Simple,
As long as you don't add anything foreign and are sure to remove anything dead (as AM mentioned, you need to know where the crabs are and that they are alive so only one - two fiddlers - at a time), innovate away and then report on your success or failure. There is a forum marked, "What do you feed your octopus" that might offer some ideas. My little guys don't eat much variety (in spite of my efforts) so I recommend trying new stuff slowly (don't fill your freezer with everything under the sun, like I have done it just sits there if refused). The freezer idea sounds promising. My baby Mercs would eat shore shrimp very well when they were in their breeder nets but now in the larger tanks (one is only 15 gallons) they rarely eat them. Sometimes they swat them away so I know they can catch them but don't. I have been able (only in the last two weeks) to get them to take freshly killed tails and my brooding female will gladly take a male fiddler claw, none of them would eat frozen clam, thawed scallops, the mixed frozen "variety" pack marine food, snails, hermits or live fish fry but the larger octos seem to take to many of these and Fetcha may want different things as she grows. Another thought would be to dream up a container that the octo can explore (not an opening the jar challenge) but the food has a hard time trying to escape. The idea would be to create a feeding area that has a denser population than the tank, possibly her critter keeper or something turned upside down.
You might try leaving your red lights on 24/7 if you can sleep with the lighting (or cover the tank with the light on). Miserable for pictures (no flash for a long time yet) but it might let you see her a bit more. This is going to take more time than you want and you will think it is taking longer than it is. I keep a calander on the wall and mark beginnings (and also have my TONMO journal) so I have a better feel time and am still often surprised at the actual time (or lack of it) involved (like waiting to see if I am going to have baby octos this month!). Keep doing the homework, reading etc where she can see you but keep yourself entertained and not fretting.
As long as you don't add anything foreign and are sure to remove anything dead (as AM mentioned, you need to know where the crabs are and that they are alive so only one - two fiddlers - at a time), innovate away and then report on your success or failure. There is a forum marked, "What do you feed your octopus" that might offer some ideas. My little guys don't eat much variety (in spite of my efforts) so I recommend trying new stuff slowly (don't fill your freezer with everything under the sun, like I have done it just sits there if refused). The freezer idea sounds promising. My baby Mercs would eat shore shrimp very well when they were in their breeder nets but now in the larger tanks (one is only 15 gallons) they rarely eat them. Sometimes they swat them away so I know they can catch them but don't. I have been able (only in the last two weeks) to get them to take freshly killed tails and my brooding female will gladly take a male fiddler claw, none of them would eat frozen clam, thawed scallops, the mixed frozen "variety" pack marine food, snails, hermits or live fish fry but the larger octos seem to take to many of these and Fetcha may want different things as she grows. Another thought would be to dream up a container that the octo can explore (not an opening the jar challenge) but the food has a hard time trying to escape. The idea would be to create a feeding area that has a denser population than the tank, possibly her critter keeper or something turned upside down.
You might try leaving your red lights on 24/7 if you can sleep with the lighting (or cover the tank with the light on). Miserable for pictures (no flash for a long time yet) but it might let you see her a bit more. This is going to take more time than you want and you will think it is taking longer than it is. I keep a calander on the wall and mark beginnings (and also have my TONMO journal) so I have a better feel time and am still often surprised at the actual time (or lack of it) involved (like waiting to see if I am going to have baby octos this month!). Keep doing the homework, reading etc where she can see you but keep yourself entertained and not fretting.