will he eat a clown fish??

Rudiger

New member
Hey. My poor clown fish was evicted when the octopus moved in. He has been living in my sump/refugium along with hermit crabs for the past week. I dont think he is very happy in there.
Anyway, if I put him in the tank when the octopus is hungry and active do you think the octo would be interested in catching the clown? Could he catch the clown or is it too fast? If the bimac wont eat the clown it would be almost impossible to catch the clown and remove him. Otherwise Ill just return him to the pet store and see if i can trade him in for some octopus food.

pat
 
He'll eat the clown fish eventually but it might take a while. The day I got my FFE bimac I already had 2 camel shrimp and a small 3-spot damsel in the tank. As of today all 3 are still alive. He doesn't even bother trying for the shrimp as they are very quick, he'll swat at the damsel not and again but it is really a half hearted effort. I'm sure if I didn't feed him for a day or two he'd catch the damsel easily but he is still too small to effectively hunt the shrimp. Since I keep him well fed he doesn't bother with the others. It is quite amusing to watch because the damsel isn't scared at all and will "tag" the octo with his tail now and again. The others do help to clean up after the octo so I'm happy that they are around.
-Michael
 
Fish , shrimp..in time , nothing will last in a tank with a bimac. My last bimac played with the domino damsel I put in for a few weeks then ate it when it got bord it seemed. Fish my be quick, but when night comes... good bye fish.
 
I have no worries about him emptying the tank at some point, I just love watching him learn to hunt. I have never had such a baby octopus (not counting the paralarvae - that didn't settle) and it is very interesting watching how he adapts and changes his hunting style. He hasn't yet learned al the tricks of the trade. He's got speculative hunting down pat, but that's about it. He hasn't yet drilled anything - so snails and large hermits (ones that can retreat deep inside thier shells) give him a hard time. Also his parachute drop technique needs a lot of work. I haven't yet given him any bivalves. Still don't know how he managed the snail - but he didn't drill it. It's a lot of fun watching since he doesn't quite know how to handle certain prey. With larger crabs he just tries to grab them and drag them back to his hidey-hole. If they put up too much of a struggle (mithrax like to cling to rock) he gives up for the time being trying to figure out what to do next. When he finally figured out how to handle the mithrax, I gave him crab (not sure the species - sorta like a box crab) that would turtle so he couldn't find joint to bite. I think he just waited till that one slept to get him.

He is spoiled though - he expects me to hand him easy food and I think he gets a little upset when I force him to work for his food. I wonder how he'll react when I start giving him puzzles to solve (like the classic crab in the bottle).

IMO there is no better marine pet for intelligence, behaviour, looks... (although mantis shrimp are a close second - their intelligence doesn't get enough respect).
-Michael
 
Hi Michael

I have not had any of my octopuses get the crab out of the bottle yet. Let us know if you have any luck.
The O.mercatoris I just raised from egg will eat nothing but live even after 3 months. Hopefully soon, I can get him to eat some frozen shrimp.
I have two mantis shrimp as well. They are extremly intelligent and I love them . My peacok mantis is my favorite. SHe sits in a tank right next to my computer. She always watches me and reacts to my every move. I agree with you that their intelligence is under estimated by most people. I do know that my peacock can smash a clam open way faster than any bimac I have had can drill one open. One thing I still like better about cephalopods is I can stick my hand in the tank and play with them. Something I would be affraid to do in my stomatopod tanks lol.
 
I had a big peacock for about a year and a bit. Very impressive animal - doesn't quite fit the word shrimp. I'm still impressed how he could bash a molly in midwater with amazing acuracy (you would see the eyes independantly "lock on" to the fish and then when in the crosshairs - game over). Though my favourite has to be when I'd give him crayfish. The crayfish would be in a defensive posture and every time the mantis would come out and literally disarm the crayfish, one claw then the other and then beat the now helpless crayfish into pulp.

I've always wanted to see an octopus versus a mantis shrimp of the same size battle it out, but as of yet haven't been able to bring myself to do it, since both are magnificent creatures. (Though small mantis shrimps are great food and exercise for your pet octopus).
-Michael
 
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