Octopus food in Houston

[mthornto]

Where does everybody get their octopus food here in Houston? I'm 90% sure I'm ready to set up for an octopus, but I want to get a realistic feel for what I'm going to have to do to keep this guy fed before I do. As for the set up, the tank is 120 gallons and I will be ordering the skimmer in a couple of days. Right now, I'm pretty sure I'll be going with the Tunze reefpack 500, but suggestions / comments are welcome.

[Neardaocean311]

Crabs, shrimp, i even think they'll eat fish

[mthornto]

Neardaocean,
Thanks for the reply, but I guess what I was looking for was where are people getting the crabs, shrimp etc. Do you just go to the seafood section of the store or a bait shop or what? In particular where here in Houston? If you have any specifics, I would be greatly appreciative.

[nancyocto]

I live in Dallas but I've checked into buying food when we travel to Galveston. Bait stores sell small shrimp but keep them in pretty bad condition - I think you'd want to tranfer them into a feeder tank and feed them well. All sorts of crabs are available along the coast, including fiddlers.

But yes, you can go into a good quality fish market (or Whole Foods) and buy fresh or frozen shrimp. Most octos will accept frozen food, at least eventually, although they need some live food.

Better to stick with crustaceans than fish.

And be sure you cycle your tank at least three months for an octopus.

Nancy

[mthornto]

Great, thanks for the information.

[DHyslop]

Do you know what kind of octo you're interested in and/or where you'd get it?

Dan

[mthornto]

If and when the time comes ( I'm still not 100% certain I should do it), I will order a bimaculoides from Octopets. Everybody seems to be happy with them, and the bimaculoides appears to be the most practical choice.

[DHyslop]

Go for it! From the sounds of it you'll give one a much better home than most people.

I hope a plug for www.tonmo.com is appropriate

A good food link is the Aquaculture Store. They sell and ship fiddler crabs for a very reasonable price if you don't have time to find them locally.

Dan

[mthornto]

Dan,
I'm assuming you have, or at least have had, an octopus. What is the feeding routine like? It appears to be once per day; is this correct? Are they generally good eaters? Any first hand knowledge you might have is appreciated.

[DHyslop]

I'm actually not a current octo owner. I'm in a perpetual state of having the tank just about ready when I have to move or go away to do fieldwork or whatnot. I had one little guy that only lived a week, but I received him very, very young (he was smaller than a dime).

I've always planned for a fiddler a day for a mature bimac. That comes out to about $40 a month from the Aquaculture store. I know some people feed a larger crab every other day. Nancy I'm sure can give more information about feeding than I can.

Dan

[leaffish75]

I pmd you another reef site that is locally in houston. They can tell you where the nearest place is to get good fresh seafood for the octo

[Detrituss]

Hi, I currently feed my octopus frozen shrimp (not cooked), frozen lobster and frozen crab meat. Once a week it gets a live fiddler crab or chromis to keep it interested. You are fortunate to live in an area where I imagine fiddler crabs, crayfish and the like are available most of the year.

The octopus I have eats a 1/2 of a large shrimp each day or equivalent in lobster/crab meat. It is a mature O. aculeatus and has a body about 3.5 inches and arms about 18 inches. Good luck.

[mthornto]

Excellent; I was afraid I was going to have to go to aquarium shop every few days and spend a small fortune on live crabs. But it looks like I can just stock up on frozen foods. I think an octopus is feasable after all.

[Detrituss]

Yep, just remember that they are pretty smart and do get bored, so if you can provide them with live food once in awhile - do so.