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FAQs about Cephalopod Foods/Feeding/Nutrition
Related Articles: Cephalopods,
The Ballet of the
Wonderpus by Richard Ross,
Mollusks, Related FAQs:
Cephalopods 1, Cephalopods 2, Cephalopod
Identification, Cephalopod Behavior,
Cephalopod Compatibility, Cephalopod
Selection, Cephalopod Systems,
Cephalopod Disease, Cephalopod
Reproduction, Mmm, don't eat
Cnidarians, but may damage them via wastes, physical movement.
Plerogyra sp. Here in S. Sulawesi. | 
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How often should we feed our octopus? 1/10/07
we
<... beginnings of sentences are capitalized...>
just bought
an Atlantic octopus yesterday for my boyfriends son. My boyfriend
usually reads up on our little buddies before he buys them but it was
the last one in the store so we took him. we took the pinchers off a
crayfish and fed him yesterday...that made his third feeding of the
day.....(the pet store fed him twice). We looked and looked at your site
and couldn't find much....we found a lot about what they prefer to eat
and all that but don't know how often they eat
<I would feed an
adult octopus 2 or three times a week... These cephalopods are not
long-lived period... and more frequent feeding shortens their life spans
further. Bob Fenner> Re: long term planning (size of tank, foods,
mandarin, cephalopod FAQs>
The mail maintenance demons ate the
original message, but your response to my comment that a 180 tank was
not that much larger than a 120 was (to paraphrase) "that I should hang
out there more often".
<Bizarre... reminds me of the "altered
translation dictionary" skits of comedy teams>
I was just curious
(not offended, just curious, the short comings of email, you can't hear
the tone of my voice) what exactly you meant. Oh, and I agree, your
replies aren't short, they're concise. And if you're curious, I'm trying
to assure my wife that my hobby won't eat our house.
<I understand
(methinks) all the way around... half again as big is "bigger" as in "I
wish you were about to help me count my money">
And on a whole nother
topic, I thought this might apply to the recent posting that mandarin
fish take roe, please feel free to snip the next section and post it
separately if you'd like.
<Okay, will do so, thank you>
Re
Mandarin Tip:
"Hatchling cephalopods require live food. While Sepia
officinalis is the only cephalopod species that has been reared through
their youth on Artemia, I do not recommend using Artemia unless there
are no other options as many of the cuttlefish will die and the growth
rates of the survivors will be retarded. Mysid shrimp, small marine
fish, amphipods, isopods, and other small live marine crustaceans and
fish are ideal first foods.
Bill Mebane, a scientist at the Marine
Biological Lab at Wood's Hole, has had great success using newly hatched
killifish (Fundulus grandis, sorry killifish lovers!) to feed hatchling
cuttlefish. Killifish eggs can be ordered from Gulf Coast Minnows; their
address is at the end of this article. The eggs can be shipped damp, are
inexpensive, and are an especially great option for land locked
aquarists. Essentially they are the Artemia of the fish world. I've
heard that some aquarium stores are starting to regularly offer live
amphipods (also known as scuds, hoppers, or beach fleas) for sale; these
are the main food I have using to fed my hatchling cuttlefish. "
From
Dr. James Wood article on breeding cuttlefish, Url for Dr. Wood's
article: www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/tcp/cuttle4.html
While I don't
have anything but gut instinct to back me up, I imagine that killifish
eggs would make good mandarin food if they are taking roe, and easier to
get if you don't have access to a market that carries roe.
Here's the
url for Gulf Coast Minnows:
http://www.bayoubusiness.com/minnows/about.htm
Hope this helps!
Mike
<Hmm, will post on the cephalopod FAQs section,
"foods/feeding/nutrition" as well. Again, thank you. Bob Fenner>
Octopus's Garden
Dear Bob:
<<JasonC here, Bob has gone
diving>>
Paralarval stages of common octopus are divided into
planktonic and benthic stages. During the planktonic stage, copepod
should be their main source of food. What I would like to know is what
are their natural prey when they become benthic (50-60 days old).
<<First, let me say that I honestly do not have the experience to give
you an authoritative answer. However, that doesn't stop me from
guessing... I would say that once an octopus becomes benthic
[bottom-dwelling for everyone else], that the sky is the limit: small
crabs, fish, anything it can get its tentacles on I would think.>>
Thanks. Javier.
<<Cheers, J -- >> Octopus and Chilling
Incident
Hi Bob,
I tried frozen shrimp (the ones that are for
human consumption) which was
totally rejected by the octopus. I then
tried some small frozen fish which
was also ignored.
Today I will
start feeding it with live oysters which will be staying in the
other
tank and fed to it at a rate of 3-4 / day. The only question is how
can I know that it is well fed .. or perhaps overfed..
<Do look for
small live crabs... If the animal is very small (like the size of your
thumb), small live crustaceans of other sorts>
Do you still have your
octopus in that tank ? How long have you been keeping
it ?
<Have
never kept these cephalopods, other than in retail settings>
A really
interesting animal.. I think that in the next edition of your book
you should include more information about it.. as well as some cool
water
marine fishes.. (as usually our website is at your disposal for
this
purpose). I hope that till then we will have acquired enough
information to
justify a chapter in your "Bible" !!
<Thank you for
this. Some friends and I are writing some related works together... the
next on "The Best Fishes for Marine Aquariums"... and the following work
will likely be on "non-fishes"... will accumulate your note here for
this latter title>
You will read full details in the August update of
our site but I would like
to let you know in advance (for your book..
) While on a business trip the
thermostat of the chiller stuck in the
"on" position and the water
temperature dropped from 21 C to 4 C
where it stayed for 12 hours. My son
stopped the chiller and allowed
the temperature to reach 21C in 20 hours..
