quick question

[ssericz]

How do you tell if you have a flicker or poker without being able to see it feed? i got a micro mantis for my 8g mantis tank but i cannot figure out what it is... hes like a chocolate brown i know im terrible with out a pic but its just soo tiny maybe 1.5" long what are good food suggestions?
thanks,
Eric

[Thurge]

Feeding frozen food to a smasher or a spearer is pretty much the same. Start with a varied diet (Clam, Squid, krill, Silversides, and any other marine food). Feed a small piece soaked in a vitimine suppliment (Selcon, etc.) every other day or so, and suppliment that with live snails hermits and other marine animals. Feeding Ghost shrimp, crayfish or other freshwater foods is not a good idea. The nutritional content differs from Marine and Freshwater animals and feeding freshwater food to a marine animal will shorten its life span.
You can also feed sinking pellets for marine carnivors.
Check out Dr. Roy's Stomatopod ID page. You can thumb through it to see some of the species that are commonly found. The second piece of information on each species page is the Functional type (spearer or smasher). Once you have extablished the functional type look at the pictures and you will see a distinct difference in the Smasher's clubs and a spearer's, well, spears.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/crustacea/malacostraca/eumalacostraca/royslist/

[DanInSD]

"Flicker or poker"? Huh. Guess everyone has their own terminology!

Perhaps Dr. Roy can chime in here, but I know of no small spearers -- the smallest common one that I am aware of is P. ciliata, and it gets up to 3-4 inches. They get bigger from there. A small stomatopod -- assuming it's nearing its mature size! -- will almost certainly be a smasher.

Regards,
Dan

[ssericz]

thanks for making fun of me makes me feel o so welcome in this section of RC
Sorry im not an expert on Mantis shrimp like you

[DanInSD]

thanks for making fun of me makes me feel o so welcome in this section of RC
Sorry im not an expert on Mantis shrimp like you

Whoa, dude. Chill. No offense intended. We're all friends here.

Try to get a picture and we'll tell you what you've got.

Dan

[ritter6788]

thanks for making fun of me makes me feel o so welcome in this section of RC
Sorry im not an expert on Mantis shrimp like you

In my experience this section of RC is way friendlier than the others, plus no tang police. :)

[ssericz]

sry just seemed like u were bein a dick but its been a long week and im running off like 15 hrs of sleep for 4days i hate my job lol... i cannot get a good pic of him b/c he is so tiny...

[Gonodactylus]

There are many very small spearers including Pullosquilla that reach a maximum size of around 18 mm. Perhaps more to the point, spearers and smashers both start out as small postlarvae, so an animal 1.5 inches could be either a spearer or a smasher.

Animals this size do well on live brine shrimp, amphipods, bits of krill, etc.

Roy

[ssericz]

sry just seemed like u were bein a dick but its been a long week and im running off like 15 hrs of sleep for 4days i hate my job lol... i cannot get a good pic of him b/c he is so tiny...