purchased a mantis

[thanew]

ok, so I bought a mantis today, G. ternatensis.. just wondering if there is anything special to feed it? it is a spearer, so that sort of makes me wonder about feeding it some snails..

will they still be able to rip through the shell? at the store they had a small perc in with him, of course, he speared it... are these guys more prone to eating fish then lets say a smasher?

he's going to be placed in a 12g nano, for now, since hes still about an inch long, there will be plenty of sand and rocks for him to hide in.

thanks,
thane

 

[Fluff]

are these guys more prone to eating fish then lets say a hammerer spearer

I believe that is the case. The clubbing species are more prone to eating snails and crabs and such, while the spearing species catch fish.

 

[thanew]

hrm, so feeding him some damsels or maybe putting one in his tank every once in awhile should be fine ?

 

[Fluff]

I don't know that I would go to the expense of feeding damsels. Perhaps get mollies and breed them for a never ending supply. You could acclimate them to sw and they could live in the tank til he eats them.

 

[Tito2491]

Why would you go out of your way to kill those poor little damsels , have you never heard of goldfish , feeding damsel would be cruel

 

[Fluff]

A fish is a fish rather it's a damsel or a goldfish, killing one or the other is the same to me. But, goldfish should never be fed to anything in a sw enviroment.

 

[thanew]

well lets see.. feeder goldfish are kept in horrid conditions, and are often full of diseases, and freshwater fish just do not have the nutrition value that sw creatures require..

so lets see feeding one fish over another fish.. seems the same to me. a fish is a fish is a fish.. one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish.

 

[MT79]

You can feed it frozen silversides, krill, etc. using tongs. It may take alittle coercing and time but eventually you could do away w/ live food all together if you wanted. For now, I would not offer the mantis anything that isn't a SW animal.

 

[Tito2491]

I rather have a fish than a disguisting creature like a mantis anyday

 

[Fluff]

I rather have a fish than a disguisting creature like a mantis anyday

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but mantis are far from disgusting. They are very interactive and extremely intelligent.

 

[mjvincent]

I used feeder goldfish in my tank for my grouper and eel without any problems (previous tank). I personally would not use damsels. Mollies would be ok but goldfish would be the least expensive. But I would try to "train" the mantis to take silversides (or the like) from tongs.

 

[Brisc0]

I have kept a clubber (captain chuck) for a while now and feed it snails primarily. However I would consider some SW feeder shrimp for the spearer. I am pretty sure that they will consume small, soft bodied inverts with no problems. If you going to feed it fish, I would go with something cheap that spends more time hiding in rockwork and on the bottom than in the water column. That is of course pure speculation, but I would think it would be an easier catch. Definately feed it SW fish and make sure to keep a higher SG and do regular water changes. They are super hardy, but a bad molt will nuke them in a hurry.
Congrats on your mantis. You will find that you can stare at it for hours, and when it does feed and you get to see it, you'll be blown away by it.

 

[midiman]

You won't have to "train it" at all. I have one and it eats pieces of chopped raw shrimp. Comes running out from his burrow and grabs them, night or day.

 

[morgan24]

damsel are pretty cheap to

 

[thanew]

exactly morgan.. $3 for a once a week meal is fine with me... im not strapped for cash.

 

[Tito2491]

Im sorry that I called your mantis disguisting but I just love damsels and couldnt understand how they can be livefood , silversides are the best choice because they are already dead , Sorry