Feeding freshwater crayfish

[Torric]

I'm looking to get an octopus. But feeding them has me trying to brainstorm ways to not bulk order fiddlers every 2 weeks. I know there's the "self cloning" crayfish, but those are freshwater. So, my question is, would feeding them freshwater crayfish have long term adverse effects on either?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I'm not sure on the crayfish, but I'd be curious to find out (@lion king @Thales - any thoughts?). That said, you should be able to get Ghost/Grass Shrimp and breed them easily enough (depending on the species, you can breed them in freshwater, or in brackish/saltwater), and these guys are confirmed good feeders for octopus species.

General shrimp breeding guide:

Breeding Palaemon Elegans (Mediterrane Rock Pool Shrimp) Guide

Hi, Im going to post a breeding guide of palaemon elegans shrimps here. Two females are preparing for spawning so if you are interested you may want to stick with me. This breeding guide will be interchangable for every kind of shrimps but i stick elegans because: - With cleaner shrimp we are...

www.reef2reef.com

Ghost/Grass shrimp specific tips:

Culturing Marine Grass/Ghost Shrimp

Hey everyone! TLDR summary at bottom. I've seen a few people on here ask about how to culture marine ghost/grass shrimp species in their tanks, and the responses I've seen have ranged from it's not possible, to use Google Scholar, to you just add them and they breed. Knowing that Ghost/Grass...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[lion king]

Pebbletooth eels could benefit from an occasional crayfish but I don't believe octopus eat hard bodied inverts. I may be wrong since you mentioned fiddler crabs, if they eat fiddler crabs they will eat crayfish and be fine.

 

[Torric]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

I'm not sure on the crayfish, but I'd be curious to find out (@lion king @Thales - any thoughts?). That said, you should be able to get Ghost/Grass Shrimp and breed them easily enough (depending on the species, you can breed them in freshwater, or in brackish/saltwater), and these guys are confirmed good feeders for octopus species.

General shrimp breeding guide:

Breeding Palaemon Elegans (Mediterrane Rock Pool Shrimp) Guide

Hi, Im going to post a breeding guide of palaemon elegans shrimps here. Two females are preparing for spawning so if you are interested you may want to stick with me. This breeding guide will be interchangable for every kind of shrimps but i stick elegans because: - With cleaner shrimp we are...

www.reef2reef.com

Ghost/Grass shrimp specific tips:

Culturing Marine Grass/Ghost Shrimp

Hey everyone! TLDR summary at bottom. I've seen a few people on here ask about how to culture marine ghost/grass shrimp species in their tanks, and the responses I've seen have ranged from it's not possible, to use Google Scholar, to you just add them and they breed. Knowing that Ghost/Grass...

www.reef2reef.com

I'm not opposed to the shrimp idea. Big selling point for the crayfish however is they breed at colder Temps. And I already have everything for a freshwater setup. Unless they'd be breedable in the sump.

 

[Torric]

Pebbletooth eels could benefit from an occasional crayfish but I don't believe octopus eat hard bodied inverts. I may be wrong since you mentioned fiddler crabs, if they eat fiddler crabs they will eat crayfish and be fine.

I've had octopus before and they ate fiddlers. They don't really eat the shell, just the meat. Even when I fed them shrimp they didn't touch the shell much. But they can absolutely punch through hard bodied inverts.

 

[Thales]

Breeding food for octos is generally a non starter because of the reality of how much octopus eat, how the size and number of pray changes over time, the reality of how much pray you actually have to produce and how long that takes (and how much space it takes).

 

[Torric]

Breeding food for octos is generally a non starter because of the reality of how much octopus eat, how the size and number of pray changes over time, the reality of how much pray you actually have to produce and how long that takes (and how much space it takes).

I'd also like to get a porcupine puffer at some point. So I'd get longevity out of them beyond the however many months I have the octopus. I'm more asking nutrition wise how feasible it is.

 

[Thales]

It isn't great, but in a pinch fine. As a staple food, not so great. People have tried before, but they just aren't a good food for most cephs for a bunch of reasons. Also, tossing fw animals into sw is pretty much torture, so there is that to consider.