new mantis keeper needs advice

[cateyes]

i aquired a dusty red mantis shrimp 5 days ago. brought him home and put him in my 10gal. QT.. there's sand ,rock rubble and barnacles in it along with some chaeto.. when i get the pom pom crab out of my display fuge he'll go in there.

the first couple of days he holed up in one of the barnacles and came out a little and appeared to snatch food when i fed him. i fed frozen mysis shrimp which he seemed interested in.. i put a few small hermits in for him but i really don't know what kind he is, so i'm not sure what to feed him..

he came from a tank that was broken down and the owner said he came out when he fed the tank and didn't mess with much else in the tank, occassionally a small hermit..

well after about 3 days he moved to another barnacle and has pulled rock rubble up in front of the entrance.. every now and the i see a couple of eyes looking out at me.

i haven't seen him come out since he moved barnacles and covered the entrance, not even when i tried to feed him, he looked out but didn't come out..

what do you think is going on with him??? should i try to squirt some food into the barnacle?? or just leave him alone?? i guess i shouldn't mess with his home/rock rubble should i????

any advice is very appreciated!!!!
thanks,,,lisa

 

[ReefGeekster]

Here's a link that may be of some help

http://blueboard.com/mantis/

http://blueboard.com/mantis/care.htm

 

[cateyes]

thanks ReefGeekster,,

those links had a lot of good mantis care info in them...

i think he's doing alright. last night i heard some pinging noises coming from the QT, where he is at the moment, and he was out giving a tiny hermit a workover. i mixed up some brineshrimp with cyclopeeze and he skutted around grabbing it..

after about an hour or so he crawled back in his barnacle and pulled the rubble up over the entrance.. sounds like pretty normal mantis behavior to me..

thanks a lot,,,lisa

 

[ReefGeekster]

How large is it? I feed mine silversides 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night. I use stainless steel hemostat that I got at harbor freight for feeding. Mine rearrange the rubble rocks daily to his liking. Now everytime I come to the front of his tank he right there staring at me and sitting up like he's waiting to be fed.


http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=127945&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

http://reefcentral.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=127517&papass=&sort=1&thecat=500

 

[cateyes]

.i'm trying to come up with some of it's physical characteristics so maybe someone can tell me what kind it is....

it's about 2.5-3 inches long and kind of a dusty red. other than the white meral spots i haven't seen any other colors on it, even it's little beady eyes are red..

i keep hearing about" telson" and "dactyls", when people are trying to get ID's.. what and where are they located?? maybe i can get a look at those also..

i know pics would be great, i'll get some when i put him in his permanent home in a week or two..
but i'd like to have some idea as to what he might be...

your peacock is awsome!!!! maybe in the future i can get one of those.. but for my first mantis, i'm happy with my little red one.

thanks a lot,,,lisa