Feeding for my Mantis

[badjuju]

Well i picked up a G. Smithii yesterday and it is awesome. It's color is so vivid. So I put him in his tank and the only other creatures in it are some crabs. After putting him in the tank, one of the crabs went in to the tube where he was and then all I herd was a popping sound. I started to laugh as I new the end for the crab was near. So this morning he has crab number 2 and is working on him as I type this. So I have one more crab to go and then what? How often should I feed the Mantis? what kind of food? I have some silversides, but really no fun in that as he doesnt have to work at getting that. So what about clams? Are the store bought one ok. The ones from the sea food department at the local store? Any recomendations would be nice.

Thanks

[justinl]

smasher diets need to have occasional live hard shelled feeding; crabs/snails/hermits will do fine. not too big or the hermit or crab might damage the mantis. too big a snail and the mantis might not be able to crack through the shell. they need this or else they will literally tear off their rapts after a while because they aren't being used. Only really needed a few times a month, but the more the merrier.

frozen feedings should consist of at least three different fleshy marine frozen foods. anything will do. silversides, clam, krill, shrimp, etc etc. they are not picky. store bought frozen clams are fine; be sure none of the frozens are flavoured or have any other weird chemicals. soak the frozens in a supplement like selcon once in a while.

[J2FcM]

hehe, silver sides are no fun... meh... say that when you're trying to sleep and your G. Smithii decides its time to double check each crab skeleton, or hermit shell for left overs and all you hear is annoying cracking. Anyways,
I feed my G. Smithii shrimp pellets maybe once every other day. If I know she's getting a live meal, I'll let her wait 3-4 days.
I also feed her frozen shrimp that I use to cook with, or fresh shrimp.
Since you just got her and seem enthusiastic about the Mantis predatory functions, maybe toss in a blue Damsel or Chromis and see if your mantis has what it takes to drag one down... most likely the fish won't know what the funk a Mantis is, and get bagged first try.

also, I wouldn't worry about the rapts. If you can hear clackin at least a few times a week, things should be good... and I hear clackin all the time.
You can jam food into straws and make you Mantis chase and smash the straw, or use tongs, but I prefer the straw... red straws... man Motoko hates those.

[badjuju]

Good adivce. Yeah I notice she doesnt like red at all. I had a red book by the tank and she went nuts. Was fun to watch. So far she has explored the tank, set up her home in the black PVC tube i had in there. Gone through 2 crabs maybe 3 but not sure of #3 yet and a good size live clam I got from albertosin yesterday. I will be removing the remains later today as not to kill my tank. Maybe next week I will add a damsel for fun. lol

[J2FcM]

also, if you want to keep your Mantis spunky, use moderation with any toys\human interaction... I find that at first mine reacted very dramatically to red straws, anything red, hands on the glass, cut out pictures of Mantis shrimp on the glass... eventually she got used to it all, and really only will react to me... because I am gigantic next to her so she'll flair at me in the morning and when I come home... my metal tongs moving her stuff around, and a red straw with food in it. But, still try getting a color photo of a mantis shrimp and see if yours will flair at it, and strike the glass. Mine got used to it after a few days of my randomly putting it up in front of her.

[Koshmar]

My two MSs go crazy over mysis. They love the stuff. Soak them in Selcon and you've got a very good food for your little buddy. I've heard of some people using enriched brine shrimp and the mantis will get exercise chasing them down. My chiragra lives with a chromis and so far no problems. I think because there are other, much easier to catch food sources, she won't go for the chromis. You could always try though.