I'm sorry if this sounds like a noob question, but I was just wondering if I can just keep live food in the tank with the octo for it to eat as it chooses. I was getting ready to set up a different tank for food, then I realized that if I can keep food in the tank with the octo, I would really rather do that.

It is possible to keep live food in the same tank as the octopus. Over abundance of shrimp & crab in cephalopod tanks can lead to "tank mate syndrome". The predator no longer cues in that the shrimp or crab are food, for whatever reason. This can be easily fixed, though, by removing the live food, waiting a couple of minutes and then releasing the food back into the tank.

It would serve better in the long run to setup a small holding tank for live food. It is not very difficult to maintain.

Let me know what you decide to do.

Greg

is it safe to presume a little 10 gal is sufficient for holding live food? what kind of filtration should be used to deal with that tank? no filter? internal mechanical? chem?

A 10 gallon should suffice just as long as you don't overload the system. A bare minimum holding tank would need only a sponge filter and some water changes here and there, but whatever filtration chosen should work just fine for feeders.

Greg

I don't know if this system has a sump, but if it does you might be able to just throw the food in there and net it out for feeding time.....

Dan

humm? you think small blue leg hermits could clean my bio balls?

I have a 15 gal in my kitchen run by a small bubble filter and an Eheim underwater tiny power filter.

Ok, I'll probably just set up a little 10 gallon tank with a hang-on-back filter that I have left over from my first fish tank that I set up (10 gallon freshwater). The stand I have for my tank is the kind where you can put a second tank under the main tank. No, I don't have a sump, though. Will it need live rock, a lid, or a light? If not, then I've already got everything I need. I already have a few 10 gallon tanks so this won't be a problem. Thanks everybody.

Ty,
You should be all set with the stuff you have. I don't put substrate in my feeder tanks to eliminate any waste build up. If you will be keeping shrimp let me know and I will recommend an antibacterial (topical, not an antibiotic) that seems to help a lot (recommendation from my shrimp supplier). I bought a quantity and can even send you some to start with when you are ready.

If you will be keeping fiddlers, they only need a small amount of water and lots of stuff to climb on to get out of the water. If you use a 10 gallon (buckets work too but you seem to have better luck finding spare tanks:mrgreen:), put the climbing rocks (I use manmade, not LR) in the center of the tank and away from the sides (they like to climb and I occassionally find them crawling on the floor since I use a 2 gallon for them). They can do without a filter but I run one anyway to lower my maintenance.

Ok, thanks, I'll probably be keeping shore shrimp and fiddler crabs, so I'll tell you once I get it set up. Thanks.