...since everyone else was doing it....

[OctoMonkey]

... I got my new octo today too. Came in about 2 weeks too early but my tank was set anyway.

And in typical fashion....... I have no idea what it is!!!! (NOT cyanea Chris!) :(

mantle about 3cm, arms about 6cm, very rounded mantle, small distinct eyes, reasonably aggresive - had a go at my finger during aclimatising it!. The most striking feature is the marble effect over its body......

In time honoured tradition I'll post pics as soon as I can so we can all scratch our heads at the same time LOL

My gut feeling is that this is a nocturnal species, just a feeling...............

[Rudiger]

pictures pictures! Ill join the crowd in another week. Hopefully i wont have to play the guess-the-species game with mine :D

pat

[Sea Wraith]

Congrats Octomonkey!!! :) I hope you enjoy your new Octopus as much as my wife and I are already enjoying ours! My wife used to occasionally stare at our FOWLR tank but now that we have an Octo tank she sits there and just goes Oooohhhh and Ahhhhhh and LOOKIE HERE!!! :strooper:

[Rudiger]

nice stormtrooper icon. did you see attack of the clones?? Colin, how did you like episode 2?? I hated it the first time i saw it, but i saw it again and now i actually like it

[OctoMonkey]

First off, important business............. AOTC clones was much better than ep 1!!!!! I will go back a 2nd time maybe this week.

As for octo, i have had a better look at it tonight, it kinda looks a lot like that other one i got recently. Ive been sitting pouring over the world guide looking for likely candidates. I have several and tomorrow I'll scan the web for more pics of those species.

Filosus is my best guess, I'll go into more detail tomorrow, with pics soon hopefully.....

Sea Wraith, glad you're enjoying the ceph world..... look out tank no. 2 seems close..... then 3, then 4......!!!!!!!!!! LOL
C

[Sea Wraith]

I havent seen it yet but I am planning on going sometime this week if possible, other wise I'll wait till it comes out on video! I actually liked Ep. 1, Hell...I like all the Star Wars episodes! :strooper:

[goodman770]

Congrads on the the Octo! It sounds interesting. How many tanks do you have set up for these "sea monkeys"?

[Rudiger]

another filosus you think? Make sure you check the ceph base online too.

Sea Wraith- if you see any movie on the big screen, see episode two. It is very worthy. It has the most beautiful digital scenes of any movie to date. And the sound... PLUS you get a preview for MATRIX 2!!!!

[OctoMonkey]

Yeah pat, a tricky one to find pics off tho..... my best guesses now are either filosus or aegina or burryi...... the LFS cant offer me a location of capture either!!!!!!!???????? :confused:

but i only have norman's book to go on....... the ceph world needs a book with ID keys!!!!!!

C

[OctoMonkey]

Hi all,
just an update.....

The new octopus is being fairly stubborn about feeding. I have now tried fish meat, crustaceans and even squid with this guy. simply leaving them in his tank during the night but no luck yet.

Last night I sneaked a look in the tank at about 2:30AM and it was wandering all over the tank. Not in an octopus typical exploring looking for food kind of way but in a almost frantic kind of way. A bit like my female briareus did before she laid eggs.

i think I have a worse case scenario here, a dwarf female that has either had eggs or is about to lay eggs.

This one has no eye spot at all and hardly any webbing at all. The arms are fairly chunky and large well defined suckers. It normally seems to be a uniform brown/grey colour.

Still got no idea what it is. It is strictly nocturnal by the seems of it too.

You guys are so lucky you can order bimacs and get bimacs, next time I am going to order an Octopus shoogywoogly, and he'll say, "okay, I have one of those" and send me the first one he sees LOL

Tonight I am going to try molluscs on the octodinnertable and see where we get, fingers crossed!

C

[Rudiger]

Yes colin we are lucky we have fishsupply, but over there cant you get cuttlefish for cheap?

[OctoMonkey]

Yeah, i cant complain too loudly!

[OctoMonkey]

AN UPDATE

Okay so I have searched cephbase and the best I can come up with is either O. digueti or o. rubescens..... not that that means too much tho.... ever come into contact with them Chris?

I went to my local sea food shop today but it was closed sooooooo I had to go to the supermarket, On tonight's menu is fresh oyster and mussels. I'll try again for whelks tomorrow... so there's me with my small torch again!

I have never tried oyster before so I will be using a tiny little bit to start off with, best I coud do tho! I'm going to tie it to some fishing line so it doesnt just get blown away under a rock to rot.
Here's hoping...

