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What are you feeding your octopus?

Hello all

My Bimac is eating boatloads of snails (Margarita) and a little frozen with selcon. And once in a while some hermits and mythrix. My question is "Are any snails more nutritious than others for my octo?"
 
are they small enough for a baby that size?

actually it looks like he has mysids that are up to 1/4 inch that would probably work better..

Thanks!!
 
Bigpapa;103091 said:
are they small enough for a baby that size?

actually it looks like he has mysids that are up to 1/4 inch that would probably work better..

Thanks!!

You might want to try both. Mysids are cannabalistic so they don't last very long. You could also ask Paul Sachs (the owner) to try and ship you some small shrimp.
 
Rob,

Brine & Ghost Shrimp, Feeder Fish, Aquarium Supply - Live Brine Shrimp (about mid-way down the page) is the cheapest place I find shrimp. If you add a note to your payment that you want the smallest they have, Mike (well, maybe his bookkeeper, Phyllis) is very good about noticing such comments.

Paul Sachs as referenced by Cuttlegirl is also receptive to size requests for fiddler crabs and has the best prices for them, his shrimp are more expensive but a great backup.

I would recommend using FROZEN Cyclop-eeze over the live mysid. A hundred + dollar order won't last long (maybe a week) and you can't be sure they are eating them.
 
I am feeding Doc Oc, my O. Briareus, a combo of shrimp, crabs and small fish.
Primarily he feeds on one shrimp (3"-4") each night. Once a week, I will through in a crab or a small fish for a treat, he accepts them all without preference and leaves little behind. As long as it is alive, he makes short work of it...

I have tried dead shrimp, and he rejected it...
 
i give mine thawed shrimp, but there are two live shrimp in his tank that she always attempt to catch but never can. Does anyone else's octopus have trouble catching shrimp?
 
When she was young, my bimac had a tough time with the little shore shrimp, which move very quickly. It was some months before she figured out a technique for catching them - she waited until night, turned black (!) and hung out upside down on the water's surface near the overflow. Her method was quite effective!

Nancy
 
My Mercs now ignore the shore shrimp swiming in their tanks. I tried killing the shrimp and hand feeding and that has worked for several months but last week Neal just handed Sisturus a live one and he gladly took it so we have been hand feeding live. It is curious since Sisty would hunt them in the breeder net even when the others would only catch them from their dens. Once in an open tank, however, my shrimp count does not decrease even when it looks like they can easily be caught since I have seen both Sisty and Medusa flick them away.
 
hello everyone i am teacher of a small highschool and we have started a 55gl tank for a octopus in the school with live rock, a sump, coral, lighting, snails, and so on.We have do not have the bimac yet. we have also started breeding malies (freashwater fish dont know how to spell it though) for food that have been Acclimated to salt water and are doing good. we wanted to see the octopus eat the malies for part of our experiments and maybe a crayfish to see how it hunts and eats, but at the same time i dont know if thats a great idea. help please
 
i think they are spelled mollies but im not sure. Anyways, i dont think most corals would do well in the type of lighting that octopuses like (low lighting) and vice versa, and bimacs also like colder temperatures so keeping corals might not be the best idea. They also tend to move "stuff" around in their tank, and this would include corals. Besides that, everything seems good. Also be sure that the liverock in the tank is at least 3 months old so it can manage the amount of waste an octopus produces.
 
lemon,
Fish are not the best food for your octopus and it may ignore them. Freshwater anything is not going to keep it healthy (snacking is considered OK). In stead of the crayfish, choose a small crabs, instead of your mollies, shore shrimp, frozen uncooked shrimp or if you must breed and use fish, use either silver sides (available frozen but not sure about live) or possibly sailfin mollies (which will breed easily but will eat their young so they have to be monitored) that are at least a brackish water fish and should be closer to the desired fat percentages (this is guessing and someone else may have actual data). Crabs and shrimp are your best bet to be able to see them eat for your observation but remember that they take the food up into their web so you will be limited as to what you can see. My most active Mercatoris (nocturnal pygmy) will take a small live shore shrimp from my fingers when he is on the glass with his beak facing me but it still disappears from view while he is sucking out the meat.

You might also consider Bandensis cuttlefish for your tank instead of an octopus. They are easier to observe eating (you will definitely need live shore shrimp). They would fit your environment much better and are not an escape concern (low lighting is still a requirement if you want to observe them though). If this is of interest try scanning the cuttlefish forum.
 
anyone know what bait shops use to get their crabs? if i could get a hold of someone who does wholesale, i'd be happy to try setting up a shipping business for as low $ as possible for all my tonmo friends
 

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