Feeding an Aculeatus

[DrBatty]

Hey all, I am the new owner of a young O. Aculeatus....never had one before, but I've read loads and loads about them over the years!
When i bought him, the guy at the shop who ordered him for me said he was really keen on ghost shrimp [i don't think he ever tried to feed the octo anything else], so I've been feeding him the ghost shrimp, live. He does like ghost shrimp, but I was hoping to vary his diet a little more.
Thus far, I've tried hermit crabs, clams [which, instead of being eaten, are being kept as live "doors" to his den, hahaha], and [thawed] frozen krill, which he takes from my fingers, bites once, and then drops.
I've only had him for a week, but he's settling in very quickly and is already willing to take food from my hands with little hesitance. Unfortunately, I can't hold onto live ghost shrimp very well with my fingers, hahaha. I feel very fortunate to have such an active and willing aculeatus, so I am very eager to take as much advantage of his character as I can by bonding with him.....but that's hard to do when I can't seem to find a food to hand to him, so we can build trust.
Anyone have any suggestions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :o)

 

[marinebio_guy]

Hey all, I am the new owner of a young O. Aculeatus....never had one before, but I've read loads and loads about them over the years!
When i bought him, the guy at the shop who ordered him for me said he was really keen on ghost shrimp [i don't think he ever tried to feed the octo anything else], so I've been feeding him the ghost shrimp, live. He does like ghost shrimp, but I was hoping to vary his diet a little more.
Thus far, I've tried hermit crabs, clams [which, instead of being eaten, are being kept as live "doors" to his den, hahaha], and [thawed] frozen krill, which he takes from my fingers, bites once, and then drops.
I've only had him for a week, but he's settling in very quickly and is already willing to take food from my hands with little hesitance. Unfortunately, I can't hold onto live ghost shrimp very well with my fingers, hahaha. I feel very fortunate to have such an active and willing aculeatus, so I am very eager to take as much advantage of his character as I can by bonding with him.....but that's hard to do when I can't seem to find a food to hand to him, so we can build trust.
Anyone have any suggestions? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :o)

I would try feeding him small crabs, ghost shrimp might do ok for a while but small crabs would be a better diet for him. As far as hand feeding him I would not base what to feed him on what you can give him by hand. You could try strips of squid. Live food however is better. For one reason you get to see him hunt for it which is really cool but also it is more natural for them octopus are rarely scavengers. Good Luck.