feeding question

[mcsara]

Hi there. I just got a mantis (unable to get a photo to id at the moment). It was in a reef tank and seems to have survived there for a while. I have had it for three days now. It's about 1 inch long. I have put small snails in the tank, which, judging from the sounds I have heard coming from the tank, it seems to like. It ignores the feeding stick if it has krill on it, but mysis seemed to be acceptable. Should I add more snails (I've run out of little ones, and I'm unsure as to what size snail it could successfully take on) or should I keep trying the stick?
Once I get a photo, I'll be requesting an id, but I can't even see it in the tank. I only know it's there due to the clicking sound.

Thanks in advance,
Sara

 

[EMG]

My N. Wenn 2" has now become picky...only eating ghost shrimp.....

He hasn't touched a single snail, or crab in three weeks..

I actually don't mind though because now I have a nice little 6 gallon reef tank with tons of cool inverts and LR.

 

[dc]

My last ate about anything including pellets. So far this guy has eaten kril and mysis.

 

[mcsara]

I'm just kind of worried about him starving. Since he doesn't come out, I don't know if he's even alive until I hear clicking. Since the tiny snails seem to be gone, he's probably eaten well, but I'm not sure how often they need to eat (especially since I can't id him). I guess I'll try little astreas and see how thosr work. The problem is that it's a newish set up, so no real algae to speak of. If he doesn'y eat the snails, I'm worries they'll die from lack of food. Oh, what to do...

 

[EMG]

Try small pieces of frozen coctail shrimp or small pieces of dead fish. Ghost shrimp are also cheap and a favorite. They are usually about .35 cents each at any LFS.