Mantis Food

[Sectoid]

What do you feed your mantis? Just curious to know what everyone else is feeding theirs. I checked out the FAQ on Lurker, but heard alot of differnt opinions locally.

Some say brine some say snails. Thanx for the input.

Dave

 

[brekurboy1]

What kind of mantis are you talking about? If you have a spearer it's not important that they get foods to stab, just cool to watch. If you have a smasher you really should give it foods that it has to bash open to maintain Dactyl Health i.e. keeping the clubs on it's dactyls hard. This helps prevent the loss of dactyls during molts. So maybe a snail every once in a while. Be aware that the mantis is smart enough to wait for an easier meal. If you constantly feed foods that it doesn;t have to bash open it will get lazy and wait for you to give it softer foods rather than attack the snails.

 

[Sectoid]

I have a smasher, I'll try to post a pic tomorrow, or Thursday. I just got him from kennerd recently and have been feeding it brine.

 

[brekurboy1]

Are you fortifying your brine shrimp with vitamins or selcon? Brine shrimp has been described as popcorn. You wouldn;t want to eat popcorn all the time would you? Maybe go to the grocery store and buy a bag of frozen shrimp. Thaw it out, even let it soak in some selcon or vitachem. When it's not too cold stick it in there are let him have it. But like I said He;s got to use his smashing accoutrement or they'll get soft and fall off during molting. See if you can find a cheap source of astrea snails. or even hermit crabs.

 

[Isaari]

Vitamin enriched freeze dried krill for my smasher. She doesn't crack anything to get it, but she hits the rock in the tank often enough that I would imagine her dactyls are getting a workout.

 

[zepplin48138]

I just found a mantis in my tank, it has been in there about a week, it came with a peice of rock. I have a coral banded, cleaner shrimp, 2 clowns, snails, and hermits. I s there anything to worry about?

 

[Danz]

I head to the local beach and get small rock crabs, astrea snails, star snails, shrimp, Green porcelain crabs (invasive species so I collect as many as possible, Mantis love 'em), cockle shell clams and whatever else I uncover from the rocks.

 

[Isaari]

zepplin48138,

If you have a slasher, your fish will be the first meal. If you have a smasher, the rest of your list will make a nice treat, and the clowns might get it too.

In other words, yes, you have a lot to worry about unless you remove it. Read more in this forum on how to remove it. Perhapes someone in the Detroit area will want it.

 

[Sectoid]

Danz,
I wish I lived near a beach. The closest "beach" to me is the Hudson river and I don't want to put my hand in there. Much less take home whatever I yanked out and put it in my tank. BTW, do Mantis eat dead mobsters?

 

[Dazz]

hahaha Sectoid =) I have gone swimming in the hudson (up by Poughkeepsie) and it isnt _that_ bad.

On another note you guys ever have probelms with a third eyeball showing up on your forehead?

 

[Jace18]

I feed mine a large variety of food most if possible with selcon added

For live food I feed
Ghost shrimp
Gold claw or fiddler crabs
Nuisance hermit crabs and snails

Frozen I feed
Salad shrimp
Brine shrimp
Krill
And about anything else I can find frozen or in the seafood dept.

 

[DensityMan]

Tim (small G. smithii) eats better than I do I think.

When I first got him I fed him 'enriched' brine and stocked the tank heavily with snails (astrea, cerith, nassarius, stomatella), blue-leg hermits and any hitchhiking crab that made it's way into one of my tanks.

In my personal experience Tim loves ALL food, but his favorite choice is the nassarius (night of the walking dead) snails. He enjoys a lazy straw-feeding every now and then of brine or mysis shrimp. I haven't yet tried ghost-shrimp (but need to since nassarius snails are 'expensive' for food) or frozen shrimp.

Variety is the spice of life, in most cases. I do prefer to let him hunt on his own more often than not. It keeps his mantis-instincts sharp, his health (presumably) good and it is far more entertaining to watch.

Good luck!

 

[brekurboy1]

Indeed variety is the spice of life!!!

Mix it up with the saltwater snacks but I would stay away from or feed sparingly animals that are specific to freshwater, i.e. crayfish and what not. Exclusive feeding of freshwater animals to mantis shrimp has caused organ failure. The specifics of the animals that were fed weren't specified but I would put money on the fact that they were mostly goldfish. Feed snails and frozen shrimp type things you can;t go wrong.

 

[Sectoid]

My mother had a huge overpopulation of Hercules and Ram's Horn snails in her fresh tank. I took a bunch of them and put them in the mantis tank. They survived long enough for him to have a live meal. I still have about 10 or so, going to only give him a few at a time.