• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Can a baby octopus starve itself?

Aaron

Cuttlefish
Registered
Joined
Mar 2, 2007
Messages
17
First of all - thank you everybody for all your feedback ......

However - my baby octopus still refuses to eat and if he doesn't eat soon I know he will die ... :-(

I have given him every kind of living or dead food he could possibly want without any luck. I tested my water quality levels ... and my nitrates were indeed high (though ammonia and nitrites are perfectly fine). After a large water change my nitrates are now good ... but as of tonight he still won't eat ....

Does anybody have any ideas at all?
 
Have you tried hand feeding it? I usually use tweezers to touch the food to the octo's arms and they will usually grab it.

Aaron;103127 said:
First of all - thank you everybody for all your feedback ......

However - my baby octopus still refuses to eat and if he doesn't eat soon I know he will die ... :-(

I have given him every kind of living or dead food he could possibly want without any luck. I tested my water quality levels ... and my nitrates were indeed high (though ammonia and nitrites are perfectly fine). After a large water change my nitrates are now good ... but as of tonight he still won't eat ....

Does anybody have any ideas at all?
 
How does he look? Could he be eating amphipods from the live rock?
Does he have a place to hide? What kind of lights do you have on the tank?
Could the food you're offering be too big for him? Have you tried small crabs and snails?

We have had cases where the little octopus refuses food and dies, but this is rare unless something else is involved.

Nancy
 
Nancy;103132 said:
How does he look? Could he be eating amphipods from the live rock?
Does he have a place to hide? What kind of lights do you have on the tank?
Could the food you're offering be too big for him? Have you tried small crabs and snails?

We have had cases where the little octopus refuses food and dies, but this is rare unless something else is involved.

Nancy
I did two major (50%) water changes - one on Sunday and one on Monday and reduced the Nitrate levels to 25 ......
I'm afraid of doing any more water changes for at least several days or a week ....
I've tried hand feeding him ... (live) ghost shrimp, silversides, clam, scallop, muscle, shrimp (all raw). He pushes the stick w/ food on it away with surprising force for a little guy ... I even tried Entice appetite enhancer.
There are several small snails and two camel back shrimp in the tank but he shoes no interest in them.
Ammonia and Nitrite are at zero and salinity is at 1.026
Ph had dropped to 7.9 but is now back at 8.2
He's still not eating though :-(
I'm soooo frustrated .....
 
cuttlegirl;103141 said:
What are the current nitrate levels? They might still be too high for such a sensitive animal.
I did two major (50%) water changes - one on Sunday and one on Monday and reduced the Nitrate levels to 25 ......
I'm afraid of doing any more water changes for at least several days or a week ....
I've tried hand feeding him ... (live) ghost shrimp, silversides, clam, scallop, muscle, shrimp (all raw). He pushes the stick w/ food on it away with surprising force for a little guy ... I even tried Entice appetite enhancer.
There are several small snails and two camel back shrimp in the tank but he shoes no interest in them.
Ammonia and Nitrite are at zero and salinity is at 1.026
Ph had dropped to 7.9 but is now back at 8.2
He's still not eating though :-(
I'm soooo frustrated .....
 
You might try some zoo plankton. I only have experience with the Mercatoris (Carrabean pygmy) but if he is not eating and you can find some frozen Cyclop-eeze, it might help (one of mine will rarely eat anything else).
 
If your nitrates are indeed at 25, then I would hold off on a water change for a couple of days. Although, make sure that you test the water each day to determine if you actually must do a water change. Frequent, large, water changes can have negative effects just as poor water quality might and since the nitrate levels (25) are not that high given the accepted range is 0-20.

Just be sure to stay diligent when testing the water. If the levels get too high, you will need to do a water change.

Greg
 
I read an article that they need stimulation or can/will starve themselves. Have you tried putting in toys? I know that it sounds odd, but was a scientific study where babies kept "killing themselves" until given mental stimulation..... or try frozen food, mine did not eat live food for a few weeks.
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top