10 Gal tank? 10 Mantids?

[Mantislotus311]

A bit of a dilemma guys! I was wanting to consolidate all my Chinese mantids into one tank. I know they can be carnivorous and in order to keep them from eating each other there needs to be plenty of room and plenty of food for them to hunt. How do you guys feel about this idea? By the way they are L2/L3. 

 

[MantisGirl13]

Not gonna work. Chinese are some of the least communal mantids and will cannibalize at L1. Even with plenty of food and room, you will end up with one mantis very soon.

- MantisGirl13

 

[ohaple]

Agree with @MantisGirl13. Some people do this as a way to narrow down their mantises, but I don't recommend it. Also, a 10g is not very large as they grow. A 10g is 20x10x12". Most common recommendation is 2x mantis for depth and width, 3x for height. Chinese mantises can get about 4", so you want 8x8x12" if kept individually. You can see how a 10g is only about 2x the size of an enclosure for the adults.

 

[Krissim Klaw]

You can keep early instar Chinese mantises together with minimal cannibalism if offered enough room and plenty of food. Around L3 though is when I would personally suggest separating them. You can sex them fairly easy at that age, so I would pick out a couple you like for keepers. You really need to over feed to help curb this species appetite and while you can get away with that for early instars, later ones will be at risk of shedding problems from being overly fat. Even if you are trying the communal thing, I would still suggest two cages as you should really switch them out as they shed so you only ever have one instar/size together. Maybe instead consider splitting the ten gallon down the middle with a barrier if you want to house two in it, and rehome the rest.

 

[hibiscusmile]

go with kk's idea!