bought an octopus, but what kind?

[corpusse]

So here I am about to post how I can't get him out in the daylight. I actually wrote a couple of paragraphs then went downstairs for a second and low and behold he was out! First time ever with the lights on completely out of his den!!!

I think the reason for it is about an hour ago I fed him 2 fiddler crabs. I had a feeling he'd be out this morning as I have gone 3-4 days without feeding him. Even at night he's hard to convince to come all the way out of his den. He's content to wait for a fiddler to come to him, or me to eventually bring the feeding stick close enough so that he can reach. Even when it's close enough often he won't go for it until its an inch or 2 away. I know he knows its there. I shine a light on the food, i rub it against the rock so he can feel the vibration ect.

So yesterday my timer failed. No idea why it's just a cheapo one that's been working for the past couple of years. I reset it, but I must have set it wrong because the light came on early today. When it came on he was already out and stayed out for a good 20+ minutes.

Since I already had my cameras setup for no tank lights and flash I had to scramble to adjust the white balance. Some are a little out of wack but I will try and fix them.

First here is the set with the lights off what I was originally going to post before he came out for a second time :
The first few were taken at iso 1600 and relatively slow shutter speeds. I still increased the brightness and lowered the contrast to get a bit more light. The rest are with flash.

I like that one a lot even though it's dark. The room's tracklighting makes it appear the sun is rising.

.

 

[corpusse]

More photos. A few are slightly out of focus but I think they still capture him well.

I haven't seen him this light green since he was a kid lol

 

[corpusse]

Another poor quality video

It's neat how he just slides under the rock and is noticeably full of crab

I don't expect to see him out for several more days as I put 4 fiddler crabs in this morning. I can confirm he ate 2 and the other 2 have gone mia presumed eaten

 

[DWhatley]

Neat sucker shot and I particularly like the 7th one in the #137 post, it is almost 3 dimensional. Something you might enjoy watching and analysing is the dark ring around the eye. Cassy shows this extensively and it is NOT a friendly gesture. We call it the owl eye, especially when the whole eye area is dark brown and the rest of the body is inflated and bright white. We don't notice it much on Tank but then we only see him about once every other week. The sibblings are so different. Cassy is out pacing the glass for food every night, is agressive but timid and easily backs down but only goes into hiding if I try to pet her. Tank is elusive and will come to play on the glass for as long as an hour with the lights out on a rare occassion and is rarely seen with the lights on. Every time we think he is finally going to start coming out, we don't see him for a week (but his food disappears).

 

[corpusse]

So I'm convinced he will never come out during the day time. The one time he did was because the timer had changed and he was already out and didn't retreat instantly to the darkness.

He has moved dens which is basically out in the open and he'll just stare at me until I get bored. If I offer him food he wont take it until it's close enough so that he won't have to move. If he's really hungry he will stretch his arm, but will not leave the shadows.

I see him 2-3 times at night or in the morning a week and that's just the way it's going to be.

I did put a crab in a jar yesterday and it was gone today. The Jar did not get knocked over too. I'm thinking of trying to get him to open it, but the only lid I have is this :

Do you think it contains copper?

 

[DWhatley]

Yes, I think those contain copper (or used to when they were brass, they may be aluminum now and only colord to look like what is expected, aluminum shouldn't contain copper, brass will). If you eat mayonnaise, here most brands come in plastic jars with plastic screw on lids (Kraft in particular but other brands as well). Another food product you may buy that has an appropriate jar would be Parmesan Cheese.

Here is a link to a video were we used something similar to a Parmesan Cheese bottle with KaySoh. I had another video of SueNami (I think) opening a different container but I think it is in the inaccessable videos and I never transferred it to YouTube. We have found that they seem to get bored with the jars pretty quickly.

One thing we have "discovered" by putting two and two together and think we have an answer of four is to offer the food for briareus (because of their eyesight, we have not noticed this with others) at the surface rather than close to the eyes (close to the eyes seems to require detection of movement_. We have over and over with almost all of the ones we have kept noticed that they will go after the clear floating cube we use to suspend food. They find the food second (attached to a zip tie) and the floating cube part first. This tied with Cassy's grabbing of Neal's hand OUT of the water has made us start experimenting with using the surface of the water as a place to get their attention. If you experiment, let me know what you observe.

 

[corpusse]

Still haven't gotten around to getting a jar with a lid. If I put a crab in the jar he will take it, just not when I'm around.

So I didn't feed for the last 3 days. I thought okay he will be hungry enough to come out during daylight. Nope. Wouldn't come out just swiped at the shrimp on a stick until I brought it close enough for him to swiftly pull it off.

 

[corpusse]

Another try tonight, just before when the lights go out.

I know he's hungry but he just stares at me. I put the shrimp on a stick and he won't come after it. I move it within a couple inches of him and he starts to go for it. I move it back. He moves back. We do this 4 or 5 times. Finally he reaches his arm all the way out a good 10" and grabs it. I don't let go and he pulls hard. I don't want to hurt him pulling the stick but his grip is VERY strong. Eventually he pulls the shrimp off and gets it without venturing out of the rockwork again.

