Despite popular information I have known people to dead-feed Octopus bimaculatus with defrosted foods, and today I read the Sydney aquarium do this for their cuttlefishes. How common is the practice, w which species etc. Then on another note the Baesch atlases say that some cuttlefish have been maintained in mixed exhibits with peaceful fishes, that were of no interest to the mollusc. Though this sounds intuitively accurate, there was no further information provided. Can anyone provide details.
In the UK cuttlefish, and I believe also octopus, are regularly caught in lobster pots where they were presumably scavenging on the bait.
Yep its commonly said so, and I assume its true. Then again I know the nautilus is a scavenger, several ammonites were prbly suspension feeders, and the vampire squid feeds on marine snow; and there's even a record cited in an aquarium book of squid eating marine vegetation(!). All the same, this idea that squid and octopus need or at least prefer moving prey has taken hold among semi-educated public, and it dissuades ppl from owning them.
Snakes also need or at least prefer moving prey, and lots of people and zoos keep them. The issue that disuade people from keeping cephalopods is not their diet I believe, but the short lifespan and the difficult of be kept alive (overall in squids, that usually needs to do daily vertical migration and pass many time in deep waters, with few excepctions like reef squids).
