Pseudosquilla ciliata problems

[Yurei]

Two problems with my little guy.

His left raptoral appendage seems to be knocked out of it's carapace, or it got deformed in the molting process somehow. Before it molted it was fine but after it did it's arm got stuck like that.

http://img516.imageshack.us/img516/4817/img4936tk0.jpg

Will it go back with its next molt maybe?

Second problem.

He doesn't like live shore shrimp. I've read about the mantis shrimp's eye sight, and how they can detect transparent prey well, but it doesn't seem to go after it. The shore shrimp is as big as any frozen krill i've fed it, but it doesn't go after it. It's been nearly a week since I've fed it frozen krill but it doesn't go after it. I'm not even sure if he sees it or is even remotely interested in its prey.

I just wanted to witness its spearing attack, because my mantis fails to use his spears when eating frozen krill. It just pounces on it, even if i have it on some kind of string in an attempt to make it seem like it runs away. If i pull hard enough while it is consuming it, it loses interest and runs away in its hole haha.

Should I just wait longer and starve it some more? Another note is that it's living peacefully with a bicolor chromis. It's as big as the shrimp and the fish was in the aquarium first which is why I think the shrimp hasn't gone after it (it's been two months).


Please help!

[Yurei]

Sorry the image seems to have failed. Here it is

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/9670/img4936yu3.jpg

Edit: ok nevermind it somehow fixed itself...

[lionbacker54]

i don't think this is the time to starve it. it needs food to regenerate that rapt. other posters have recommended selcon, a nutritional supplement that can be added to foods like your frozen krill.
just my thoughts.

[justinl]

Ill second that. It is best not to be forcing an unhealthy mantis to eat something new by starvation (which is acceptable for a healthy one). be patient. when the mantis has two fully functional rapts, then you'll get to see the action. Husbandry comes first, then entertainment

[Yurei]

Ah alright. I'll do that then.

[Thurge]

You could try a small damsel.

[Yurei]

Yah I've thought of that too. Maybe after he heals up and eats the shrimp! I have like 20 so :-D.

[Yurei]

So it molted and it's raptoral appendages are now fixed, but it still shows absolutely no interest in the marine ghost shrimp. Who has Pseudosquilla ciliata and feeds live foods? I'd love to know what you feed. It's healthy though because once I dunk in a piece of krill it starts searching for it and then pounces on it once it finds it.

[cobaltplasma]

I've had my P.ciliata for about 9 months now, been feeding her a pretty basic, somewhat boring diet of pieces of frozen shrimp and recently silversides. Once a week or every other week, I gather up the barren rocks in my tank (my clean-up crew seems to be very thorough at times heh and strips them down) and head down to the beach to pick up more algae-covered rocks and a couple of gobies.

At the beach I go to usually, there's a lot of low tidal pool areas with these sand-colored gobies darting about and my P.ciliata seems to enjoy hunting and catching them a lot; in fact, I just tossed one into the tank, she snatched it in about 3 or 4 seconds. If the goby just gets into the tank she's very, very fast at the kill, but if the goby can acclimate itself and survive the first minute or two she has a very different attack approach. Instead of dashing in and snapping it up, she'll creep up on it at an incredibly slow pace, maybe a milimeter or two tops every few seconds. Once she knows she's in range she very carefully raises her torso up and brings to bear her rapts for a quick kill. Both methods are fun to watch.

Sometimes, though, I'll pick her up a couple of baby aholehole (I think those are known as flagtails elsewhere) or some shrimp (they're not 'ghost shrimp' but they are somewhat transluscent...might be 'horned shrimp'?) if I see that there's a healthy supply, which she enjoy as well, too. The shrimp I don't readily catch because they've been somewhat scarce at times, so I feel a bit guilty taking some for food, but if there's a good abundance of them I'll catch one or two for my girl as she really does seem to enjoy them, too.

I have a couple of pistol shrimps in the tank, too, she's chased them about if they surface but doesn't seem terribly interested in them or digging for them. I'm not sure if ghost shrimp are similar to the pistols I have, they do look a little like them so that could be why your mantis doesn't have a lot of interest in them as far as food goes...maybe entertainment purposes only heh :)

[Yurei]

Oooh. Thank you! That was a great response XD. Luckily for you, you're in Hawaii, it's native homeland where it has its natural prey. I'll try for the goby idea. Don't know where I can get cheap ones though haha.

[jmasterdiver]

I have had a yellow P. ciliata for almost a year now, and she lives constantly with ghost shrimp (and an emerald crab that was the size of a dime when he went in, and is now the size of a half dollar). I use her tank as a holding tank because I keep the ghosts on hand for my frogfish.

My ciliata takes one out every now and again, but mostly she just tools around shifting sand and working on her burrow. She eats the pellets that I feed to the ghost shrimp, as well as frozen mysis when they get that. Additionally, I give her silversides, krill, and small chunks of clam. Mine will spear a frozen silverside, but other than that, her raps don't see too much action. I don't know if I would be able to find a small goby cheap enough to use as food, but a cheap damsel, or a frozen silverside might induce yours to strike.

One thing is for sure, you have to be watching because when they decide to strike, it is quick. If you are blinking, all you will see is a fish disappear from the water column, and you will find it in your ciliata's grip, being devoured already. ;)

[Uriel]

Well, a recent series of unfortunate events has left me with no mantis shrimp, as I lost my P cilata, G chiraga, and my G viridis (My first Mantis, and one that I had for 4+ years).

However, a few comments on feeding my two P cilata (Different tanks, obviously).

I would feed thawed seafood, shrimp or scallop, they seems to like them both equally. I also fed ghost shrimp, guppies (Never goldfish, there is an amino in them that can cause fish blindness, or so I have been told), and fiddler crabs.

The guppies and ghost shrimp: The fish they would dart after, and they really seemed to love chasing them down. The ghost shrimp, they would stalk. In particular, my male (Mephistopheles) would stalk for a long time, like a leopard. I was actually quite fascinating to watch.
The female (Tiamat) was much more aggressive, and she wouldn't wait as long, chasing right off the bat.

It was in the hunting of the fiddlers that I noticed some really awesome technique. Both of them would move to the rear of the crabs, then shoot in and wrestle them, lifting them a bit, and bringing their dactyls up and under, stabbing them 'Prison Style' repeatedly in their softer under-carapace.


-Uriel

[Yurei]

Cool. Thank you both. They eat fiddler crabs? That's intense... I'm going to have to try that. And it seems like ghost shrimp are a matter of preference... Mine being one of them that don't like ghost shrimp. Eh.