That sounds like something I would do 
Test and see With Yeti, if the food is too big he will push it away. I think it has a lot to do with competition as the brissle worms and brittle star try to take his food. If he can't secure it under his webbing he seems to reject it. This may be natural or may be invoked by the critters in his tank but I have noticed food being rejected by other young octopuses based upon size. The general rule of thumb is mantle size for max but I always start smaller.
With Yeti, if the food is too big he will push it away. I think it has a lot to do with competition as the brissle worms and brittle star try to take his food. If he can't secure it under his webbing he seems to reject it. This may be natural or may be invoked by the critters in his tank but I have noticed food being rejected by other young octopuses based upon size. The general rule of thumb is mantle size for max but I always start smaller.
all of my Aculeatus have been picky like that. the piece of shrimp had to be just the right size or it was rejected.
You can try starting with a piece about the size of his eye. If you have shell on, leave the shell (just cut it with a knife). We saw with LittleBit and possibly now with Yeti that having a shell of some sort seems to be required when they are small
Visual does not seem to be a factor (unlike some other animals where I have heard of people painting eyes on dead shrimp). I validated the shell observation again tonight with Yeti (we also saw this with LittleBit). Tomorrow I will try crab again with the same thought (he has absolutely refused crab out of the shell). Eventually this won't matter but it seems to be a major factor while they are small.
Yes, we feed our adults crab claws as their primary food. They are known as visual hunters but, at least in the tank, they are more tactile than visual when they hunt and often don't see what they catch.
I posted a note in Yeti's thread but wanted to post here to as I think it is a significant understanding. Yeti has refused anything but freshly killed shore shrimp (He did reluctantly take one piece of crayfish and possibly a piece of crab but it was not clear if he actually ate them. He has definitely totally refused them since.). Neal remembered that LittleBit required that there be a shell on her food when she was small so we tried this with Yeti and he has taken everything offered that was still wrapped in its original shell. They grow out of this requirement (they don't eat the shells and they need to be removed from the tank), at least for shrimp. We still give Octavia in shell crab claws that are more or less easy to remove (depending on where she decides to put them) because extracting the raw meat does not work well (the shells are totally cleaned out when she is done). We have not tried table shrimp yet as I think it is too tough for him still (he is much smaller than Clarence)
hahah thats funny that he is picky. Clarence has eaten pretty much everything ive given him exept those big peeled shrimp. i feel like hes doubled in size already. one day he was this little white guy i could barely see , now hes all thick and juicy 
We tried shell on shrimp tonight (I used the tail section because it is the most tender) and Yeti removed the shell but did not eat the meat so I still think table shrimp is too tough for the young ones but should be tried each month as they grow.
Similar threads
Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.