Nereus my 2nd O. Briarues

Joined
Aug 13, 2009
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Nereus meet TONMO, TONMO meet Nereus.

I went to get two 4' dual T5 fixtures and some water this evening at Dallas North Aquarium actually hoping on finding a sea horse for my wife. Instead while standing there looking for one, an employee with whom I speak regularly asked if I had seen the new octopus. Looking in the direction that he pointed, I quickly, and with much delight and anticipation, walked over to check it out. I was shocked when I saw a 12" long O. Briareus tucked away under a pile of rocks. After reading many journals on previous/present O. Briareus I knew I wanted another shot at this species.

Well it took A LOT of coaxing and begging with my wife, but she eventually gave in at the price of my "early birthday present." But it was worth it. It was really AWESOME because the employee let me catch him up and place him in the bag. Which was a blast because this octopus is EXTREMELY friendly. He was a bit shy, but once he realized that I wasn't trying to hurt him, he calmed down and started reaching for me. This happened in less than a minute, and in under five I managed to get him to crawl willingly into the bag. I was so happy.

I started acclimation at about 9:15pm into the main 250 gallon tank. I plan on giving him roughly three hours of acclimation before placing him into the tank. I got some nice pictures and a great video that shows just how friendly and curious he really is. I am kind of sad that I got him at this stage in his life, but I am so happy that he is as interactive as he is and know that I still have a good while (judging by his size) with him.

 

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Ya, he's really very friendly. I stuck the container in the bucket, and within seconds he crawled into it. Right now he's sitting between the rocks with the lights on just looking at me.
 
I am so lucky. I still cant get over how friendly it is. By the way yes it is a male. I sexed it before I started the acclimation. I was hoping for a female with it's size and all, but I'm still happy none the less.

20 points to he(or she) who can guess why I chose that name lol. Give you a hint,...Greek.
 
When I got home today I couldn't find Nereus. When I went around to the back of the tank I saw one arm slightly sticking out from beneath a rock. Apparently sometime between last night and this afternoon, he had dug himself a burrow beneath one of the large base rocks in the middle of the tank. I would've taken a picture, but it's really hard to squeeze back there to see him.
 
He didn't eat last night when I offered shrimp to him(even though he would touch it) after placing him inside the tank. I'll have to wait until tonight when(or should I say "if") he comes out to try and feed him again.
 
I couldn't coax Nereus out of his burrow, so I just pushed the shrimp into it. I saw him grab it and move it around, but I'm not sure if he's eating. When I turned off one of the lights he started to dig some more. Hopefully he'll come out before I turn off the last light. I'm going to get some dim green/blue lights so that I can shorten the "day time" lights and have a short period of dim lighting so that I can get a few hours every day with him.
 
Very nice find! Congrats and welcome to Nereus. I actually thought whomever named our species should have picked Nereus instead of Briareus as the former is actually a sea Titan and the latter is (for all intents and purposes a tree).:roll:

How old do you suspect he is? He looks to be about double (maybe 2.5x) the size of my Merkury. Curious why you would want a female--hope to breed?

Nereus has thick arms too. Merkury's arms are thin comparatively.

Congrats again!:mrgreen:
 
20 points to Cerulean! lol That is why I chose that name. I figure he's close to about 6 months. Capfish has a few videos of his briareus (Leggs) when she was about the same age and they are titled about 6 months. I was hoping for a gravid female. From what I've seen from other animals, they tend to thicken up with age.
 

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