I recently bought an octopus from my local pet store I'm unsure that it's a pygmy but I figured it was a baby because of it's size but anyway I was curious on what I would be feeding it the pet store was feeding it crayfish and $10 crabs what if I continued to feed it crayfish? and if I can't feed it those then would I really have to buy $10 crabs for it to eat? Or is there an alternative?

What size is it? Small crabs, hermits, shrimp, amphipods and thumbnail clams all work well, but as a rule of thumb, you probably don't want to try prey that are more than 1/3 to 1/2 the size of the mantle.

Roy

ok thanks the mantle is a little bigger than a quarter

Are you near the ocean? You might be able to collect some food locally or find suitable food in bait shops. Send a message to corw314 - she is in New Jersey and collects some of her own food. As Neogonodactylus says, pay attention to the food size.

You can also order fiddler crabs from several locations.
One that is often used is this:
http://www.aquaculturestore.com/swinverts.html

Ask that some small crabs be included in your order.

Sometimes small hermit crabs and snails are available online.

You can try a small piece of thawed frozen shrimp to see whether your little octopus will accept it.

Nancy

well I live by the Chesapeake Bay but it's fresh water sadly

hold on wait is it salt water? haha

In a way, it's both, but fiddler crabs, for instance, live in brackish water.

From Wikapedia:
Since the bay is an estuary, it has fresh water and brackish water. Brackish water has 3 salinity zones, oligohaline, mesohaline, and polyhaline. The salinity is measured on parts per thousands (ppt). The fresh water zone runs from the mouth of the Susquehanna River to north Baltimore. The oligohaline zone has very little salt. Salinity varies from 0.5ppt-10ppt and freshwater species can survive there. The north end of the oligohaline zone is north Baltimore and the south end is the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. The mesohaline zone has a medium amount of salt and runs from the Bay Bridge to the mouth of the Rapahannock River. the salinity ranges from 10.7ppt-18ppt. The polyhaline zone is the saltiest zone and some of the water can be as salty as sea water. It runs from the mouth of the Rappahannock River to the mouth of the bay. The salinity ranges from 18.7ppt-36ppt. 36ppt is as salty as the ocean.

Nancy

Where in Md. are you?

I'm only like 20 minutes or less away from the Chesapeake

Darn my octo isn't eating anything and now I'm stressed out I gave him a cleaner shrimp and he doesn't seem like he's even trying to eat it :(

Is the cleaner shrimp perhaps too large for him? How big was his last meal? Do you have amphipods? Could he be eating amphipods?

Nancy

Shrimp can also move pretty quickly. Mr. Octopus has never been able to catch his tankmate, but it is very amusing to watch him try when he gets hungry enough!

A cleaner shrimp is an expensive meal. If you get really worried about him, you can try a ghost shrimp, but this isn't a good long term diet.

I'm only like 20 minutes or less away from the Chesapeake

I meant, near the north, near Baltimore, or near the mouth of the Susquehanna? Farther south, such as near Chesapeake Beach? Closer to Solomon'a Island? Maybe as far south as Ridge or Point Lookout? Or are you on the Eastern Shore? The live food that you can catch will differ.

Ohhhh I'm in solomons and the cleaner shrimp came in dead at the pet store so I didn't have to pay as much as I would I only payed like half or less

try getting hold of some mysid shrimps. They're smaller and he may munch on them, also if you have live rock, there may be amphipods in it he's eating.

Now please excuse an iggerant Kiwi, but by crayfish, do you mean a freshwater crustacean (in NZ a crayfish is a marine spiny rock lobster!) if so you need to feed more marine content as they don't have enough nutritional value for him. You might be able to get marine feeder shrimps?

J

ok I'll try getting some shrimps when I get a new octopus mine passed away :( next time I'll be ready for one and my tank will be set up and every thing.