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Tank-Raised vs. Wild octos

Joined
Jan 10, 2007
Messages
42
forgive me if this has been posted, but i didn't see much on this topic when i searched, but in the estimation of those on here who know quite a bit about octos (much more than me at least!), is a tank-raised octo better to keep then a wild one?

i just bought a baby yesterday, looks to be a common brown octopus but is very light grey in color and turned a little brown once so far....he hasn't emerged and has crawled INSIDE a porous rock i have and hasn't come out since!

i've thrown live feeder shrimp near the rock and nothing...i'm worried he's so scared to come ou that he might starve. it's been almost 24 hours since i've put him in the tank, i'm just hoping he's full and maybe the suppliers fed him? the LFS didn't even take him out of the bag yet; came straight from the supplier.

any help would be appreciated....thx!
 
What you're experiencing is very common. Your octopus has been stressed by shipping and by finding itself in a strange environment. Natually, he'll go off and hide, maybe even for days. It's not usual for your new octopus not to eat right away.

Most likely he was fed at the suppliers.

Do you have a mature tank with amphipods? A young octopus may be eating those. And your new octopus could be nocturnal, so you won't see when he comes out (but you can observe using a red light).

Try offering small crabs or a small piece of thawed frozen shrimp.

Our Tonmo members have successfully kept both wild caught and tank raised octopuses.

Nancy
 
Personally I think tank raised is better! a) you know how old it is and b) it is used to people and being handled......but they're VERY hard to get (as I'm sure you've noticed :biggrin2:) Our aquarium displays wild caught (not many people are willing to try to raise critters that reach 2-3m!)but we feed live food and release back to the wild into the same spot we caught the octopus (sometimes on our jetty! see http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8252&highlight=O'Shea+Octopus).......if we could get tank raised we would!

cheers

J
 
Nancy, thanks for the encouraging words/help and i have an update!

i thawed out a tiny piece of krill and stuck it near a hole in the rock he's hiding in, and he took it with his tentacle!

then i peered down and saw his eye sticking out of the rock staring up at me! awesome!

i still think babies are more of a hassle, i sure miss the last one that died that was larger and would eat live crabs on his own...
 
That's very good - your little octopus took some frozen food. That will make it easier for you. He needs some live food, but he can eat the krill as the main item of his diet. He could be too young to catch the feeder shrimp, but some small crabs like hermits would be a good choice to supplement the krill. So you're on your way!

You might want to try giving him the krill on a feeding stick. I used two bamboo skewers tied end to end.

Yes, babies may be more of a hassle, but even older octopuses hide upon arrival. Now that you have a food you know he'll take, things shouldn't be so difficult.

Nancy
 
Nancy - one interesting thing i've found now on my 2nd octo is that everyone here on the board seems to have luck w/hermit crabs being eaten by their octos. However, this is the 2nd one that hasn't touched hermits, they lived through the entire life of the octo i had before which was PLENTY big enough to catch hermits!

my older octo caught & ate fiddler & saltwater crabs, but yes this new young one is sooo small i doubt he could even handle the tiny, orange crabs i have in there.

the feeding stick sounds like a great idea w/ the krill, thx again!
 

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