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ok lets feed it

Jlnune07

Cuttlefish
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Feb 27, 2008
Messages
21
So I ordered my octo and he should be coming in shortly. My LFS said he has a trusted supplier he uses for octo orders and was gonna hound him until he got one he could get one that fit my needs for sure. So for now things are looking great...fingers crossed.

How should I be prepard to feed him? Hermits I know, but how many how often? Fiddler crabs and ghost shrimp as treats? I know freshwater foods should be kept to a minimum and they're not as nutritionally sufficient, but damn those fiddlers look like theyd be a heartier meal than hermits!

Whaddaya say?
 
It depends on how large your octopus is (and how large the fiddlers are). You might start with one fiddler, and maybe some thawed frozen shrimp and see whether your octopus takes it all. Most people feed daily.

On the other hand, if you have an octopus the size of a large grape, then a small hermit should be enough.

You will have to experiment and watch closely.

Nancy
 
small children and kittens when they get a little larger but unlike when they are younger you only have to feed twice a week or so...

no im just kidding DONT FEED SMALL CHILDREN TO YOUR OCTOPUS but kittens are ok

no i fed mine when she wasnt protecting eggs a few 2 inch or so blue crabs once every couple days. but i also prefer the method of having a tank full of live rock for the food to hide in so that the octopus has to actually hunt for it. this way you get to see the stalking and hunting tactics in full. you'd also be surprised how large of a prey your octopus can take down.
 
joefish84;113833 said:
. but i also prefer the method of having a tank full of live rock for the food to hide in so that the octopus has to actually hunt for it. this way you get to see the stalking and hunting tactics in full. you'd also be surprised how large of a prey your octopus can take down.

It's also a form of behavioural enrichment (more natural than lego!). We use it all the time for many of our critters.

J
 
haha thanks joefish. i was actually having a pretty boring day up until i read that. as simple as the joke was, my timing kicked it up a notch lol. I think I'm going to go the blue hermit and fidler route. I'll be giving a handfull of hermits, some scallops and 1 fidler a week and see how that goes. A guy at my lfs said he gave his octo a couple dozen hermits a week...i, however, will NOT be going that route. He saw a rediculous growth rate but w/e. I like the idea of leaving some hermits in the tank and its not the first i've had the idea suggested to me. So thanks for the help all! anybody rip that big claw off of the fidlers? regardless of the octo's upper "hand" in that fight, will the crabs claw damage the octos skin?
 
ive never taken off the big claw because i know from experience that they are more for show anyway. ive never owned an octo that has had trouble with them. in fact that big claw holds more meat than the rest of the body. also if you watch your octopus when it attacks crabs they naturally attack from behind and use the first two arms to neutralize the claws.
 
I don't know man... I got a finger pinched by a nickel sized fiddler and it was pretty damn strong. I like snipping the tip off the top pincher so it can't connect. More or less it's just my own peace of mind though. I was feeding Einy (my dwarf O. mercatoris) fiddlers with intact claws and I did see him get grabbed one time. Didn't seem to do any damage, but I was kinda mad at myself over it. Einy just retreated and came back for more a few minutes later.

An A. aculeatus I kept in the tank at my job for a little while would rip off the big claw completely and take the rest back to its den.
 
I will bring my camera to prove it!:wink:

I disable the large claw. If the crab drops it, I hand it to Octane. Sometimes he cleans it out and other times he ignores it. I don't even attempt to give it to the Mercs.
 
We never disable the prey. After all this is what they deal with in the wild, also we release back to the wild and while I'm sure there are some handicapped (clawdicapped?) crabs they would be in the minority.

J
 

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