Looking to have some fun with a mantis, any suggestions?
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wallyllama
New member
My experience was..
My experience was..
that the mantis shrimp do most of the fun stuff, I just get to watch, and often my mantis would watch me back.
I would feed it using a piece of rigid airline with a loop of fishing line in it. I would lasso the food on one end and stick it in. The mantis would strike at it. (pretty hard too, for a 1.5 in long critter). One time he struck at it and the food was on there too tight and he whacked the stick, pulled at the food and couldn't get it. He shot back in his hole and then right back out, looked slowly up the length of the tube, saw my hand, and went back in his hole. I couldn't get him to eat from the tube for several days after that.....
My experience was..
that the mantis shrimp do most of the fun stuff, I just get to watch, and often my mantis would watch me back.
I would feed it using a piece of rigid airline with a loop of fishing line in it. I would lasso the food on one end and stick it in. The mantis would strike at it. (pretty hard too, for a 1.5 in long critter). One time he struck at it and the food was on there too tight and he whacked the stick, pulled at the food and couldn't get it. He shot back in his hole and then right back out, looked slowly up the length of the tube, saw my hand, and went back in his hole. I couldn't get him to eat from the tube for several days after that.....
I had an Odontodactylus mantis for almost two years, unfortunately I lost her in a move. I will always remember her as one of my most favorite pets. She certainly was the smartest.
She grew to about 18-20cm long. She was always very curious and once she got to know me she would always come out to greet me when I came into the room. She ate just about anything, (sometimes she even got damsel fish for a treat! -- she just loved to chase them and they're more healthful than goldfish). But since she was a "clubber" she also liked to bash at mussels, turbos, etc. Another entertaining thing was to watch her clean house, she was constantly moving stuff in and out of her burrow and even bashing new tunnels in the rocks.
I highly recommend mantis shrimps as pets, but if you have a large "clubber", you might want to get an acrylic tank, a professor of mine has witnessed large Odontodactylus fracture glass.
She grew to about 18-20cm long. She was always very curious and once she got to know me she would always come out to greet me when I came into the room. She ate just about anything, (sometimes she even got damsel fish for a treat! -- she just loved to chase them and they're more healthful than goldfish). But since she was a "clubber" she also liked to bash at mussels, turbos, etc. Another entertaining thing was to watch her clean house, she was constantly moving stuff in and out of her burrow and even bashing new tunnels in the rocks.
I highly recommend mantis shrimps as pets, but if you have a large "clubber", you might want to get an acrylic tank, a professor of mine has witnessed large Odontodactylus fracture glass.
More Mantis tricks
More Mantis tricks
I've got 2.5" Mantis, and use some long stainless tongs to feed her ghost shrimp. If she's hungry enough she'll swim up to the tongs and whack them until I let go of the shrimp. Really fun to watch, very iquisitive, and a quick learner (she's learning that if she waits long enough I'll just drop the shrimp).
J
More Mantis tricks
I've got 2.5" Mantis, and use some long stainless tongs to feed her ghost shrimp. If she's hungry enough she'll swim up to the tongs and whack them until I let go of the shrimp. Really fun to watch, very iquisitive, and a quick learner (she's learning that if she waits long enough I'll just drop the shrimp).
J
technoshaman
Reefer
Mantis
Mantis
I have a 3.5" O. Scyllarus in a 5 gallon hex (soon to move to a 15 gallon acrylic tank). She spends most of her day rearranging her den moving shells, rock, algae and gravel constantly. For fun I sometimes drop things in her burrow and watch her charge out and throw it back (I did this with an emerald crab molt I mistakenly thought was a dead crab). It will grab food from tongs or if I drop some freeze dried krill in will swim to the surface and grab it. Moving stuff around the outside of the tank sometimes elicits a curious glance or a flaring display (seems to react the strongest to orange so far). I used to have my nano right next to the mantis tank and when Queenie (my mantis) saw the fire shrimp bopping around in the next tank she'd launch herself at the wall and then turn at the last second when she realized it was solid. Interestingly she seemed to figure that out pretty quick and doesn't charge at him through the glass anymore.
Mantis
I have a 3.5" O. Scyllarus in a 5 gallon hex (soon to move to a 15 gallon acrylic tank). She spends most of her day rearranging her den moving shells, rock, algae and gravel constantly. For fun I sometimes drop things in her burrow and watch her charge out and throw it back (I did this with an emerald crab molt I mistakenly thought was a dead crab). It will grab food from tongs or if I drop some freeze dried krill in will swim to the surface and grab it. Moving stuff around the outside of the tank sometimes elicits a curious glance or a flaring display (seems to react the strongest to orange so far). I used to have my nano right next to the mantis tank and when Queenie (my mantis) saw the fire shrimp bopping around in the next tank she'd launch herself at the wall and then turn at the last second when she realized it was solid. Interestingly she seemed to figure that out pretty quick and doesn't charge at him through the glass anymore.
duckhuntboy
New member
"have fun with" as in, have fun watching it thrive, or starve it to watch it desperately go after some food?
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