Colin

[Rudiger]

oh colin i was looking at cephbase and i was going to suggest to you that what you described sounds exactly like digueti. The reason i know about digueti now is that chris asked me if there was a chance my mercatoris was really digueti because he thinks his baby merc looks like a baby digueti...

[OctoMonkey]

Hey Rudiger, yeah thats my best guess now I think!

It could be that species right enough. Do you have any good pics to post I could double check with? What was the link for your video again?

It still hasnt eaten. It left all of last night's choice menu exactly where i put it. But I did see it exploring last night. No interest in feeding tho... what was yours fav food?

C

[Rudiger]

i believe my octopus was O. mercatoris, but chris said he tought that it's baby looked sort of like a baby digueti. The link to the movie of my octo is www.scufflot.com/octopus.html My octopus loved to eat blue leg hermit crabs and would also eat thawed shrimp that i bought at the grocery store. I tried to give her a clam once but she didnt take it. She didnt like fish either.

[OctoMonkey]

So today is Saturday and I got the octo on Monday, no sign of feeding yet!

tonight i will sacrifice one of my clean up crew hermits to see if I get a feeding response.

I watche dthe octo for a while last night and it is still moving about the tank in a very active manner. This morning it has started using shells as a door over a piece of pvc pipe it now calls home. Apart from that one eye and one arm thats all i see through the day :(

C

[OctoMonkey]

Pat,

i just checked out your video again and I am about 95% sure this is the same species.

Can you give me sizes of yours when you got it and when it died?
How long did it live and how long after did she lay eggs?


Chris, do you think it's digueti?

Colin

[OctoMonkey]

Day 7 came and went and this little octo still hasn't eaten. i have never had this problem before. All other octos ate within a few hrs of arrival.

I think that this is a female who probably had eggs under her care and was caught and separated from them. i think this restless behaviour may be her trying to relocate them. Either that, or I have a female who is about to lay eggs.

So far I have tried crab, hermit crab, snails, goldfish, cod, shrimp, mussell and cockles with no luck. It is a very active octo too, no sign of slowing down!

C

[Rudiger]

Colin:

My octopus was introduced to my tank on Jan 15th. Who knows how old she was?? I noticed she had laid eggs on March 16, however i believe at that point the eggs were already 1+ weeks old. She died April 29th. I would estimate she was 6 to 7 inches arm tip to arm tip. Tomorrow I could upload you a picture of her and there is a clownfish swimming rightnext to her so you can see her size. Using a half clam shell as a door is exactly what my octo loved to do. Definitly sounds similar. I guess its a toss up as to whether she was O mercatoris or O digueti. Im thinking she looked more like mercatoris but my judgement is based off her adult appearance. Chris was wondering if she was actually digueti based on her baby's jouvenile appearance...

I can tell you she was mailed to me by Tom of divertom.com. His website says he sells fish/inverts hand caught from the carribean which, if true, would make her mercatoris i think.... Hope this helps.

pat

[Rudiger]

Colin you might also like to know that my mother octopus was separated from her eggs April 5th.

[OctoMonkey]

Thanks a lot Pat,

I will post pics hopefully on thursday or friday. it may be easier for you to look at it and tell me if it looked liked yours.

it still hasnt eaten anything but is hell bent on escaping. Even sits above the water level for short periods of time?! It is becoming more active, probably fome about 8 or 9 om onwards....

C

[cephalopoder]

Sounds like you have your hands full with this one Colin. Maybe its a cooler water species?

[OctoMonkey]

The temp in this tank is 72deg F, think i should perhaps try lowering the level a bit Chris?

C

[cephalopoder]

It might not hurt to play with temp if it won't eat. I am wondering if it a female that has or is about to lay eggs like you said. But it is rather late in the season for that if it is O.mercatoris.
Not knowing what it is can be tuff. How about O.bocki?

[OctoMonkey]

bocki is a real good suggestion. It certainly does have those oversized looking suckers and overall appearance. And coming from that part of the world would make sense too.

This octo does have bizarre looking eyes. I can kinda see it on Roy's picture of bocki too. I wont be able to post pics until later in the week but that should help then.

I guess i didnt want to consider it was bocki cuz that means i have a fully grown adult :(

oh well, the joys of ceph!

C

[OctoMonkey]

The small octopus was spotted eating a crab today! So it does eat after all. I think you were right Roy, about it feeding on amphipods :) It has decimated the population and has now started (eventually!) on eating the shore crabs i put in 3 weeks ago.

It still never, ever comes out, even with virtually no lights :(

C