Pygmy Octopus Diet?

JakeMallowFilms

JakeMallowFilms

New member
So I'm starting a nano tank for a pygmy octopus. I was wondering what their diet usually consists of (in captivity.)

I'd prefer maybe putting a few crabs in, hopefully they reproduce, and maybe throwing a few in every so often for feeding.

I would like some reassurance (before I get this octopus,) so I can go on vacation without worrying.
 
Hi Jake,
Pigmy octopus has to be fed every day, his main diet is clams, small crabs, hermit crabs and small fishes. You'll need them alive since pigmy octopuses are hard to feed frozen foods.
You can't put few crabs into the same tank with the octopus since he will eventually kill them.
 
Every crab I can think of is nearly impossible to breed in captivity because they have a planctonic larval stage. That won't work.
 
Diamandi said:
You can't put few crabs into the same tank with the octopus since he will eventually kill them.
Click to expand...

I don't think you understand me... I know the octopus will kill them, that's the point. I'm saying, right before I go on vacation, can I throw a few in the tank, and hopefully he kills them and eats them while I'm away?
 
Diamandi said:
He will kill them all immediatelly instead of taking one for a meal each time, that's what I mean :)
Click to expand...

Not sur this is completely true. I had an octopus years ago in a tank with a few chromis some hermit crabs and peppermint shrimp. The octopus eventually got everyone but it wasn't all at once. I would get some more opinions.
 
Thank you, Jasanden. I think since the Octopus will hide most of the time, and come out at night to feed (since it's nocturnal,) some of the crabs, shrimp, etc may be hidden, and the Octopus won't be able to find them all at once.

I've never heard of an Octopus that is able to find, and kill over 30 crabs in one week (I'm usually on vacation for around a week.) If I'm wrong, please correct me, though.
 
Vacation feeding is tricky. It is difficult to predict the predatory behavior of a pygmy (which species? There are dozens). You may be able to stock the tank with enough prey so that the octopus doesn't eat them all in one day, but occasionally they will go on a killing spree and take out several prey over the course of a day or two. Dealing with a small aquarium, this may be enough for the uneaten prey to rot and foul the tank.

By the way, it is my experience dealing with a number of pygmy species (O. bocki, O. mercatoris, O. wolfi, O. fitchi, O. chierchiae, O. micropyrsus H. lunulata and a few other undescribed species) that if you keep the temperature on the low end of what they experience in the wild, you don't need to feed them every day. Skipping feeding a day or two every now and then is not a problem. The only species that seems to be an exception is O. micropyrsus which I had difficulty keeping and I suspect diet was a problem.

Roy
 
My Pygmy lasted about a year, as lifetime is just over that.

Mine needed about 1/2 dozen hermits weekly.

They are nocturnal so I used a red light to observe when I was lucky to catch him out.

Mine never did a killing spree, I just added the five to six hermits needed per week.

Not sure of species I had but a video when purchased, they are amazing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUA2Bbwl43Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Note I had a couple small fish in my nano tank, but he never bothered them, perhaps I kept him well enough fed with the easier to catch hermits?

Back then I was fortunate to have a shop with hermits at 85 cents each, still added up to a McDonald buger per week !
 
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