New peacock mantis won't eat.

[nlutfi]

Hi, I recently got a peacock mantis about a week and a half ago. It's about 3in long and currently housed in a 20g aio tank. It hasn't eaten since bringing it home and I'm not sure if that is normal or not. It doesn't seem overly active either. It has a deep sand bed and a pile of live rock and rubble to build with, along with some PVC tubing. It went right to work and piled the PVC with rock rubble to make it's home but hasn't come out much since. The tank was seeded with sand, rock, water and bio media from my current reef. I have been doing 5g water changes weekly as well. I have offered it emerald crabs, hermits, small snails, and frozen krill with no luck. Any thoughts or anything else I can try, I'm not sure how long they go with out eating. Thanks!

 

[Nigel35]

Silversides and clams might work.

 

[nlutfi]

Silversides and clams might work.

Thanks! I think I have some frozen half clams I'll try tomorrow.

 

[Brady4000]

Might be getting ready to molt. Sometimes they stress molt. I wouldn’t bother the mantis too much. Definitely toss in something it doesn’t have to chase down like a piece of raw shrimp, since they are opportunists feeders.

But if you stress out the little guy too much by trying to drop the food in just the right spot over and over, then having to remove it with tongues so it doesn’t rot in the tank, the mantis might not make the acclamation.

It won’t starve itself so give it time, these little guys can go a few weeks without eating during a molt. A week before and a week after.

I would also hold off on the water changes until he gets more active or starts eating. Water chemistry really affects peacocks.

Also turn the lights off if you can. Meaning it’s not a coral reef.

 

[nlutfi]

Might be getting ready to molt. Sometimes they stress molt. I wouldn’t bother the mantis too much. Definitely toss in something it doesn’t have to chase down like a piece of raw shrimp, since they are opportunists feeders.

But if you stress out the little guy too much by trying to drop the food in just the right spot over and over, then having to remove it with tongues so it doesn’t rot in the tank, the mantis might not make the acclamation.

It won’t starve itself so give it time, these little guys can go a few weeks without eating during a molt. A week before and a week after.

I would also hold off on the water changes until he gets more active or starts eating. Water chemistry really affects peacocks.

Also turn the lights off if you can. Meaning it’s not a coral reef.

Thank you for all the insight! I will back off on feeding and just keep an eye on him. Are there any signs that he may be molting? I will keep the lights off as well.

 

[Brady4000]

The mantis will usually block off its tunnel, and not come out. If this is happening it might try to molt and disturbing it can easily kill it. During this time no water changes, turn out the lights if you can, and even toss a blanket over the tank if need be.

Some mantis block off their tunnel nightly, so other predators can’t come in while it sleeps.

Before a molt they get extremely active, building killing etc.

After a molt they do the opposite, their shell is soft, and if forced to defend itself, it can break off a hammer. This hammer will grow back in about 3-4 molts. So feeding soft and ez food after a molt is key.

If lights are too bright, they will not like to come out. These creatures live and move in the dark. Bright lights affect them, and may cause shell rot, which would kill them.

 

[nlutfi]

The mantis will usually block off its tunnel, and not come out. If this is happening it might try to molt and disturbing it can easily kill it. During this time no water changes, turn out the lights if you can, and even toss a blanket over the tank if need be.

Some mantis block off their tunnel nightly, so other predators can’t come in while it sleeps.

Before a molt they get extremely active, building killing etc.

After a molt they do the opposite, their shell is soft, and if forced to defend itself, it can break off a hammer. This hammer will grow back in about 3-4 molts. So feeding soft and ez food after a molt is key.

If lights are too bright, they will not like to come out. These creatures live and move in the dark. Bright lights affect them, and may cause shell rot, which would kill them.

It hasn't block off it's tunnel completely, I still see it poke it's head in and out. I don't have bright lights over the tank but I will shut them off for now. Thanks for the help!

 

[nlutfi]

Quick update, the mantis seems to be doing well! I haven't seen any signs of a molt but it has been eating frozen half clams but still not showing much interest in anything alive. A few more questions, how often do you feed? Also I have noticed it seems to have a hard time getting around. It's been out and active, building its den and exploring tank but seems to have a hard time "balancing" if that makes sense. Or it will be laying on its back or side but then gets up a moves around with out issue. Anything I should be worried about or did I just get a weird one? One thought I had is maybe is lost some legs/appendages during shipping? I'm not sure. Thanks again for all the feed back.

 

[Brady4000]

That’s good it’s starting to eat. If you feed only frozen it will just go for that. They aren’t the serial killers everyone makes them out to be. They will just eat whatever’s EZ.

I fed mine about every other day. Looking at its “den” dose it have a way to completely hide from view in a dark area? If not, it’s going to stress out.

As for the stumbling, that seems off to me personally.

