What to feed a tiny mantis?

[jcerdena]

Hey everyone, i picked up a tiny mantis shrimp, (which I'm thinking is a N. Curacaoensis, from its coloration) that is about or just under an inch long. I'm having some trouble getting the mantis to take mysis shrimp, which is about the only thing I can think of that is small enough for the mantis to eat. Does anyone have any suggestions of other foods I could try?

I have Silversides that i might try to cut up real small, but not sure if that would work (my always hungry G. Chiragra won't even eat them). If you have a micro-mantis, let me know what worked for you.

[Abaco24]

Why are people keeping Mantis Shrimp?

I thought they were the death of a tank? Like having the plague.

Aside from the conservative "it's a live animal" etc..why not just crush it or throw down the toilet?

as a noob I'm confused?

[gemini aquarius(t)]

they are really amazing animals for one, and they really arent that bad
for one the only thing they are gonna eat is ur fish (maybe) and ur hermits/snails
so ur corals are safe
so why not
they are WAYYYY smarter than anything else u have in the tank

[ck1]

That is the reason the this forum is needed- so those who are uninformed about mantis shrimp.

Cripes- if animals were smarter- we as humans would be in trouble- because they should crush and flush us for destroying the environment. :rolleyes:

[jcerdena]

I'm pretty sure it doesn't have anything to do with taking the "conservative" approach, unless you are one of those people that end up with a mantis hitch-hiker and don't want to tear your reef apart to take it out.

Personally, I like them for their coloration and behavior. I have a tank with fish and corals as well, but really don't enjoy it as much and it tends to be more high-maintenance.

[jcerdena]

Back to the question at hand. Any food suggestions for my mini Mantis???

[gemini aquarius(t)]

you could try some vitamin enriched brine(live)

[jcerdena]

Thanks, I"ll give that a try. I would imagine that might foul up my water pretty quick though. I have this mantis in an 8 gallon Oceanic cube, so water quality may become an issue if he isn't eating what i put in there.

[Agu]

If you use a feeding stick and tease him a little bit I would bet any food would be desirable ? If I put a bug on the end of my mantis' feeding stick I suspect he'd at least try it.

fwiw,

[tmz]

I kept a hitchhiker in a species only tank for a yearand a half. It fared well on brine myssi bloodworm and sinking carnivore pellets. With the tiny one you might try cyclopese.

[helipilot]

I remember a guy feeding his small smithii brine shrimp through a straw.

[DanInSD]

First, feed mysis rather than brine -- much more nutritious. Second, try little bits of krill, silversides, or other frozen goodies. For my small mantis, I stick them on the end of a bamboo skewer (with a nice sharp point). Works great.

Dan

[Thurge]

When Squirtle was that small he would take sinking pellets. I also fed him Mysis, bits of krill and silversides, and small hermits and Bumble Bee snails.

[jcerdena]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone, I'm going to try a couple of different foods to see what works best. I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[justinl]

at that size he might even take to cyclopeeze. one other thing you might do is enrich the mysis. I find that my G. smithii actually prefers his krill after a soak in selcon. he'll still eat it even without the soak, but he just gives me this look that says "so where's the sauce to go with it you schmuck?"

[Gangsta Nemo]

I feed my hamifera a mix of selcon soaked live brine, frozen mysis and cyclopeeze. Seems to keep him happy .:)