Zebra mantis

my2rotties · #1 01-23-2009, 07:43 PM

Just figured I would bring a new discovery for feeding options for this shrimp to the top. I don't know how many others have a creature like this and it might help for ideas if you don't have fish on hand.

I noticed he eats the eyeballs of fish he has killed first then the innards. I was making puffer food out of whole squid and had an idea. I cut the tenticles off and kept just the head with the huge squid eyecballs for the mantis.

Well what a hit. He snaps it off the feeding stick and feasts on the eyeballs. Whatever is left is eaten by the gorrilla crab that resides with him.

I have a ton of eyeballs in the freezer for him and give him one every other day. He still gets live damsels but seems content with the squid.

Skimmer Juice · #2 02-09-2009, 07:46 PM

You have a crab living with yours? I owned a full grown Peacock Mantis Shrimp for a couple of years. Got him when it was full grown. Mine would kill anything that touched the water! I fed lets of big rock crabs, snails, and feeder fish.
My favorite was feeding him the feeders, as when he would see them he would fly out and punch the fish once, and boom the fish would explode , it hit so hard the scales would come of and it would look like its snowing, it was so cool. (I dont like killing fish either)

sunce_22 · #3 03-23-2009, 07:04 PM

I stock my mantis tanks up with live food, usually just blue legged hermits and astrea snails. I let the mantis shrimp hunt on their own when they are hungry. Seems to work out well.

Everyone at the LFS I worked at now knows that when I come in and look at crabs they are almost always for food.