Purchasing Bimac Food

[alligator]

My local fish store has agreed to purchase sufficient quantities of food for my future bimac.

He did have some questions:

First, what quantity of hermits or ghost shrimp do I need him to order? I'd like to stop in every month or so since the fish store is far away. I'd like to make it a standing order. I'll be putting them in my 10 gallon sump to keep them alive, and feeding frozen shrimp as well.

Second, should I ask for the blue legged hermit crabs or the larger red legged ones?

Thanks!

[Rudiger]

get red legs if they are bigger. If you put all the hermits in a 10 gallon sump a few will fight over shells so once the octopus eats one of them put the empty shell back in with the other hermits. If you are getting a baby from FFexpress then it will probably eat 1-3 hermits a day. I feed mine 2 ghost shrimp and a hermit daily or one shrimp and 2 hermits or something like that, i try to mix it up.

[alligator]

Can I keep 30 hermits and 30 ghost shrimp in a 10 gallon sump, or should I set up a separate 10 gallon tank? Do they eat each other?

I'll probably feed 1 hermit, 1 ghost shrimp, and 1 frozen shrimp per day - unless that is too much.

[cephalopoder]

Ghost shrimp live in fresh water. They will only last about a day in salt water. I keep my ghost shrinp, fiddlers and crayfish in a 5 gallon bucket with ro/di water and a teaspoon of marine salt to put minerals back in the water. I then keep a hydro sponge filter hooked up to a air pump in the bottom of the bucket. I feed fish food to keep them alive. I actually use a product called cyclop-eeze, but regualr fish food will work just fine. I feed about once every 4 days and every thing will stay alive till I use them. You can keep ghost shrimp alive for a long time this way.
I get mine a sea world in salem NH. 3 ghost shrimp for a dollar. I buy 10-20 bucks worth at a wack.
Don't forget that bimacs will eat snails. Astreia snails are loved by bimacs. If you can get periwinkles you bimac will love you.
After awhile you can get your bimac to eat, frozen food, clams, squid, I just never feed fresh water fish. You never know when a store might use copper in their fresh water fish tanks and this can be bad for your octo. Besides, fresh water fish do not provide the nutritional needs of your octo.
With so much other food to choose from you should never have to feed fresh water fish any way.
-chris

[jjensen6823]

Um, actually, ghost shrimp do fine in saltwater. I've kept ghost shrimp in my reef tank for upwards of six months back when I tried to keep seahorses.

I am a little concerned that my baby bimac isn't eating enough. He's been taking frozen krill since the first day, though I am also giving him ghost shrimp once or twice a week, and am looking for a source for hermits. I feed him two krill per night. I tried feeding him one during the day, and he'd take it, take a bite or two, then drop it. But the day I accidentally left that half eaten krill all night, it was mostly gone by morning, along with the nighttime meal. I guess I initially assumed he was full because he left quite a bit of krill behind when he was done. Now I am just beginning to think he's simply a messy eater, and doesn't bother to clean his plate, so to speak. Any thoughts? Should I be feeding more?

I also put several snails (oyster drills, not periwinkles or astrea) in the tank before he even arrived. He's picked these up many times, and seems to feel around the opening with a tentacle, like he's looking for a hermit, but when he discovers its a snail, he drops it. Don't know.

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Jim

[Rudiger]

He would probably prefer live food to the frozen food. Why not offer more ghost shrimp, one per day maybe? My octopus didn't seem very interested in ghost shrimp at first. I held the shrimp an inch in front of him with chopsticks and eventually he would take it. But now a week later he loves ghost shrimp. But if you really want him to eat just find some hermit crabs and drop those in the tank. He will love them.

[jjensen6823]

Hey Rudiger, thanks for the reply. I was kinda forced to space out the ghost shrimp, since the LFS only had 2 last week. I requested they get more, and they were supposed to get some this weekend. We will see. Around here, hermits are $3-5 a piece, but I am working on finding a way to mailorder them wholesale.

The other thing I have figured out is to just leave his food in there. The first time I put ghost shrimp in, he didn't seem even slightly interested. One even came over and landed on him, and he never tried to grab it. But the next morning, they were both gone without a trace. Even the frozen krill the was left over yesterday is gone this morning. It seems like he much prefers to eat at night, and that he WILL go back later and find what he didn't eat the first time and clean it up. Still no interest in the snails, though.

Jim

[Rudiger]

Yeah my octopus let a ghost shrimp walk over him too and didnt show any interest. But now he pounces on them when i drop them in the tank. Maybe ghost shrimp are an acquired taste.

[joeyd]

There seems to be a trend with the ghost shrimp. My lil bimac attacked a ghost shrimp when I nudged the shrimp near it saturday morning. As far as I know, that was the first time it had eaten since it arrived on Friday. There were 4 more shrimp in the tank but it wasn't interested in any of them. I caught one and set it on top of the bimac and it just pushed it away.

Today I gave him some hermits around lunch time and they got snacked on immediately.