mantis feeding

[Shia]

I have finally obtained a mantis shrimp thanks to Achilles Tang. Now I was wondering what kind of foods to feed it? I have read that if you don't give a smasher hard food once in a while his smasher will fall off, so for right now he is eating baby snails. I plan on feeding him hermit crabs, squid, and some misc. fish. What else could I try to feed him? What has worked for you guys?

 

[jsronce]

My little 1 1/2" smasher will take bits of thawed krill and silversides offered with a long skewer.

Jennifer

 

[Death Shrimp99]

There is many posts on this board about feeding check them out. You can feed them: snails of all kinds, small crabs, small fish, hermit crabs, shrimp of all kinds, a bait and tackle had many kinds of frozen foods, mussels, and many more. U got the idea freshwater feeder fish are bad for their health over time but u canm feed them to it until u get other scorces. It is true about them louseing their claws but i wouldent worry about it mine seems to get alot of exercise breaking snails.

 

[Shia]

where would I obtain silverslides? Would a lfs sell them or a fish market?

 

[Narcissus Narcosis]

local fish store in the frozen section. mine are big fans of shrimp and scallops from the grocery store, which are cheaper than silversides. occasionally i toss in a freshwater snail for some smashing fun. glad to hear you finally got a mantis shia. i was fixing to try sending you one in a water bottle or something if you didn't have any luck soon.

 

[Shia]

thanks Narcissus Narcosis. I am very happy I fianlly have a mantis in my tank. The wierd thing is I got him on Tuesday when he was dark red, and know I look at him he as turned green. I guess during the night it molted.
Also he has tank 3-5 baby snails in his tank, but feeding him snails starts getting costly.

 

[Narcissus Narcosis]

if you have a petsmart near you ask to scoop some of those little snails they have infesting every tank....buy a one gallon fish bowl and put them in with some live floating plants and harvest at your leisure. as far as i know there is nothing wrong with feeding them freshwater snails. my biggest mantis enjoys them. and i've had no problem getting them to take pieces of shrimp or scallops, so you save money there too.

 

[Death Shrimp99]

good idea i never thought of feeding mine freshwater snails they are cool i wish you could have freshwater snails for saltwater there fast, i saw one jump off the tank side in the fishstore they have little eyes too saltwater snails are boring

 

[Shia]

No petsmart near me. I think I will just go ahead and buy some shrimp at the market. I might feed him baby snails but $.50 each adds up.

 

[Ananda]

It's a bit of a drive, but there are Petco stores (chain that competes with Petsmart) in Sturtevant and Kenosha... they will usually give you snails, too.

 

[Shia]

How long do the freshwater snails last in saltwater?

 

[Narcissus Narcosis]

when i put one in it doesn't come back out of its shell so i assume not very long (like maybe a minute), but the mantis is always quick to act.

 

[Shia]

Do the freshwater snails pollute the water as much as saltwater ones when they die?