No fish or invertebrate
losses !!
<Amazing how tough aquatic life can be when it starts in
good health. Bob Fenner>
George Feeding an Octopus (from
George in Greece)
Hi Bob,
Can you please let me know what kind
of food will an octopus accept in captivity ?
<Mmm, some species are
more specialized feeders than others... most of them eagerly accept
crustaceans of relatively useful size (not too big)... and quickly learn
to take non-live meaty foods (fish flesh is what most folks use... like
small whole bait fish or fillet>
We have put one in a tank with a lot
of sea urchins but it doesn't seem to be interested in them. In
contrast, it consumed a small fish on the spot and all the bivalves that
were already in that tank.
<Don't usually eat these as far as I'm
aware>
Is there any chance it will finally pay attention to the
urchins.. ??
<Not much my friend. Look for small crabs... try the
fish meats you can secure. Bob Fenner>
Thanks a lot.
George J.
Reclos Ph.D. Re: Octopus feeding
<Do look for small live
crabs... If the animal is very small (like the
size
> of your
thumb), small live crustaceans of other sorts>
Well right now it is
the size of a small fist (the head) while the tentacles
seem like 45
cm each...
<That is good size. Small crabs (5-8 cm. across) should do
fine. Bob Fenner>
Questions on an Octopus
I found your web site in the course
of searching the internet for information on octopus. I suddenly
find myself trying to feed and care for one. Not having much luck
in the feeding area which is my main question. First a little
background on how I got into this predicament. Several weeks back,
my two children spent the weekend visiting their mother (I’m
divorced and have custody of my children). She took them to San
Diego for a 3 day holiday weekend.
<This is where some of us
live>
My son managed to catch an octopus some how at the beach
and kept it alive in the sink in the hotel room for two days. They
put it in a tub and it also survived a 5 hour car ride home. We
live in the high desert next to Death Valley in a small town called
Ridgecrest . When he told me he was bringing it home (just hours
away from them arriving home) I scrambled to try and figure out how
to set something up to keep it in. I know nothing about salt water
tanks or anything tied to keeping marine life. Since I am on a very
tight budget I had to improvise. I quickly searched the internet
for info I could find and eventually wound up putting together a
makeshift tank
<Yikes... am sure you can sense what is coming...
should have left this animal in the sea...>
Since I was fairly
sure it wasn’t going to live long, I didn’t want to spend a lot of
money. I bought a large clear plastic storage tub with a lid, a
filter system and an aerator system. I also bought the sea salt you
need to mix with water to create the salt water environment and a
hydrometer to measure the specific gravity and salinity. The entire
set up cost me just slightly over $50 (see the enclosed
pictures). I also had a set of rock bookends with holes all through
them. They looked like the tank rocks you can buy at the pet
store. I put them in the makeshift tank as well. To make an
already long story short, he made it home and after two, going on
three weeks now, the critter is still alive (don’t ask me how).
<They are tough in many ways>
You can just see him in picture 4,
curled up in one of the holes in the rocks (he loves the hidey
holes). When he is out, his main body is probably 4-5 inches in
diameter and his tentacles are about 8-10 inches long. My son also
brought home two snails from the beach too.
Not knowing what an
octopus eats, I’ve tried several things with no luck. I think he
has eaten the snails and what appears to have been a single live
clam that made it home with the shells they put in the
transportation tub. Since we live in the middle of the desert, I
don’t have ready access to any large pet stores or fish stores. We
have one small pet store with fish and they have a VERY limited
section on salt water fish. What they have is VERY expensive as
well. I broke down and bought three small damsels (at $4 a piece)
and several small hermit crabs. He seems to have eaten one of the
damsels, however the other two died after 4-5 days in the tank. I
think it was too cold for them. He doesn’t appear to have touched
the little hermit crabs in their shells. I also read that they can
be trained to eat fresh fish as opposed to actual live fish. I
tried buying some fresh fish at Albertson's but he rejected that.
In some of the information on your site, you tell folks to try live
crabs. The local store has small live crabs (not the hermit type,
but regular crabs) but they cost quite a bit (as in $5 each and
up). Rather expensive to feed an octopus. Since we live so far
from the ocean, I can’t just run down to the beach and dig up any
either.
<Consider human crustacean food... like shrimp (small
or pieces... with the shell on>
Since he has lived this long
(through some very arduous conditions I might add), I feel obligated
to try and do my best to keep him alive. So, my question is:
What do you think my best bet is at finding a food source he will
actually eat? If I need to feed him live crabs, can I order them
myself and have them shipped here? If so, where do I go to do this?
<"cocktail" et al. shrimp (w/o the sauce of course)>
If he will
eat fresh fish from the market, what kind (variety) do you think
will work best? I tried red snapper and he flat rejected that.
Being in the middle of the desert in a very small town and on an
extremely tight budget, I’m at a loss as to what to do next. He’s
lived this long which means by some miracle I must have managed to
get his makeshift tank suitable for him (don’t ask me how because I
was winging it all the way). The children are quite excited that he
is still alive. Poor old dad here is banging his head against the
wall trying to figure out how to get him to eat so he doesn’t die of
hunger.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I fear he’s not
going to be around much longer if I can’t get him to start eating
and quickly.
<Do fashion some sort of cover for your tank (these
animals do escape!)... and be aware of the need for some sort of
chilling mechanism (this is a cool water specimen that likely will
not live through your summer temperatures)... if your children are
headed back to the coast anytime soon, I encourage a ready lesson in
conservation, returning this animal to the Pacific. Bob Fenner>
Dick Dickson |
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