Mantis Shrimp - Expensive?

[dzovi]

I've been reading the treads and I'm wondering if this is another expensive branch of the salt hobby. Do mantis shrimp primarily eat live food (snails, shrimp, etc)? What is the monthly cost for feeding an adult mantis?

 

[rwhhunt]

Nope, mine eats frozen, but gets live crayfish for treats occasionally, I say around $10 a month on krill & gulf shrimp. Mantis's are probably the most inexpensive super exotic pet you could own

 

[Carinya]

A lot of the expense from saltwater tanks comes from the lights & filtration equipment. For a mantis, you can use regular Normal Output flourescent lights like come with hoods at PetSmart and they do not require fancy filtration.

A small mantis could be kept in a stock 3g eclipse tank with substrate & rocks added. Then your regularly-occuring costs are going to be for water and for food. As folks noted, frozen food with an occasional live treat seems to be pretty adequate and also not terribly expensive at ~$10-20/ month, depending on prices in your area & how much live food you use.

Good luck,
C