Food glorious Food...!

[krogey]

Ok feeding q.

Sparticus eats live crabs... and thats basically it! sometimes if I get some prawn meat from the supermarket deli, and he hasnt eaten that day he will eat it but otherwise he has a taste and spits it back.. I dont mind feeding crabs but I worry that he might not be getting all his vitamins by only having one source of food.. any thoughts?
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Also in one of his battles with a crab last week he got a cut on his mantle, at first was fairly small but now is a little biger and alot like a sore.. I thinking I might add some Aqua Plus to help heal/coat/protect - can I use Aqua Plus wth octos?
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And finally since he got his cut he been not comming out as much but at around the same time (same day I think) i cleaned out his tank and changed some of the rocks etc around.. i think he just sulking (very tempremental) cause i moved his house (looks much better now though- to me anyway!) btu am a bit worried... He still eating heaps.. 2 decent sized crabs a day, maybe this too much but he always seems hungry.. help? pls...

 

[neptune]

IMO - Don't worry to much about his eating right now. I always believe a eating octo is a healthy octo. You are right his diet needs to be varied, but now does not sound like the time to change it.

The sore... I don't know to much about the use of healing chems, but perhaps a UV would work here more safely.

I had a strange experience recently with my octo Ochi. He is newly aquired almost 3 weeks now. In the beginning for the first two weeks he was so active and all over me. But on Friday he decided to sit in his cave and hide all day.(Test params - all ok) Same thing on Saturday until i noticed doing a small water change he had eaten every crab in the tank.

I went straight to the store and bought 15 of them (blue leg hermits)!! Not 5 mins after they were in the tank did he run out and grab all of them He actually only took 2 in the end. I guess to see if they real before he munched. Ochi is back to normal, and I am going to get some more crabs soon. But i have notice he likes clams, shrimp, scallops, as long as he has crabs! He really is a hunter!

I learned quick

 

[Nancy]

Crabs are the favorite food of many species of octopus. But the crabs shouldn't be so large that your octo has to do battle for his food. I found with the fiddler crabs that I could trim the claws (they even grow back, if the crab isn't eaten). Crabs can cause wounds.

I've asked marine biologists about octopus medicine, and, although there are a few things that have been tried, basically the octo has to heal himself.

Nancy

 

[krogey]

yeah this was a once off battle! I sort of thought that the crab was a little big, but i thought that if it was too big that he wouldnt touch it... but he did. I learnt my lesson and stick to smaller ones now..
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he eating at least two a day though mimimum.. is this to much do you think?
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i interested to hear about octos all over you (or anybody) though, thats another thing i wanted to ask... he/she (i think is actually she!) seems very curious to touch me, but given 'her' eating habits of shoveling as much food into that beak as possible(!) I a little scared she might give me a love bite
I really want to but fear grips me... any thoughts/experiences?

 

[joel_ang]

Some people here have had their bimac killed and eaten by an oversized crayfish. The feeding of two crabs a day should be ok for the octo but don't forget the variety. Try feeding frozen foods too, like scallops......etc.

 

[Nancy]

Octopuses do bite, but usually only once out of curiousity. They want to explore your hand to see what it is. After that, they will recognize it and want to play. It's best to go ahead and stick your hand in while your octopus is still small and get this relationship established. Not everyone gets bitten, either. I was never bitten by my bimac, but my husband was. It was like a little sting.

Nancy

 

[johnism]

I was curious about this - how often do you feed your Octopus ( Daily -limited ) or free rain ( meaning dump all live creatures in for them to decide when it is time to eat)?
Also I see you mention frozen scallops as a substitute , what about shrimp or fish?
I live in the Central America so salt feeders might be very harder to come buy.
any ideas what else I could feed ( gold fish , crayfish and so on )?
I have seen where I can bulk clams form suppliers at a( reasonably price )but I saw the post mentions crabs ( are these hermits and fiddlers ), and can a person order( bulk ) fiddlers or hermits at a reasonable price -where?
Glad to see you covered the part about introducing your hand , was very curious about that ( so start early - is the best bet with this- can you hand feed them then - with say a gold fish )?
Again I am just trying to gain as much knowledge as possible , before acquiring one.
Thanks,
John

 

[krogey]

hi there,

personally I feed limited food per day that way I can constantly monitor exactly what and how much Spartucus is eating, if she goes off her food, i will be ware straight away and can put myself on ful alert, but I have a friend who dump about 4 little crabs into the tank and then re-stocks once he sees they're all gone.
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All my frozen shrimp meat etc comes from the deli in the supermarket, i just have to be careful to ask what is cooked and what isn't else when i get it home she knows if its cooked and spits it out!- not that I would ever feed cooked food intentionally anyway.. !