What are you feeding your octopus?

[Squirrel1]

Everyone at the local pet shop says that the octos they get in for me (the smaller species such as abdopus aculeatus and pygmies) will eat hermit crabs or peppermint shrimp, but none of mine have ever even tried to eat one. The octopuses that I have kept and the one I have now (abdopus aculeatus, most likely) prefer emerald crabs, which will always be eaten. Some have accepted thawed frozen krill, but the emerald crabs are by far the (unlucky) winners.

 

[KD5054]

Another curious question- how often are you guys feeding your octopus?
Do you feed them daily and/or do you give fasting days?

 

[DWhatley]

Feeding seems to vary among keepers. I fed mine daily with a (sometimes) one day fast for adults. Others feed every other to every three days. My unscientific observation was that cold water animals tended to fare better with skipped days where warm water animals were happier with daily feeding. However, there is evidence that keeping them hungry but not starved may increase their life expectancy.

 

[TRPERIN]

I feed my octopus vulgaris, since I got him, with frozen vongole and, also, I keep some live rock shrimps (palaemon elegans) and peppermint shrimp (lysmata wurdemanni) in the tank (2 or 3 of each kind), that occasionally he eats, once in a week or two.