Shy octo?

[norgebyblood]

i got my atlantic reef octo about a week and a half ago. hes eating well and moves alot if we pick up a rock to get an empty snail shell or something, but lately he has been staying in a little hole in a peice of live rock and he keeps an empty snail shell with him. is this normal? he's about 6" from tentacle to tentacle (wingspan?) and his head is about the size of.. a ping pong ball. thanks!

 

[Danthemarineman]

Sounds like he made that hole in your live rock his den. The empty snail shell is the door to his den.

 

[Jean]

Totally normal behaviour. Cap'n Black Beak and Long John Slither have been skulking in their dens for about 2 weeks now, they come out for food!

J

 

[norgebyblood]

ahahaha ok, i was just makin sure it wasnt like a sign of sickness or anything. any ideas on food for that size octo? he really likes snails and ghost shrimp, but wont touch his hermits... i was told a fiddler would be too big, is this correct? also, sometimes i can get ahold of or find some sand fleas myself on occasion, would these be good??

 

[Animal Mother]

ahahaha ok, i was just makin sure it wasnt like a sign of sickness or anything. any ideas on food for that size octo? he really likes snails and ghost shrimp, but wont touch his hermits... i was told a fiddler would be too big, is this correct? also, sometimes i can get ahold of or find some sand fleas myself on occasion, would these be good??

Fiddlers are fine. My Einy is about the same size as most Fiddlers and they are his favorite meal. Try to get females since they don't have the large claw. I know from experience that the males can inflict quite a powerful pinch for such small creatures.

 

[norgebyblood]

mkay, cool. i got him to come out today, everyone at school was all excited to finally see him.

 

[suzie9mm]

Good advice

Fiddlers are fine. My Einy is about the same size as most Fiddlers and they are his favorite meal. Try to get females since they don't have the large claw. I know from experience that the males can inflict quite a powerful pinch for such small creatures.

It's good to know about the female fiddler thing. I was wondering myself. I read that Octopus are good at disarming there food, but I would be scared to give them something with potentially harmful claws anyway.

 

[Animal Mother]

Well, from watching my O. Mercatoris Einy (who was 1cm mantle length when I got him, about 2 inches long tip to tip), I'm going to say you shouldn't underestimate the ability of a small octopus when it comes to prey. He is very persistant when he's hungry, and if at first he doesn't succeed, he tries and tries again. I've fed him both male and female Fiddlers and he aproaches both of them with the same attitude. He usually waits until they turn their back, then pounces on them. Sometimes they are quick to defend themselves, and he has been pinched a time or two, but he always retreats, comes up with another plan, and makes another attempt. He's quite strategic in his attacks, using rocks and shells to help camoflauge himself until just the right moment.

I'm quite sure any healthy octopus is always going to win over your typical feeder crab. I haven't read of anyone having lost an octopus to a crab yet.

 

[DWhatley]

I use a pair of sharp scissors to remove the large claw at the joint (hair cutting scissors work well) on the males. This is hard to do with your eyes closed but I have managed and the crabs seem to do just fine until they are consumed. My Joubini/mercatoris(?) has no problem with them and I think Trapper has been eating them as well since I started this procedure.

 

[norgebyblood]

aw, hard to watch, eh? we got to observe blue crabs last year in marine bio and since they were all in big paper bags together many ended up missing an arm or leg. the one i had was missing an arm but didnt seem to care, he was still very aggresive and actually attacked and held onto our tongs. the one good thing about that was that wwe got to really explore the external anatomy of a crab b/c of his determination that the tongs were the enemy. he wouldnt let go at all so we got to pick him up and pet him without almost any risk. crustaceans have been studied about whether they feel pain and it seems that they do not. still, it is hard to hurt almost any living creature, the exception being gnats, mosquitos, and the bitey ants. i dont even like to kill the tiny ants i find on my books during class sometimes! (i once spent an entire period playing and studying an ant while the teacher made us write notes out of the book, since i had already done them)

 

[Nancy]

I found that you didn't have to remove the entire claw - just the tips will do - then they can't entirely close the claw and they have no way to pinch. It's also quite easy to do.

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

Nancy,

I noticed you mentioned that before but found it actually easier to snip the claw at the joint than trying to position the scissors on the claw. I don't do anything to the mithrax and keep hoping both of mine will let them remain as clean-up (I am rather fond of them as critters).

I put some frozen mysis in JoeJoe's tank today and he moved around actively (but stayed in his cubby). I am not sure he ATE any but he definitely was active so I squirted some directly in front of him. I would be absolutely thrilled if he would take the shrimp instead of the crabs. JoeJoe shows no interest in live grass shrimp at all and pushes them away from his meal when he is eating (rather funny to watch).

I am still not certain what Trapper eats. I have found one mithrax shell and one fiddler shell. I can still find mithrax in the tank but no fiddlers. I put the last fiddler I had in last night (it was dead but very recently) and this AM it was neatly taken apart. The shrimp and hermits had attacked it immediately but I don't think they would have been able to disassemble it (the "tab" was pulled, separating the shell and the body and all the meat in the body was gone but everything was still attached). I keep trying regular frozen shrimp but he doesn't touch it.

 

[norgebyblood]

well, couldnt find him today, searched the entire tank. i got him a ton of food on saturday that is now in the spare tank/food tank. i also got him a fiddler and declawed the big claw, but i came in today and he was still alive!! so now he is out in a tupperware container, im unsure what to do with him... i also got an albino emerald crab, im hesistant to use him as food because he looks so darn cool! i really searched thoroughly in the tank though, it kinda worries me...