Why is my mantis shrimp not eating?

NanoReeferZ

New member
Hi

Every time i feed my mantis shrimp krill, he takes it, but i find it laying around outside his burrow an hour later, barely eaten

Why doesn't he eat it?

Thanks
 
How long has this been going on? If it has been only a few day, the animal is probably preparing to molt. If it has been longer, say over a week, then it is either finding other food in the aquarium, has damaged appendages that doesn't allow it to process the the food your are providing, is sick (disease or parasites), or it is just being contrary and doesn't like its dinner. (I'm not being factious! Some stomatopods develop food preferences and it can take them a couple of weeks to change their diet.)

Roy
 
He takes it well and i see him holding it after but a couple hours later it is laying around somewhere. I feed him once a week.

Also I hear a lot of clicking

Is he just not hungry or is it another problem?
 
Would you say the "clicking" increased in frequency? Usually, they'll start rebuilding their dens when a molt is near. It's most likely yours is going to molt in the next few weeks.

Good luck!
 
How long should molt period last? My smithii just shut herself up into her burrow a couple days ago. How long before i should worry?
 
About a week on average, but I've seen up to two weeks. My G. Ternatensis just molted. Took about 6 days total before he started taking food again. He was busy eating his molt for about two days, he did some house cleaning then started taking scallops again after a couple days.
 
Yeah my viridis just started doing stuff today, I saw him out on Saturday but he just sat there and didn't move, today he started attacking things again.
 
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