Stomatopod breeding

[dantodd]

Has anyone managed to raise mantis from eggs? How do you determine when/how long to introduce the male and female? His place or hers? How do you feed the larvae until they settle?

Not that I'm about to try or anything but I'd like to know if it is possible to do.

 

[Gonodactylus]

It has only been done a few times with gonodactylids and with great difficulty. The larvae spend a month in the plankton and are very cannibalistic, so you have to separate them. Food needs to be varied and initially small such as rotifers and copepods, As they get larger, you can move to small artemia, mysids, etc. The only times I've done it I added an additive such as Selco to the food and changed the water daily. It is a lot of work for very little return. Our last attempt yielded 2 postlarvae out of 100 larvae that we started with. Other species with longer larval stages are even more difficult.

As for breeding, that depends on the species and the mating system they have.

Roy