My mantis is askeerd of Damsels

[Creade]

Well my mantis stopped eatting this past week so figured now would be a decent time to be weak and let him have a try at live food.
So i went to the LFS grabbed 2 blue damsels, tossed them in the tank, and yay they acclimated and started swimming around like they owned the tank. At the moment their sitting inside the mantis cave. Marvin (my mantis) is sitting behind them just chilling.
He starts to come out the other entrance, then a damsel swims by and he ducks back into his cave. Is this normal for him to be so skiddish? He doesnt even run from my hand like he does these 2 damsels. Im just worred about him, maybe when he is hungry enough he will begin to harass them?

Creade

 

[hubris007]

don't tell PETA this, or they'll kick me out of their club... Buy one more damsel and break its back fairly close to the tail. I know it's harsh, but you are trying to get your shrimp to kill it anyway, right? It worked with my pirhana, i'd think it ought to work for the shrimp.

 

[Python73]

Creade - is Marvin a spearer or smasher? What do you normally feed that he isn't accepting?

If he is a smasher, he may never kill those fish. Try a small crayfish. If he is a spearer, the spine-snap may just work.

S !

 

[Creade]

He's a spearer. He usually eats krill,squid,silversides..basically anything fleshy i hang infront of his cave. I'll give him another day with the damsels, then run and get another to try the spine snap if need be. Thanks all.

Creade

 

[Python73]

Also, maybe smaller live feeders like guppies or rosies would do the trick. Don't want to get him hooked on freshwater fish as food, but just to kick start...

S !

 

[Gonodactylus]

It sounds to me like it is approaching a molt. Depending on the size and species, stomatopods quit eating a few days prior to molting. They also become more secretive. You should not try to "force" food on a stomatopod. If they are hungry, they will eat.

Also, I don't know the species of spearer that you have, but they two most likely species are a Lysiolsquilla or a Pseudosquilla. A damsel is too deep bodies for a P.c. to attack (unless the fish is really small or the stomatopod really hungry). P.c. is a generalist, but generally feeds on small shrimp, crabs, very small fish, and even other stomatopods. A Lysiosquilla would have no trouble with a damsel since they are adapted for catching relatively large fish.

Roy

 

[tzl]

don't with wasting money on damsels.

try using feeder goldfish....

here is one technique that i used to do to let my FW lobster catch goldfish, take a needle and pierce it through the swim bladder. The feeders will swim and live for a long time still, at least a day, but be too slow and clumsy to escape.

I'm sure in SW, a gold fish will at least live 10-20 mins, i remember that when i fed feeders to my triggers, the goldfish would sometimes live for 3-4 hours in SW.

Ting

don't tell PETA this, or they'll kick me out of their club... Buy one more damsel and break its back fairly close to the tail. I know it's harsh, but you are trying to get your shrimp to kill it anyway, right? It worked with my pirhana, i'd think it ought to work for the shrimp.

 

[Creade]

After having to drive to the LFS.. doesnt it make more sense to spend 2 bucks on damsels that will last until he eats them and are most likely 10x more nutritious, than 25 cents on goldfish that might last an hour? Does to me /shrug. And they add nice color to the tank while they are there
As an update though, one of the damsels is beating the crap out of the other, so Im sure if them being to agile for him is the problem, that will change soon with one being injured.

Creade