Ya, most nano guys would kill for a smithii - and they seem to be tougher to come by. Of course you will probably be too attached to him to let him go.
Rudy,
What do you keep your salinity at for yours? My peacock tank is a 1.025 but I wasn't sure if that should be higher...

- Chad

I honestly don't think they are that fussy as long as it is for the most part constant. I keep mine exactly where you are, however the only time they seem to be susceptible is prior to or during a molt. I would attempt to watch your water changes in those times. I swear this is how I lost my last one.

I personally think that you should keep mantis with corals. Corals are a good way to keep you informed on the water conditions in an aquarium. I ban test kits a long time ago though.....................

Cool thanks Tim. And I agree about the corals comment. One of the coolest things I ever saw was Ike sitting in the middle of my frogspawn - I would have called it 'hosting' but he only did it twice that I saw. :razz:

- Chad

yeah he hasn't come out that Ive seen. I do know that he has been out and about when im not around though because he had to get little chips of LR to seal up his burrow. I may relocate him to a 10-20gal nano after a bit of thought. Ill have to save up cash. Im thinking of making it a reef too but Ill only have beginners corals... i am still a bit of a noob in terms of experiece.

for inverts, mantids are unusually resilient. For best results, it's usually recommended to keep it on the high side (1.025) but they really don't care that much. Consistency is more important. In fact some people argue that they probably don't even need acclimatization (although i still do it anyways).

mantids and any other thing that molts are always their weakest during and after a molt. If they're molting and you spook it by just looking at it, it may die. It's happened before.

hehehe did you ever get a pic of ike "hosting" the frogspawn? That would be amazing.:mrgreen:

No, I didn't have a camera handy either time he did it :mad:.

- Chad

I just gave Trogdor his first frozen feeding (I think he's taken out five nassarius and two hermits already... can't find a single one). It was a piece of frozen shrimp thawed in selcon. I put it on a feeding stick and forced him to come out. He latched on and tried to pull it off the hook. He's pretty strong! Eventually I gave in and just dropped the shrimp in the tank so he could get it.

seriously considering getting a 10gal nano for him. That way I can get a puffer (which ive always wanted for personality) and an eel.

I often hold the shrimp and let him whack it out of the feeding claws. You know...just to make him work a bit for his meals!

hmm good method. may have to steal that one from ya. I found out he hates the colour green. Apparently green reminds mantids of other mantids so they hate it (competition). I tested this with the handle of a green dipnet... whack. yup he hates it alright.

Justin,
This info probably isn't necessary to you because you are feeding lots of live, shelled food - but I posted on grimreefers the idea of buying empty snail shells from the LFS for a few cents each and stuffing them with frozen krill. For those people that feed only frozen food it is a good way to get your mantis to hit something hard and keep his dactyls nice and strong. Of course, I was feeding mine a lot of hermits and snails too so most of the time the soft krill was a nice break. We can all apreciate an easy meal I think.

- Chad

Yeah i know but I don't see the necessity unless you're putting the mantis through long periods without live food or no live at all. ... that and im lazy. I usually recommend that to people who have mantids but don't want to feed them the cute lil innocent hermits. humbug.

easy meal? why must you bring up food?! it's bringing me back to the laab namtok recipe... *drool*