Coral Safe?

[ZMattie]

Im guessing no but i figured id throw it out there... Are mantis shrimp coral safe?

[Koshmar]

I have no personal experience with keeping mantis shrimps with corals but I have read from other keepers that they generally leave corals alone. There is an exception where the mantis may redecorate its burrow and pick up a piece and relocate it but for the most part they won't go crazy and smash all your coral up. The biggest problem you would have with keeping a mantis in a coral tank would be the clean up crew. If you keep a smasher, you CUC will slowly disappear within a few days. You can always replenish the CUC but this can get expensive. So for the most part they are coral safe because I have seen my photos of people who keep a mantis with corals.

[Merdock21]

Our hitch-hiker had no qualm with corals. In fact, one polyp fell through a hole in a small rock. The shrimp actually left the giant rock it came in and went to the tiny rock and pushed the coral back up out of the hole.

[Koshmar]

More or less yes. I have a zoa colony and kenya tree in my tank with no problems with my G. chiragra. She does'nt seem to even care about them. Don't put something in with a mantis if you are afraid to lose it though. They can sometimes think that a coral would look great as a burrow decoration. Some mantis' hate certain colors too, so just test out corals to see which ones won't make your mantis go crazy.

[geffhardy1]

I have a 20gal coral reef tank. I have added a Pseudosquilla ciliata(spearer) mantis shrimp about a week ago. The first night he was digging under the live rock and knocked some of my corals over or would walked over them by mistake. What I did was make a pvc pipe burrow for him near the back of the tank and he has not touched a coral since the first night. They dont seem to even notice corals are in the tank. When putting corals on the rocks and the floor always leave a little space to the left or to the right so your mantis can easily walk around .