What all can a 3-5" bimac eat?

[Ethan073]

After about 5 months of research and tank prepping, I'm almost ready to order my little bimac!
I'm planning on ordering one around 3" inches in size, what specifically should I have ready for him in terms of food?

 

[CaptFish]

Live or frozen shrimp have always worked well for me. The live shrimp i buy from local bait stores or i catch them myself, but most people don't have access to live bait stores and or the ocean; in that case frozen shrimp that you buy in the grocery store works fine although sometimes the octos are reluctant to take frozen food at first. Youcan order live shrimp online but they can be costly once the price of shipping is added in.

Do you have a source for ordering bimacs? I am unaware of any reliable sources selling them.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

I'll be selling live feeder shrimp and crabs from my sponsored forum here soon. They are also the native species bimacs would feed on in the wild. They will be much cheaper than most people have seen them for in the past since I also collect them to feed my GPO.

 

[Ethan073]

Planning on ordering from this source http://www.fishsupplyunderwater.com/octopussmall.html
Any opinion on octos from here?

How big will he have to be before he can eat blue legged hermits and crayfish?

 

[CephBirk]

I have worked in a lab with cuttlefish that were ~3" where we fed them frozen shrimp from Walmart! I can't comment on bimacs that size, but the cuttles lived quite happily off of frozen shrimp once they learned to eat it! Getting them to eat it at first, though, is the trick. If you decide to go with frozen shrimp, you might want to start with live shrimp / grass shrimp and wean them onto frozen food.
We cut our frozen shrimp up into smaller pieces and fed them on a stick (they were easier to feed with a moving target than a lump on the bottom of the tank).

 

[DWhatley]

Ethan,
Other than the photograph (which will not be of the specific animal), why do you believe this will be a bimac? As CaptFish mentions, we have a difficult time sourcing them because of the legal restrictions in California. The temperature range in the description is suspicious (60-79F). I am unaware of an octopus that can successfully live in the range given. 72 is the max a bimac should be exposed to and 75-79 is the temperature range for a warm water species. I would suggest you write and ask the specie ID as well as where the animal comes from. Since they also show wunderpus photogenicus (labeled mimic - Thales correct me if I am wrong on this one, I still have problems with the id), I suspect they receive Indonesian animals and this would NOT be a bimac and would need the warmer temps.

In short, the listings apear to be very inaccurate.

 

[AquaticEngineer]

It also says they are in southern california, and as far as I've heard in Bimacs are only legal to catch for non-commercial use in California. (ie: food, and personal use, not for re-sale)