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Octopus Food

Oct-Frog

Hatchling
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Oct 15, 2009
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2
I was wondering where all of you non-costal guys get your octopus food from. Do you culture it or do you buy it from somewhere? If so from where?

Thanks! :smile:
 
CaptFish,
Somewhere in the back of my mind I think I saw that Dana was offering octo food but it takes awhile for things to set in sometimes.:old: How long have you been getting food from CCritters? Does Dana send a mixture or mostly mithrax (I hate, but do on occassion, feeding little mithrax - most end up as cleanup in other tanks even when I do get them for food and I tried to rescue a tiny stone crab that was a hitch hiker in my LR but I think Maya found him first :sad:).

I will always keep Paul (Sachs) as my #1 supplier because he is so reliable but I look for additional food sources to give them variety.
 
dwhatley;144256 said:
CaptFish,
......How long have you been getting food from CCritters? Does Dana send a mixture or mostly mithrax .....
.

I have done two orders now. I'm really not sure what they were, tiny little ugly buggers, like none I had seen before. I also picked up some mixed Gorgonian.
 
I just go to the supermarket and buy bags of frozen raw shrimp for about $8 a bag.... lasts about 3 months. My last octo lived 13 months with me from 2 inch arm-span to pretty much 48-inch arm span.... so yeah. $8 a bag.... lasts about 3 months...

Shipping costs.... psshh.
 
CaptFish;144274 said:
I have done two orders now. I'm really not sure what they were, tiny little ugly buggers, like none I had seen before. I also picked up some mixed Gorgonian.

I am trying an order from Dana to offer some variety. These "tiny, ugly buggers" are decorator crabs (Oregonia gracilis). There are two kinds of crabs using this common name. This is not the one that looks like a taranchula.

They shipped well with USPS 2 day shipping but I have not tried them as octo food yet. These are very slow moving crabs so there is not a lot of chase involved and if they are well received, I may leave several in the tank for KaySoh to "discover" on her own.

Update 2010-01-03: I ordered the mixed crabs from Cramers Caribbean Critters and found that they survive very well for a long time in a simple 2 gallon tank. Both the hummelincki (Maya) and the briareus (KaySoh and Creepy) eat them and I think they are especially suited for briareus style hunting. They move very slowly and latch on to crevices in the rock with hook like appendage at the ends of their legs but don't seem to damage anything in the tank. I have added some of the more intresting looking ones to my anemone and clown tank and they are still (2 months later) doing fine. These make a nice variety choice for live food.
 
I told you theyy were ugly little buggers. I put the whole lot in the tank for Legs, so she could hunt for them. with shrimp I do the same, six at a time, that way she can eat when she wants and she get to hunt. although she will come get a shiner every now and then too.
 
Oct-Frog;144324 said:
Did you have to coax him/her to eat it off a feeding stick/wand Animal Mother? Thanks for all the replies everyone!

After they know the large stranger dangling fingers in the tank also brings food, you don't really have to use a stick much. In the beginning, yes, you have to use something to distance your big scary hand from the food.
 
Hello, I hope this is the right board for food questions as well. I am a soon to be a new octopus owner. I will be getting it from a well trusted tropical pet store and they have answered all of my questions except one. I live in the DC area that has an abundance of Maryland blue crabs. I have water access and I am wondering if i could get crabs straight from the water to feed my octopus. Before doing so I would test the water for copper and other hard metals that are leathal to octopi. I also have read that octopi shouldnt be fed goldfish as they are high in fat. Are there any fish that are suitable for them?
 
:welcome:

Using wild caught food is just fine. With the blue crabs I would remove the claws to protect the octopus, as the blues can be quite vicious. I use wild caught shrimp to feed mine but every now and then I drop a blue crab in her tank for a treat. Up there you can also get clams and mussels which are good octo treats. The goldfish is a big NO!! We recently lost an octo because someone else tried feeding it a goldfish. there is a general rule that you do not want to feed your octo any freshwater species, the exception being crayfish. Just a warning even though the LFS is very trusted i would not believe anything they claim to know about octopuses, but now that you found us we can help with any of your questions and needs.

What size tank do you have?
what kind of octo were you hoping to get?
 
Im going to get a pygmy octopus i believe. I was told a 30 gal tank would be the smallest tank possible, so i am going to get a 40gal breeder tank (36x18x16) as apposed to a nonbreeder (48x12x16). I talked to the petstore briefly disscussing some info about the octopi. They said they get pygmy octopi from the Caribean every 4-6 weeks. Im new to salt water fish, but Im ready for the challenge. I did have a pirahna that was supposedly for experts, but i found it quite easy. I have at least 3 months to learn as much as i can about octopi, so ill be asking around these forums for a while.

edit* one more question. About fish, i live on a brackish (half fresh half salt) river that runs into the chesapeake bay. would the fish be ok to eat. Like... kilifish, some species of minnows? perch would probably be a no go because of their spines. Just trying to find a way to lessen octo food costs. im not a fan of using frozen food. Thats what killed my pirhanna, the frozen foods nutrients are drained.
 
If you are getting a Caribbean dwarf, chances are it will be a mercatoris. You can (and I would recomment it) put multiples in a 30 (I have kept 2 tank born in a well filtered and heavily water changed 15). If you get them at the same time, the chances are good that they have lived together/in close proximity already and I have found that multiples seem to be a bit more active (particularly two males) than if kept singularly. As with all octos, it is a good idea to drop your water level an inch and a half to two inches below the top of the aquarium. The lowered water level coupled with a 2" overhang around the top works very well to keep them easily contained (other octopuses need much more extensive securing).

You will need VERY small crabs (mantle size or smaller). Any crabs properly sized will be hunted and eaten. I diable but try not to remove the claws. Forget the fish (mercs not likely to even think about them but fish are not a good food source), if you can net the brackish shore shrimp, they are well received but you will likely have to hand feed them (the young will hunt them in a breeder net but the adults never seem to be able to catch them on their own but take them willingly if offered. Up until Sleazy (my current female) I had not been able to get the mercs to eat frozen grocery shrimp but Sleazy takes it happily. None of mine have ever eaten hermit crabs but others have had success feeding these as well. Putting hermits in the tank is not a bad idea because they will clean up some of the left overs even if they do not become dinner.

Do note that these are a nocturnal species and will not convert to daylight living. If you can darken the room around 9:00 you should be able to see them active (males, females seem to be home bodies) around 11:00. We have been able to feed our current female much earlier (around 6:00 PM) but she takes her food in her den and does not come out to hunt that early. A red light left on 24/7 has worked very well to be able to observe them (not so good for photographs however)

Under Forums->Journals and Photos you will find several stickies at the top of the forum labeled List of Our Octopuses followed by a year. The last three have links to the journals but there are more complete journals for mercs in the 2007, unlinked posts (use the animal name to search the threads). GHolland (Varys) and I (Trapper) both raised a WC female, her young and her grand children and have forward linked the original parent thread if you want to spend the evening reading :sagrin:
 

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