Feeding

[cincyjim]

Can you feed fresh water Mollies that were acclimated to salt water to an octopus? At the rate they breed it should be an endless supply of food. Thoughts?

Jim

 

[devildog999]

I'd like to see an answer to this as well because it would be useful for Frogfish.

 

[McPuff]

I don't see why not. Did you have any concerns in particular?

Mollies are naturally found in estuaries and full salt environments so they are not actually a freshwater fish.

 

[mrcyrus]

The amount you need to feed is not able to be fulfilled by breeding. I had a tank I used to pick up one dollar black mollies for feeders, yes they switch to salt but you need a separate tank to house them. As a test before a move I bought a lion and it wiped out a 30+ breeding school in less than 2 weeks. Consider also, will your octopus even eat them? My mimic octopus had tons of hermits and damsels in his 75g but never touched them, instead he hand fed off grocery store prawn.

 

[thomashtom]

I would be concerned about the nutritional needs of the octopus needs. Just go to a seafood store and get food from there.

 

[Rilelen]

A. aculeatus doesn't normally eat fish, but with my last male octopus, I experimented with some of my SW molly fry, just to see...sure enough, he stalked and ate them. These were very small fry - maybe .25-.5 inches? Certainly not enough to sustain an octopus long-term, and I only did it once or twice as an experiment (and with close supervision to make sure they molly fry did not harass him).