hi frome sweden agian

**bläckis** · Feb 25, '08, 11:12am

hi i have now a chanse to get a octopus vulgaris now to the question : what food should i give, good to know beacuse i dont wannna give bad food
: if somone know, were i can read just about vulgaris i have just found ifo about basic things about octopuses

: is the equipment list for all octos ? or did vulgaris need somthing else ?

**bläckis** · Feb 25, '08, 2:51pm

please help!

**monty** · Feb 25, '08, 4:22pm

vulgaris should be fairly similar to most octos discussed here, but they are larger than the ones commonly kept; as long as you scale up the tank size and filtration, the other requirements should be similar. vulgaris has a reputation for being particularly good escape artists, so make sure not to skimp on the octo-proofing.

Appropriately-sized crustaceans like crabs or shrimp are probably the best bet for feeding, but people who have kept vulgaris may correct me on their specific tastes.

**bläckis** · Feb 25, '08, 5:19pm

okeay thank you monty. but should the crabs and the shrimps be live food, or can i give artemia if you guys know what it is or mysis ?

**monty** · Feb 25, '08, 5:25pm

artemia or mysis would be far too small for a vulgaris for most of its life. vulgaris are small-egged, so the chance that you'd get one when it's small enough for those is very slight. I'd say you should expect to feed something larger like fiddlers.

**Jean** · Feb 25, '08, 7:28pm

The food MUST be marine in origin so that lets artemia out from the start (even if they were big enough!) go for crabs and marine shrimps, you will at least need to start with live food, you may be able to train the octopus to take dead food but be prepared for it to refuse. We've never had any success with training our species to eat dead food, although I believe Tintenfisch has had some success at the aquarium she's associated with.

Cheers

Jean

**DWhatley** · Feb 26, '08, 1:40am

Jean,
Do your octos eat large shrimp in the wild? Most, if not all of the Atlantic/Caribbean (maybe it is warm water species) seem to take fresh frozen shrimp very readily.

**Jean** · Feb 26, '08, 2:51pm

Originally Posted by dwhatley

Jean,
Do your octos eat large shrimp in the wild? Most, if not all of the Atlantic/Caribbean (maybe it is warm water species) seem to take fresh frozen shrimp very readily.

The midgets certainly, Pinnoctopus as a juvenile I would imagine so, can't see a 12kg (or more) octopus eating itty bitty shrimps!

We've tried freshly dead, fresh frozen, jiggled to simulate live movement ....they won't have a bar of them even if they've not been fed for a few days (longest time was 10 days) when we can't get the boats out (in winter during southerly storms) and run out of live food. They're not even particularly keen on live fish.

J

**monty** · Feb 26, '08, 4:42pm

Originally Posted by Jean

The midgets certainly, Pinnoctopus as a juvenile I would imagine so, can't see a 12kg (or more) octopus eating itty bitty shrimps!

We've tried freshly dead, fresh frozen, jiggled to simulate live movement ....they won't have a bar of them even if they've not been fed for a few days (longest time was 10 days) when we can't get the boats out (in winter during southerly storms) and run out of live food. They're not even particularly keen on live fish.

J

Interesting, since big Dosidicus gigas have been filmed scooping up small krill... I've often wondered if they just lose a lot, or if they manage to bunch them up so they can't escape as they munch... since neither the large suckers near the mouth nor the beak seems well-suited to munching them...

Anyway, I guess what works for Dosidicus shouldn't be expected to work for Pinnoctopus any more than comparing the diets of dogs and anteaters.

**Jean** · Feb 26, '08, 5:08pm

Originally Posted by monty

Interesting, since big Dosidicus gigas have been filmed scooping up small krill... I've often wondered if they just lose a lot, or if they manage to bunch them up so they can't escape as they munch... since neither the large suckers near the mouth nor the beak seems well-suited to munching them...

Anyway, I guess what works for Dosidicus shouldn't be expected to work for Pinnoctopus any more than comparing the diets of dogs and anteaters.

Yeah N. sloanii takes very large quantities of Nyctiphanes australis our local krill, but on a rethink I would imagine the difference is between a benthic or demersal feeder and a pelagic one rather than a size issue (although that may play a part!).

J

**bläckis** · Feb 28, '08, 12:48pm

okey then it will be live food but can i take ALL marine shrimps and crabs or must it be speciall ones ? and i dont know jet if it will be a baby octo or a big one. so if it would be a baby waht sort of food did it need, same as the big octos ?

**Jean** · Feb 28, '08, 3:01pm

Originally Posted by bläckis

okey then it will be live food but can i take ALL marine shrimps and crabs or must it be speciall ones ? and i dont know jet if it will be a baby octo or a big one. so if it would be a baby waht sort of food did it need, same as the big octos ?

Pretty much it's a size issue the babies will eat similar prey types to the adults but they can't deal with such large prey (although baby cephs do eat surprisingly large prey items for their size).

Small crabs (fiddlers, hermits etc) and Marine shrimps (Mysids, Euphausids (krill), and shore shrimps) are fine. If you get a very small baby you may want to try amphipods.

J