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.

 

[Sharp5]

I've had my briareus 1 month now. He has always eaten frozen food (scallops and shrimps). He likes the scallops better than the shrimp, but he doesn't refuse the shrimp. I feed him every 2nd day, usually at night but sometimes at dawn.

I've had my O. biareus for 5 weeks and feeding it live grass shrimp and frozen thawed shrimp pieces. I was wondering how much growth you’ve seen in yours over the past month.

 

[tonmo]

Hi @Sharp5 -- it looks like the last update on this thread was Oct 5, 2021. Sadly, @TRPERIN's octo is surely deceased -- but any final observations along these lines would be appreciated nonetheless!

 

[Sharp5]

 

[DanGz]

Always fed mine with frozen thawed shrimp and salmon. He loved the percentage of fat in salmon and was his favorite meal. He devoured almost all population of amphipods, he loved to scavange for them in the rocks.

 

[Tomh]

That’s perfect! Thanks Tom