RIP OCTOROK
Last night I received fiddler crabs for him to eat and I put one in the tank.. I don't see it, but I assume that octorok did not hunt and eat it. Instead I think he starved to death maybe
I had eliminated the aiptasia and done some water changes... the next step was going to be adding the heater, since the temperature was a fairly gradual change and he isn't a tropical species, I figured that his lowered activity level might be less pleasing for me to watch but ok for him. Its always confusing to 'debug' a fish death
My theory is going to stand that OCTOROK never developed proper hunting instincts and after killing that live damsel he wanted to change what he ate, but didn't have the hunting ability to do so.
While my upcoming idea may be a little costly, I think it will be worthwhile; and I think the thought of breaking down a tank I have spent around $500 on seems really unappealing at this point......
My plan is to start filling my tank up with a reasonable amount of live food and to introduce an octopus and allow him to hunt off these foods and nothing else for his lifespan. This way he will surely get the nutrition he needs, if I select the right foods, and they will be much more 'natural'.
So far I am planning on putting these 10 fiddlers in, and probably getting a bunch of the shrimp off the site nancy suggested (I'd try shrimpstuff.com but I have no place for 200 shrimp, and don't find it to be a big price break from the alternative provided by nancy)
I'm also hoping to add a bit more of a clean up crew such as some hard shelled snails.. I have a large electric blue (??) hermit crab I am going to keep.. my 4 stripe damsel is going to go to an LFS... my chocolate chip starfish will stay.. I have a rock full of mushrooms which I am going to carefully scour for aiptasia, and I plan to add another rock or two like this.
Possibly I am also going to add a heater set to 70 degrees so that the temperature never fluctuates far. I think it was a mistake to let it drop seasonally.
Any suggestions for this new tank are greatly appreciated, I'd like it to stay in this thread so that I can have a complete 'case history' on OCTOROK along with some 'lessons learned'. I am happy that I provided a good home for him for a long while, and although he has died I think that the information learned from him can let him LIVE ON
Robert (this time, without OCTOROK
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