing to admit that your tulip anemones are invasive and can take over a tank? I am only sounding harsh here because I had manjoes take over one of my tanks and I wouldnt wish that on anyone else.
 
4

400gallonnano

Member
My sea apple is doing great for a couple years. Just because you failed doesn't mean others can't keep them alive and those were not manjoes. They were "cute" tulip anemonies
 
ColaAddict

ColaAddict

New member
400gallonnano said:
My sea apple is doing great for a couple years. Just because you failed doesn't mean others can't keep them alive and those were not manjoes. They were "cute" tulip anemonies
Click to expand...
Sea apples are considered advanced aquarist only pet. They are very difficult to keep alive. Jenni is correct to advice people to stay away from it. Most people should not keep it. It's nice that yours is doing fine, but unless you have alot of time that you can devote to caring for hard to keep animals, you shouldn't try to keep one in your tank. 1 of those dying can wipe out your whole tank with the toxins it produces.
 
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