My another Mantis

[HKPal]

It's just around 2 inch...

May i ask how many time you feed them per week. and how many per feed.

[nmotz]

That's a great looking G. Smithii! It even has the red inter-segmental bands that my old one had. I would feed a portion size no larger than your pinky fingernail around 2-3x per week. Frozen food of any kind (shrimp, clams, mussels, octopus, krill, whatever) enriched with Selcon is a great meal and it's easy to control portion size.

For live food, just put some small hermits or snails in the tank and watch him go to work. He'll most likely enjoy live brine shrimp too if you have access to those.

You can feed more or less than I've recommended, but that is just a baseline many people use. Just like with other marine livestock, if you feed too much and the mantis doesn't eat it, you'll begin to have water quality issues. Also, the more you feed, the more reclusive your mantis may become (fat, happy mantis shrimp don't need to forage as much)

[HKPal]

Originally Posted by nmotz

That's a great looking G. Smithii! It even has the red inter-segmental bands that my old one had. I would feed a portion size no larger than your pinky fingernail around 2-3x per week. Frozen food of any kind (shrimp, clams, mussels, octopus, krill, whatever) enriched with Selcon is a great meal and it's easy to control portion size.

For live food, just put some small hermits or snails in the tank and watch him go to work. He'll most likely enjoy live brine shrimp too if you have access to those.

You can feed more or less than I've recommended, but that is just a baseline many people use. Just like with other marine livestock, if you feed too much and the mantis doesn't eat it, you'll begin to have water quality issues. Also, the more you feed, the more reclusive your mantis may become (fat, happy mantis shrimp don't need to forage as much)

2~3 times or 20~30 times?
Selcon, how to use? mixed with the frozen food?
Btw, how to ensure they are eating the meat, instead of holding?
Ah, as you can see, from my first picture, i cut a shrimp to several parts, like that size.
But, how long i need take it away?

Thanks

[nmotz]

2-3 times, sorry. To mix frozen food with Selcon, break off the portion of frozen food and get a small (clean!) container and put a little tank water in it. Put the frozen food in with a few drops of Selcon, and wait about 5 mins. Take it out and feed, it's simple and nutritious.

If the mantis doesn't readily accept food, it's not hungry. If you see food floating in the tank or on the substrate and the mantis isn't interested, I would remove immediately. The longer it sits in the tank, the more it pollutes the water.

[nmotz]

Were you acclimating the mantis when you took these pictures? Mantis shrimp usually are not interested in food while acclimating because they are under a lot of stress. Best to release as soon as possible into the tank and let him hide for at least a day before trying to feed.

[HKPal]

Originally Posted by nmotz

Were you acclimating the mantis when you took these pictures? Mantis shrimp usually are not interested in food while acclimating because they are under a lot of stress. Best to release as soon as possible into the tank and let him hide for at least a day before trying to feed.

She eat the meat first day, twice or three times. And then she leave it alone.... i also concern she is under stress, so i released yesterday. Will take some oicture later today

[nmotz]

Yeah you need to let them go hide in the tank as soon as possible. Be prepared for the mantis to be pretty reclusive at first. Even my Peacock wouldn't come out of his burrow for around 3 weeks. I was really disappointed and thought he would always be that way. Then one day he just started coming out all the time. He loves to roam around now that he's comfortable with the tank.

Also, if you change your lighting sometimes the mantis may freak out a little bit. I changed to LEDs and my Peacock stayed in his burrow for about a week. He would peek out and look straight up towards the light then dart back into his burrow. He's completely comfortable with it now.

[HKPal]

Originally Posted by nmotz

Yeah you need to let them go hide in the tank as soon as possible. Be prepared for the mantis to be pretty reclusive at first. Even my Peacock wouldn't come out of his burrow for around 3 weeks. I was really disappointed and thought he would always be that way. Then one day he just started coming out all the time. He loves to roam around now that he's comfortable with the tank.

Also, if you change your lighting sometimes the mantis may freak out a little bit. I changed to LEDs and my Peacock stayed in his burrow for about a week. He would peek out and look straight up towards the light then dart back into his burrow. He's completely comfortable with it now.

Yeah, great to hear that. at now, the new mantis alway hiding in his den, and sneak abit, and someone she will come out and back very fast. After chinese lunar new year, i will try to give her some shell meat.

For my old mantis, she alway hide in her tunnel, i got her for nearly 3 months, and molted a week ago. She look like not too interest with the frozen shrimps now... maybe try mix some for her later...

One more things, i think i am hard to get Selcon in Hong Kong, any other alternative? or some kind of Vitamin mixed drops?

[nmotz]

Originally Posted by HKPal

Yeah, great to hear that. at now, the new mantis alway hiding in his den, and sneak abit, and someone she will come out and back very fast. After chinese lunar new year, i will try to give her some shell meat.

For my old mantis, she alway hide in her tunnel, i got her for nearly 3 months, and molted a week ago. She look like not too interest with the frozen shrimps now... maybe try mix some for her later...

One more things, i think i am hard to get Selcon in Hong Kong, any other alternative? or some kind of Vitamin mixed drops?

Unfortunately I am not aware of an alternative to Selcon. You don't need it, but it does enrich the frozen food with key nutrients. Just make sure you don't feed the exact same thing everyday. I try to feed something different every meal. I'll let him kill a live snail or crab, then feed krill w/Selcon, then live brine shrimp, then clams w/Selcon, etc....

[HKPal]

Originally Posted by nmotz

Unfortunately I am not aware of an alternative to Selcon. You don't need it, but it does enrich the frozen food with key nutrients. Just make sure you don't feed the exact same thing everyday. I try to feed something different every meal. I'll let him kill a live snail or crab, then feed krill w/Selcon, then live brine shrimp, then clams w/Selcon, etc....

OK. i will try to get some different meat for them.
Actually, from day one up-to now, the P. ciliata only having the frozen shrimp. I got around 1/4 lbs and split to around 24 pack and put in refrigerator. Feeding her around one per two days. I feed she dis-like the shrimp this few days. Which i am wondering what's going on.... maybe i can try to feed some different food for her... btw, is brine shrimp quite small to feed? is any video on net can show more information on feeding brine shrimp...

Thanks a lot

[nmotz]

You buy live brine shrimp at a pet store. They are pretty small, maybe 1cm in length. I bring the bag home and empty it into a bucket and mix in a little water from my tank. I add a drop of Selcon and a few drops of Seachem and stir it up.

When feeding I get a net and scoop some of them up and release a little swarm into the tank. My Peacock goes bonkers for them. Here are some videos I've made of him eating live brine shrimp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AGDdT-yQHE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xQ5B6CQEG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3YwUXkqKuc

[HKPal]

Thanks a lot. I will try it later

[HKPal]

One more question, which seachem product you using?

[nmotz]

http://www.amazon.com/Seachem-671043...3TR5G97Z7F2JGF

^ This one, SeaChem Prime