mantis vs crab

[jsronce]

We went to the beach today and caught a few shore crabs to feed our mantis shrimps. We put a little 1/2" (across the carapace) crab in the tank with our 2" mantis, and the crab managed to hide in the rocks and is still lively hours later. Looks like we have a pet crab.

So, is the mantis safe from the crab, if he decides not to try to eat it? The mantis has a tunnel in a rock that the crab can't get into, but I'm worried something may go wrong. I figured the crab was small enough for the mantis, but I didn't count on it hiding so well! (Or surviving in warmer water.)

On a more positive note, both of our O. scyllarus enjoyed their crabs. The bigger girl ("Alara") was a little skittish, but figured out what it was pretty quick and smashed the heck out of it. The smaller peacock tore into hers immediately, and zipped around the tank chasing the poor crab. Half the time the crab wasn't running away, just the smacks she was giving it were propelling it in the water! We've got a couple more crabs in the fridge, along with some snails and tiny mussels, for tomorrow.

Jennifer

 

[jsronce]

The crab died last night (probably was too warm), so no more worries about it hurting the mantis. We did find out yesterday that the mantis adores the tiny black snails that cover the rocks at the beach by the 1,000s, so we know where to get free mantis chow for all but the spearer now.

Jennifer

 

[kalim]

Re: mantis vs crab

yeh, i once introduced large crayfish into a mantis tank. When the mantis hit the crayfish, the force of the blow (plus the natural escape paddling of the crayfish) caused the crayfish to bounce clear across the tank. If the mantis hits a solid blow though, it thoroughly stuns the luckless crayfish, even though it is usually bigger than the mantis.

there's actually a quicktime video of this :

http://www.blueboard.com/mantis/multimedia.htm

On a more positive note, both of our O. scyllarus enjoyed their crabs. The bigger girl ("Alara") was a little skittish, but figured out what it was pretty quick and smashed the heck out of it. The smaller peacock tore into hers immediately, and zipped around the tank chasing the poor crab. Half the time the crab wasn't running away, just the smacks she was giving it were propelling it in the water! We've got a couple more crabs in the fridge, along with some snails and tiny mussels, for tomorrow.
Jennifer