They take quite some time to acclimate. How did you acclimate it to the tank. They are overly sensitive to bad acclamations, and from what I read, your really not out of the wood works for 4 weeks or so. I dripped mine and it did well.

 

[Brady4000]

Also forgot to add, they do roll over, but they don’t usually stay on there back for long periods of time.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Seldom if ever will these guys in front of you . Silversides, no but crabs, snails or any shelled invert - it will love you. To see it eat, you almost have to set your phone on video mode add a couple of snails and walk away and wait to hear the clicking sound of it smashing the shell to get to the meat and you can then view on video

 

[nlutfi]

Also forgot to add, they do roll over, but they don’t usually stay on there back for long periods of time.

Thanks! I did drip acclimated him for about 30-45mins and matched temp and salinity. He just seems off to me for some reason but seems healthy otherwise. It does have a way to completely get out of the light in its pvc tube. I only run the lights for a few hours in the evening but it sits next to my reef tank and gets some light spill from that. Thanks again for the help.

 

[nlutfi]

Seldom if ever will these guys in front of you . Silversides, no but crabs, snails or any shelled invert - it will love you. To see it eat, you almost have to set your phone on video mode add a couple of snails and walk away and wait to hear the clicking sound of it smashing the shell to get to the meat and you can then view on video

Thanks! I do have a few emerald crabs in the tank along with a few snails and hermits for options. I do hear the smasher going from time to time.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Thanks! I do have a few emerald crabs in the tank along with a few snails and hermits for options. I do hear the smasher going from time to time.

Feeding time !!!!

 

[Hadla]

Watch for dead things that he might not eat so they don’t rot in there! Sometimes they’ll just kill something and not eat much of it or any at all. Do you give small pieces of food? I give mine a tong full of jumbo mysis that I know the bristleworms will clean up if the mantis doesn’t eat them all. But then both of mine are only 3 inches long and not peacocks

 

[nlutfi]

Watch for dead things that he might not eat so they don’t rot in there! Sometimes they’ll just kill something and not eat much of it or any at all. Do you give small pieces of food? I give mine a tong full of jumbo mysis that I know the bristleworms will clean up if the mantis doesn’t eat them all. But then both of mine are only 3 inches long and not peacocks

I give him about a nickel sized half clam and he seems to eat most of it, any left behind the emerald and hermit crabs make short work of. He is only about 3" long as well, my lfs it was the smallest peacock they had ever gotten.

 

[nmotz]

Some thoughts...well, first an identification....that is not a Peacock mantis. It is a Gonodactylus chiragra, sometimes called the Tiger mantis. Mis-identification at the LFS is common. My first mantis, also a G. chiragra, was sold to me as a Peacock too.

Based on the first picture I'd say he saw his reflection in the glass and is "threat posturing" to scare away the perceived intruder. My old G. chiragra did that a lot too. They coil up on their back and bring their telson (hard plate on the end of their body) up to cover themselves. In the second picture he just seems to be on his back which is a bit odd but I've seen mantis shrimp do that too. Hard to say why they do it.

 

[nlutfi]

Some thoughts...well, first an identification....that is not a Peacock mantis. It is a Gonodactylus chiragra, sometimes called the Tiger mantis. Mis-identification at the LFS is common. My first mantis, also a G. chiragra, was sold to me as a Peacock too.

Based on the first picture I'd say he saw his reflection in the glass and is "threat posturing" to scare away the perceived intruder. My old G. chiragra did that a lot too. They coil up on their back and bring their telson (hard plate on the end of their body) up to cover themselves. In the second picture he just seems to be on his back which is a bit odd but I've seen mantis shrimp do that too. Hard to say why they do it.

Thanks for the insight! He has been out and active everyday but still has his wierd behavior but doesn't seem to be effected by it. I'll try and get some better pics next time hers out but he doesn't look like a tiger mantis as far as pics I find on Google. But I'm by no means an expert so I could be 100% wrong. Better pics I'm sure with and ID. Thanks again!

 

[Brady4000]

@nmotz is right, it’s not a peacock. Good catch. the spots on its back give it away. Peacocks have more of a Leopard print.

 

[nmotz]

Thanks for the insight! He has been out and active everyday but still has his wierd behavior but doesn't seem to be effected by it. I'll try and get some better pics next time hers out but he doesn't look like a tiger mantis as far as pics I find on Google. But I'm by no means an expert so I could be 100% wrong. Better pics I'm sure with and ID. Thanks again!

It's a bit hard to tell because I think you're lighting might be creating a strange color effect, but he is definitely not a Peacock. They have an unmistakable leopard spot pattern and a large "Peacock" tail. Very distinctive.

Check his meral spots and let me know what color they are. The meral spots are on the inside of his raptorial appendages (arms). They might be white or orange or another color. If they are white, it is definitely a G. chiragra. If they are orange, it is from the genus Gonodactylaceus, possibly G. graphurus or G. glabrous. But I still think this is a G. chiragra.