Carribean Reef Octo Feeding Behavior

Joined
Apr 5, 2014
Messages
27
Hi,

I have a Caribbean reef octopus been feeding it every other day a fiddler crab, and there is snails in the tank they its been stashing up they I can see. When I went to feed it today it blew it moved it away and blew it is this normal for them ? I'm guessing its full from the snails and other crabs it has eaten but I'm not sure. I registered for the site but I'm unable to post on there.

Also its not really that large its a pretty young one

Sorry about the terrible photos

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Hi Justin! Do you have any more photos? How long have you had this cutie? Would you consider keeping a journal in the octopus journal forum? They don't always eat when they are fed regularly, he may just be full. Where are you from, and where did you get your friend from? Sometimes knowing where you are lets us help you find different food ideas.
 
I would suggest offering a change of food, hermits are not an adequate food for this species. The snails are more likely collected as den construction material than for food. They will eat them, but only as a newly acclimated animal or last resort.

You can try a piece of thawed table shrimp about the size of the eye offered on a feeding stick (either a normal nylon stick or a bamboo skewer). Be sure the shrimp is fully thawed (soak at least 15 minutes in saltwater, NOT tap water). Initially try it with the shell off (for your cleaning convenience), if rejected, try shell on. Once this is easily taken, try a second. If he/she takes two, use a larger piece next time. This and the blue crab claws (below) are our primary food offerings for most of our octopuses.

This one may be a little small for blue crab claws. We feed all our adult briareus blue crab claw scrounged from the Asian market live bins. If recently fully severed from the body, the claws freeze well and are an excellent food. If it is convenient, look for a small one and try offering it or break off and offer just the bottom part of the claw. If she/he cleans out the bottom claw offering, crack the main part with a nut cracker and offer it the next day.

Recently I tried and had great success with a piece of fresh salmon from the grocery meat market. It freezes well and is a nice change (not for everyday feeding though) change. Salmon oil is high in some of the fatty content they need (especially the young) but I am not sure how much benefit there is to pieces of meat.
 
Hi Justin! Do you have any more photos? How long have you had this cutie? Would you consider keeping a journal in the octopus journal forum? They don't always eat when they are fed regularly, he may just be full. Where are you from, and where did you get your friend from? Sometimes knowing where you are lets us help you find different food ideas.


Ive had him for about 20 days so far hes been doing well on live fiddlers that i order from online. I can keep a journal once he settles in some more currently he found himself a place behind some rocks. Im from Pennsylvania not to many places i can get live food around here. When it gets bigger i can deff get live blue crabs n i mean mud fiddlers. Snails wern't made for food but they are there if it gets hungry i need trying to work on getting him to eat frozen shrimp, and mussels and squid

 
He should like the crabs but will outgrow them. I disable the large claw on the male fiddlers. If you get good at it you can break the bottom or top tip but very often attempting to break the tip will result in the crab shedding the whole claw.

I don't recommend providing whole blue crab (he will likely take right sized ones happily but they make an awful tank mess) but suggest trying to fish for loose claws where you find them for sale (live crab bin, I did not fish in the ocean :wink:). The whole crab will not freeze well and can poison the meat when the internal organs die. Any frozen crab you find (whole or canned) will have been cooked. I have never found out why cooked/steamed meat is not appropriate but have avoided it on others recommendations. The claws, however, work really well in the freezer and are a good source of food.

Edit 2017 This post links an article that has a bit of information on why raw is better than cooked food.

Octopuses tend to like most mussels (especially on the half shell) but I recommend avoiding anything but clams (any type). You can keep clams in the tank and let him find and open them (some do some ignore them) or keep them alive there and open one for the octopus on occasion. The clams will work as a minor clean up crew and don't foul the tank like other mussels.
 
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Now that you have bragged on your claw disabling technique, the next 5 will drop their claws (or so it seems around here :biggrin2:).

I have found any of the grocery/Asian market store clams seem to do fine, just be sure they are alive when you place them in the tank. I place them in a bucket of tank water overnight (if you leave them more than a few hours, place an air stone in the bucket and change the water) to let them eliminate whatever they picked up while in transport and at the grocery. Be sure the bucket has tall sides or you will have a wet counter :biggrin2:. We have opened and fed one directly from the store but I always soak the clams that will go into the tank.
 
Going out for clams today the guy at the store knows me well for buying a little of everything to make fish food. Im going to get a bunch of little necks for it. So it have a selection of various things. Still going to keep trying the shrimp and scallops.
 
Scallops have been a bit odd. I have had most octopuses to accept exactly ONE scallop (frozen, not fresh). I have no clue as to why as the first acceptance has usually been with gusto followed by complete rejection. Be sure to post Ghost's reaction.

Also, keep in mind that initial rejection may not mean rejection in the future. Part of the rejection/acceptance of any food is acclimating to being fed dead or new food. Once the animal is comfortable taking food from you, particularly in the "teenage" phase, it will often take previously rejected or new foods easily. I usually try rejected foods again after a week on a repeated cycle if still rejected.
 

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