Then he just stares at me from his den as he consumes the shrimp. It's amazing how disciplined he is. More likely it is fear of the open when the lights are on, but I'm convinced he would rather starve to death then show himself during daylight hours.

 

[DWhatley]

Tatanka is similar. He has recently started coming out to the wall some in the earlier evening but not unless the lights have been out a long time. We are not sure if we have missed the earlier outings or if this is new as they don't last long. We are not sure if he sees Cassy but twice I have seen them both at the corners of the tanks where they would have best viewing of each other and both were swimming/climbing on the wall. Other than that, though, there is no obvious recognition.

 

[SabrinaR]

Another try tonight, just before when the lights go out.

I know he's hungry but he just stares at me. I put the shrimp on a stick and he won't come after it. I move it within a couple inches of him and he starts to go for it. I move it back. He moves back. We do this 4 or 5 times. Finally he reaches his arm all the way out a good 10" and grabs it. I don't let go and he pulls hard. I don't want to hurt him pulling the stick but his grip is VERY strong. Eventually he pulls the shrimp off and gets it without venturing out of the rockwork again.

Then he just stares at me from his den as he consumes the shrimp. It's amazing how disciplined he is. More likely it is fear of the open when the lights are on, but I'm convinced he would rather starve to death then show himself during daylight hours.

Stubborn little brut isnt he.

 

[Lmecher]

I was never able to get my O. briareus to do the crab in tha bottle trick. I even tried the bottle with an open top. He'd give it a little touch but thats all. I wondered if he just couldn't see the crab or was just too scared.
I used a plastic specimen container with El Diablo, worked wonderfully. I could tell Diablo had much better eye sight and had no fear of me.

 

[corpusse]

The last crab has been in the jar for 3-4 days. He has eaten crabs from the jar before and once even shrimp. I dunno why he won't take this one. Probably too scared. I have been seeing him out at night lately but even then he's really skittish. I really thought over time he would lighten up....

 

[corpusse]

I'm uploading a video where I attempt to get him to come out. I know he's hungry but he just won't. Also the very first attempt he almost ventured completely out. He must have seen my look of surprise because after that he would not.

I just filmed the last minute camera wasn't on the proper settings too. This lead to him grabbing the food since I was watching the camera too. How do you feel about me teasing him? In some ways it seems cruel but it's simulating hunting which I can barely believe this guy could do if I didn't see him hunt crabs for himself.

After 6 months I'd say my guy is 100% nocturnal. It's not really the dawn and dusk I've heard described as I do see him out in the middle of the night if I'm up. During the day he is awake but spends 100% of his time in the den. Interestingly enough during the night he has another den on the other side of the tank he spends time in. He has never once been there during the day though.

I wonder if region has any effect on whether they will come out or not? dwhatley's tank raised guys are very different but even the secretive one does or has come out during the day. Mine NEVER has. I'd be really curious to know how many Octopi starve in the wild due to fear of coming out to hunt, vs ones that are hunted themselves when they venture out for food.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy the Octopus but it's so frustrating. I'd just like the chance to see him even once a week or once a month and photograph him without having to resort to the flash which he doesn't hate but certainly doesn't like. Food being the only thing I can use to lure him, but for days and days he will wait me out until I worry that he actually will starve.

I don't want to kill my guy, but another interesting study would be to get several specimens at the same time, acclimate them, get them healthy and eating in separate systems, then remove all or most of the live rock and see how they handle being out in the open. I think a new arrival would certainly be stressed to death, especially since they hide even more initially, but one like mine whos been in captivity for 6months + eats off a stick ect, how would he fare in a tank without a million hiding spots. Again not something I plan on doing, but it would be an interesting comparison to see just how far these guys can be domesticated. Maybe I will consider trying this when he gets closer to the end of his life, but I am hoping he still has at least another 6 months.

When I first started reading tonmo when I was keeping cuttlefish I thought it was silly reading about people who "play" with their octopus. I always thought If I get one I'd just let him be and observe him naturally. Well doing it that way I'd never see him at all.

Anyway here is the video

 

[DWhatley]

When you see him out at night does he expand his webbing? Cassy, the one that comes out during the early evening, always flaunts her webbing right down to the arm tip where Tatanka, the shy one, does not display nearly as much. I don't know if their webbing is actually different or they employ it differently. Cassy looks like she is flying/gliding most of the time and makes me think of an airplane where Tank just crawls around.

 

[corpusse]

Sometimes yes and sometimes no. His webbing is mostly expanded when he's on the glass otherwise not so much unless he's moving across the tank which happens very rarely.

What do you think about the idea of trying an established octopus in an unnatural tank for the purpose of domesticating?

Thinking about it I really don't have that much time left with my guy. I was thinking his lifespan was more like 18 months but it seems like it will be more like 9 and I guestimate him at 9 months (ive had him for 6 and he was still small when i got him).

I'm not sure if I can see myself keeping another after him, but this would be very interesting.