Whats Wrong With My Octopus

[fish boy2]

WHATS WRONG WITH MY OCTOPUS
I HAVE HAD A OCTOPUS IN MY 100 GALLON TANK SINCE SEPTEMBER AND IT WAS FINE UNTILL ABOUT A MONTH AGO IT ALWAYS CAME OUT AND WHEN I PUT CLAMS IN IT USE TO EAT THEM RIGHT WHEN I PUT THEM IN BUT ALL A SUDDEN NOW IT HAS NOT EATEN FOR ABOUT A MONTH IT HAS NOT CAME OUT OF ITS CAVE AND WHEN I PUT LIVE HERMIT CRAPS IN IT GRABED THEM WHEN THEY GOT CLOSE IT LOOKED LIKE HE WAS GOING TO EAT THEM BUT HE LET THEM GO. THE WATER IS FINE WHAT COULD BE THE PROBLEM

 

[cephalopoder]

I don't think you have done anything wrong. Sounds like senescence is starting to set in. Most species local to the trade live about 6-15 months on average in the wild.. By the time that they are big enough for a collector to catch they are a few months old.
If you buy a really small bimaculoides it will average about 9 months in captivity at a 72F water temp on average. It will live longer if the temp is in the low 60s Your specimin might have been a little larger and a little older when you got it and it is now near the end of its life span. This is all part of keeping a cephalopod. This is the one thing we must all accept will happen before we venture into this realm of keeping a octopus.
The other thing is you could have a female and she could have laid eggs in her cave and is guarding them. Octopuses will often refuse to eat once eggs are laid. The mother will guard them till they hatch and die soon after.
chris

 

[Rudiger]

My octopus did the same thing. I finally couldn't stand it anymore so I picked up the cave she was in. The inside was covered with eggs. She was guarding them and thats why she stopped coming out and eating.

pat