Live Food Question

[icy1155]

Hello all, I'm going to pick up my first mantis shrimp tomorrow. I dont know what kind. He was a hitchhiker but I'll post some pictures when I get him. I was just wondering about if it was healthy to feed only live foods to a mantis. The reason I ask is I live right on the beach in Maine and I can go get snails and muscles from the ocean, acclimate them slowly and presto, free live food. I was thinking that this might be the best way for me to give my mantis a good variety of foods but I though I would see what the professionals thought.

 

[justinl]

I don't like feeding bivalves to my mantis even though i could easily get mussels too. Stick to snails, crabs, and hermits. these are perfect live food for smashers.

if yours is a spearer then the best live food is fish and shrimp which may be somewhat harder to catch.

 

[Pea-brain]

Yeah, mussels have too much meat and a mantis will only eat what they feel like (the good parts) But otherwise as long as it isn't polluted there shouldn't be a problem. Overall live food is logically healther than frozen, and better matches their diet.

 

[Ehudd]

Well i did not feed my first ever mantis live food, just frozen. And then we he molted he molted his appendages off... So i figured if they arnt using them to them it may just be more wieght they do not need to carry. Not to sure. Dr Roy???

 

[justinl]

yes Ehudd, that is what often happens. that's why it is so highly recommended for mantis owners to give live hard shelled food once in a while.

 

[Hutton]

I only feed live food to my mantis shrimp, If i feed it frozen it tends to get lazy and doesnt want to work for food, with live food you get to see them forage for food like the would in the wild.

 

[mattyice]

i agree with hutton all of mine are fed live food then they eat on their own schedule and are actually more interactive, at least mine are

 

[gemini aquarius(t)]

i dont feed mine(not on a regular basis) but he has a ton of live friends in his tank!

 

[yankeereefer]

Just my $.02, but I think a periodic frozen meal soaked in selcon (or something similar) would be a good idea for captive maintained mantis.

 

[justinl]

mmm... if the diet of a mantis is strictly live food, then i don't think supplementing with frozens soaked in selcon is really necessary. I mean, in the wild there's no such thing as selcon right? just live food. *shrug*

 

[yankeereefer]

I would agree that there is no selcon in the wild - But you must also agree that in the wild a mantis' diet would be more varied that what is is likely to receive in captivity.

For live food, I believe that most hobbyists are going to provide snails and the occasional fish, crab or shrimp - I doubt the crustacean consumption in the captive hobby is anywhere near what is it in the wild.

Anyway, it was just my opinion

 

[mattyice]

i dunno about that, in my tank i usually have about 20 mexican turbo snails with algae sheets in their tank, about 3 damsels fed spectrum flakes, and then usually shrimp dont last long but i throw a few in there about once a month plus i guess i could put little clams are mussels in there but smashing and spearing mantis shrimps have those appendages for a reason, their specialized hunting styles and prey, and i know that you know that but what isnt killed in their specialized range is usually not food for them

 

[icy1155]

I can actually supply a pretty good assortment of different live foods for him to pick through... about 4 different species of crabs, 3 different snails, urchins and small (under 2") muscles easily.

Ok, my guy is a smasher. He went into the tank yesterday but no pictures yet since when he was acclimating the girl friend had the camera. He appears to be all black with sligh coloration around the edges of his tail. I didnt notice any distinctive spots on him or any real patterns or colors other than the edges of his tail. Also, he is about the length of by index finger (about 3in). Any suggestions on a species?

 

[Pea-brain]

get the mantis to do a meral spread and look at the meral spots (colored spots on the inside of each of his smashing "arm") What color are they? My guess would be G. viridis because of the variety of colors it comes in but there are others that can change colors. But they usually have lots of little white spots all over.....

 

[icy1155]

As soon as he starts to come out and be social hopefully I will be able to get a better ID. All day yesterday he was just escavating a burrow/hiding. For the first 5 minutes or so after he found the rock he was hammering away like a jackhammer and then he didnt come out again the rest of the day. Hopefully today when I get out of work he is a little more settled in.

 

[icy1155]

P.S. He could be atlantic or Pacific... the lady that got him in didnt know where the zoa rock he was living in came from since it was through a supplier that handles both.

 

[Ab3]

Where can you get feeder shrimp cheap?

 

[Pea-brain]

seawaterexpress.com has some saltwater shrimp for a good price that can be put in the tank and won't die from just being in saltwater. You could dump a whole bunch in the tank and they will live until your mantis kills it. And it'll scavenge until it dies too...The only problem is shipping is expensive......

 

[Ab3]

Im getting a 10g glass tank. If I put snails in it and they go on the glass, will my mantis break the glass when trying to kill a snail??? Its a mantis that will only get to 4". Im ordering it from liveaquaria: http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=2281&N=0

 

[Pea-brain]

should be no problem, at worse it could crack the tank but That is VERY unlikely, even if it beats at the glass repeatedly unless it is 4" and then it would have trouble doing damage.