Octopus not coming out anymore

Xombie2000

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I've had to change this poor guys environment a few times. Now it's stable, he lives in a hex with lots of live rock. He eats ghost shrimp but the only place I ever see him is in his hiding place (specific hole in a rock). Water conditions are good, less than 5ppm nitrates, 8.3 ph. I got it for my son and he wants to see it. Any suggestions?

On another note there is a small amount brown diatom in his tank. Could I put snails in with it? He seems to only like ghost shrimp of all foods I've tried.
 

stunreefer

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Octopi are very cryptic animals. Hiding is normal and should be expected. Changing environments is very hard on any of the animals we keep and will induce high stress levels which leads to more hiding. Keep the water stable and keep up with feeding.

You could add snails but know they'll likely become a snack. I kept one years ago and would feed hermit crabs as a 'snack'. The octopus would gather all of the hermits and drop them into a large shell that it turned upside down and sit on top of the shell. The inside of the shell was to slippery for the hermits to crawl out of. On occasion it would reach down, grab a hermit and devour it. Every time I left the house I would upend the shell and spread the hermits around the tank to keep the octopus occupied. The octopus would have all the hermits back into place within about fifteen minutes :)

You won't get much information from here due to so few keeping these animals, check out Tonmo.
 

teckademics

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Should let him hide, like stated above they are very cryptic. If you wanted a marine animal that comes out and plays all day, octopus was not a good pick. Changing enviroment is also a huge no no. You're causing it to stress and in turn that's really not good for it's already short lifespan. You can throw in some snails but they will be eaten. However it would give the octopus something to do and a reason to come out and hunt. Go ahead and put a few small snails and hermits in.
 

dvus

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Mine is active usually twice a day for a few minutes only. I think he is hunting...
The more live food I put in, the more active he is while trying to catch the food. Try to put some live starter fish and small crab in there. He will LOVE the crab and will eventually go after the fish too.
 

dvus

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image.jpg
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dvus

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Oops... I uploaded pic 3 times... Lol! Sorry... Stupid iPhone lol!
 

Mike&Terry

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Oops... I uploaded pic 3 times... Lol! Sorry... Stupid iPhone lol!
We removed the duplicate for you and great pics btw... :bigsmile:
 

ReefMoto

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What species octo? Tonmo.com is cephlapod heaven. As stated multiple environment changes stress them out. Have lots of live food and eventually you can train to come and eat at specific times. I have raised multiple bimacs they seems to come out and play more than other species. They will eat the snails and any invert you put in
 

tyler1503

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They like to play with things supposedly. I've heard of people putting Lego in the tank and having the octos figure out the pieces can be joined, jars with a lid lightly screwed on with a bit of live food inside, ping pong balls and all sorts of stuff.
It takes away from that natural look most people are after, but it might help the octopus come out a bit more throughout the day :)
 
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