Picky eater!!!

Hutton

New member
Oh the joys of owning a mantis, sometimes mine can be the biggest baby. Wont even bother with the smallest of hermits. Any one else have trouble getting their mantis to eat certain animals? Only snails i can get are turbos wich ar nearly 3 times my mantis' size, and astreas which always seem to die in my tank. My lfs use to be able to get these "volcanic shrimp" in, im sure you guys have seen them, the ones they put in those little bio spheres, every mantis i had loved those, would go through about 10 in one day. I was just wondering, what foods have you found that your mantis shrimp hate, and would do almost anything for?
 
It is not so much what they hate as what they are used to. Often these animals are very hesitant to switch foods. They will go for days or even weeks refusing something that they have not eaten recently, then start accepting it as if it were their favorite.

Stick with it. They will not starve to death. Eventually they will eat.

Roy
 
Oh those little hawaiin shrimp opae ula? I have been looking for some of them for a while. They should breed in brackishwater conditions and I was looking for an easily cultured food. They are also nearly impossible to kill, and can survive for many years in fresh and slat water. The only place that I can find that will sell them is ocean riders, and I don't want to pay their prices+shipping....lol got carried away. Good luck.

Dan
 
Iv'e been looking for them also. I know my LFS is full of crap when they say the dont get them in anymore, how else can you explain little red shrimp tails at the bottom of their seahorse display... Every mantis That has come my way loved those little things. If i find a cheap source ill be sure to let you know.
 
I know my mantis has eaten some snails in my tank, as I can see the cracked shell remains. But I hand feed him/her about once per week, and he has taken silversides and shrimp readily, he jumps at it when I offer it. He's a big one, about 2.5 to 3 inches long.
 
I had a picky mantis too, he would only eat live food, wouldn't touch frozen. I always kept a bunch of hermits and snails in the tank and he stayed well fed.
 
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