Entertaining an Algae Octopus

[Elvis48]

I recently purchased a small algae octopus. I've been hand feeding krill/silversides and threw a few snails and hermits in the tank as well, but I was curious about keeping the octopus entertained. Does anybody have any suggestions/recommendations of toys and such? I've seen using small loosely sealed jars to hold meals, but was looking for other ideas to keep it occupied throughout the day. Anything helpful would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Echidna09]

You could use legos, a golf ball, action figure... Anything out of the ordinary will keep it interested. Do you have pictures? I don't know what an algae octopus is.

 

[Betta132]

Small plastic objects should be good. If it's food-safe, it's usually tank-safe, so a coffee mug or something could be used to hide stuff.
Other ideas for things to add:
Any aquarium decor that's okay for saltwater could be interesting
Marbles
Ping-pong balls
Clean legos
Playmobil action figures
Other action figures, maybe
Plastic plants could be good for him to mess with and take apart
You could also maybe offer him some aquarium-safe fabric, like the stuff you find in filter cartridges. I'm not sure if he'd eat that, though... do octos bite things?

 

[Spiderman097]

Sounds like your octopus is a small child

 

[Betta132]

That's actually reasonably accurate. Imagine the octopus is a small child and give it that sort of toy. Baby toys might work, too, and I bet he'd like the texture of teething-toys.

 

[rathos]

putting their food in those plastic eggs (like the ones in those 25 cent machines at the store) or eggs you get a easter is usually pretty fun for them. It also makes it a little more of a hunt. You can also put other toys in them. Pretty fun to watch as well.

 

[MidnightSmoker]

pvc pipe tunnels you can make a serious maze for little Octopus, upload a video?

 

[Plasticmask]

...I had made this for our O. Vulgaris, he plays in it and took his dinner into it last night to eat it. NO sealant or glue, it's just crammed together. When he gets bigger we're confident he'll be taking it apart.

 

[bacon5]

Wow that sounds awesome! Do you have any pictures? What size is his tank?

 

[gordonj1]

There is a paper out that suggests using toys with movable parts, as they get bored easily with balls etc.

baby specific toys are great. like the plastic keys on a key ring. though they found that they get bored of having the same toys all of the time. So, you have to switch it up. Also, they tend to play with items for no more than a minute in the study.
If you want the source lmk.

Live food is always welcome too.