Mantis shimp found in Florida Live Rock

jaciedun · 04/02/2002, 01:18 PM

About a week ago I heard a loud clicking sound from my 3 week old 55g aquarium. I could hardly believe the sound of it, but sure enough I had a mantis shrimp. He must have come in with the 90 lbs of Florida LR. Fortunately his nest was easy to locate and he is now comfortable detained in my my 10g quarantine tank. He's 1.5 to 2 inches long, darkish red in color. I've tried feeding him raw shrimp, but he doesn't seem interested. Any ideas on food. Does it need to be live? Now often do they eat? I know he ate a couple of blue-leg hermits in the 55g.

cuda6872 · 04/04/2002, 12:42 AM

I've been having good luck with the cheapest of brakish fish, guppies. Spend a day acclimating them to saltwater so they won't die from salt shock. I'm going to try some ghost shrimp sometime soon so Thumper will have a little more need for his R.A.s I don't want them to fall off. Sometimes if you tease & taunt them with a small piece of krill or shrimp (about half the size of the mantis) when realy hungry they will eat it. The first time is always the hardest when it comes to wild animals. Most people will feed about every 2-3 days. It depends on the mantis. If they go a while without eating (longer than a week) you might want feed till it's full, or offer smaller amounts & not skip any days. What ever makes it happy makes you happy. Hope you like the little guy. They wind up making very interesting pets. If you do keep it, you will want to get another tank for it. A smaller one 2-6 gallons works well. No need for a $$light system$$, or a lot of other equipment. Simple is good & fun. I use an airstone for water movement & remove a 20 oz. cup of water every other day & replace it with water from one of my other tanks. That's all I use, for now. Best of luck to ya!

Python73 · 04/04/2002, 05:14 PM

Jaciedun -

I got my mantis also from Florida rock. He was moved to a 6 gal eclipse (nice, filter in the hood) tank.

It took him several days to get cozy with the new rock and start peeking out. He refused to eat for the first, oh, week. Now he eats whenever I feed him.

A good live food source that is somewhat cheap are nassarius snails. They are the detrivore snail that has a tube that sticks up in front. They are 79 or 99 cents around here. And if they aren't eaten, they scoot around the tank cleaning the sand. Blue legged hermits are another cheap choice, same price as the snails.

I only feed these occasionally, to supplement bits of shrimp, fish, clam and mussel. Lets him use his smashers.

Good luck. HtH.

S !

04/02/2002, 01:18 PM	#1
jaciedun Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: columbus, ohio Posts: 19	Mantis shimp found in Florida Live Rock About a week ago I heard a loud clicking sound from my 3 week old 55g aquarium. I could hardly believe the sound of it, but sure enough I had a mantis shrimp. He must have come in with the 90 lbs of Florida LR. Fortunately his nest was easy to locate and he is now comfortable detained in my my 10g quarantine tank. He's 1.5 to 2 inches long, darkish red in color. I've tried feeding him raw shrimp, but he doesn't seem interested. Any ideas on food. Does it need to be live? Now often do they eat? I know he ate a couple of blue-leg hermits in the 55g.

04/04/2002, 12:42 AM	#2
cuda6872 Registered Member Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio Posts: 190	I've been having good luck with the cheapest of brakish fish, guppies. Spend a day acclimating them to saltwater so they won't die from salt shock. I'm going to try some ghost shrimp sometime soon so Thumper will have a little more need for his R.A.s I don't want them to fall off. Sometimes if you tease & taunt them with a small piece of krill or shrimp (about half the size of the mantis) when realy hungry they will eat it. The first time is always the hardest when it comes to wild animals. Most people will feed about every 2-3 days. It depends on the mantis. If they go a while without eating (longer than a week) you might want feed till it's full, or offer smaller amounts & not skip any days. What ever makes it happy makes you happy. Hope you like the little guy. They wind up making very interesting pets. If you do keep it, you will want to get another tank for it. A smaller one 2-6 gallons works well. No need for a $$light system$$, or a lot of other equipment. Simple is good & fun. I use an airstone for water movement & remove a 20 oz. cup of water every other day & replace it with water from one of my other tanks. That's all I use, for now. Best of luck to ya! __________________ Mike....Cincinnati Current Tank Info: low stocked reef, small frags & slow growers, nanocube6 mantis tank, biocube14 seahorsetank

04/04/2002, 05:14 PM	#3
Python73 Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Fombell, PA Posts: 1,832	Jaciedun - I got my mantis also from Florida rock. He was moved to a 6 gal eclipse (nice, filter in the hood) tank. It took him several days to get cozy with the new rock and start peeking out. He refused to eat for the first, oh, week. Now he eats whenever I feed him. A good live food source that is somewhat cheap are nassarius snails. They are the detrivore snail that has a tube that sticks up in front. They are 79 or 99 cents around here. And if they aren't eaten, they scoot around the tank cleaning the sand. Blue legged hermits are another cheap choice, same price as the snails. I only feed these occasionally, to supplement bits of shrimp, fish, clam and mussel. Lets him use his smashers. Good luck. HtH. S !