ok i will have alot of questions over the next few months because i recently ordered a pygmy octopus from caribbean creatures so my first few questions are.......

1. where is the best place to get octo food from?
(i ordered thirty hermits with him)
2. how big they get

3. how long they live

i know i shold know all these thing already but ive cycled a 20 gallon tank for 3 months and coppers never been used in the tank so thats all good anyway
thanks for the help,

1. www.aquaculturestore.com is a pretty good source for fiddler crabs and shore shrimp. There are some other people posting that they sell crabs also for reasonable prices. You might dig around in the forums for that info. My mercatoris liked hermits, others have said their mercs didn't.

2. They can get up to 5 inches, mantle to arm tip. Mine was quite a bit smaller topping out at a little over 3 inches mantle tip to arm tip.

3. 6-8 months is the average life expectancy, but Dwhatley has raised a generation of mercs from eggs and some of them have lived 13 months and still going. She swears by Cyclops-eeze, and apparently the "proof is in the pudding".

oh kool,

how often do you see them?

Before I pontificate ad nausium :wink:, here are a couple of journals that will give you some idea about raising Mercs:

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12919

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10133

Both are journals about tank born octos with links back to the wild caught female.

are mercatoris babies tank raisable?

yes dwhatley has done it

how hard is it?cause i called diver tom to order one from him and he said all he had was a mom with eggs:goofysca: