well here is some pictures of bud hanging out at the top of the tank, he is not as shy as i thought he would be.. i am also thinking he is a male, i am not 100% sure, i need to do some more close inspecting on him. but for now, i think he is a male..

have you found out what species he is yet?

nope not for certain.

i get mine on tuesday, who knows maybe ours are brothers or sisters...doubtful but hopefully mines not shy either.

How large is Bud? It's difficult to tell from the photos.

Nancy

does anyone else think that looks like an aculeatus?

buds mantel is only about 1" long. i would say when he is stretch out he is around 1' total width, i will get a picture with somthing for reference, i havnt seen bud walking on two legs yet! lol.

He does resemble A. Aculeatus, but without a few more full-body shots it is difficult to be certain.

He is from the indo-pacific area, so it is very likely that it is A. Aculeatus.

That's what I've been saying all along.

Bud ate some of the shrimp i gave him tonight for sure, he held it and flashed very dark reds and blues and blacks, was awsome, i didnt get a picture as he has now vanished back into the rock work but i am sure he will be out later.. try to get a ruler and a pic so you can see the size.

here is a picture with him behind the cord of the maxijet, you can see how small he is compared to the cord.

Hey i just wanted to thank you for the idea for the aquarium cover, I just finished mine today and it looks pretty nice, not as messy as my other DIY projects. Anyways thanks for the idea.

Bud hanging out in his fav corner of the tank it seems, that is a 1" bulkhead behind him, so it is probly what 2" or somthing close to that on the outside?

i dont think my tank water temp is right for this octo.. i cant seem to get my water warm enough.
my tanks temp ranges from 72 to 75.
according to a paper sent to me by Crissy Huffard it should be between 80 to 98, at least that was the ranges she recorded during her studies of them, maybe that why he hasnt been as active as i have hoped,
thats if i did convert those temps correctly. 27 to 37 Celsius depending on tide and time of day
i think i might need to get one more heater, that would be 3 in that one tank, i keep my house around 68, maybe if i closed that stand in it would help keep some heat inside the sump area, that would probly help to.. i did convert those numbers right? right?
if i could get the temp to around 83 that would be better for him i think, and not to harsh on the few other tankmates.

glad to see hes eating :) what are his few other tankmates?

I read recently that most tank heaters can raise the tank temperature only 10 degrees above room temperature. Yours is a bit low even for that, so a lot must be escaping through the sump. If he's cold, he won't be as active.

A range from 27 to 37 degrees Celsius is 80.6 to 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit - I'd stay on the low end of the range, as you suggested.

Nancy

I just got mine from Live Aquaria also, hes/ she is awesome. Its been very active and has amazing color changes.

This was funny, i gave bud a rather large piece of shrimp tonight, and my cleaner shrimp decided he wanted some, bud tried to crawl off with it at first but when the shrimp came over and started eating off of the piece, bud whiped one of his tentacles smacking the cleaner shrimp back, was very funny,. they ended up sharing which is what i got pictures of, after the ordeal, they both ate on the shrimp for about a min..
wonder if the shrimp new he was eating shrimp? and once more that the octo was eating shrimp? lol

Sorry about the large size pics!

That is TOO funny!

That cleaner shrimp makes your octo look tiny!

my octo is tiny! lol
I gave bud his first fiddler crab tonight, err, really gave him two.. but he didnt show to much interest in them, the first one hit the water and went straight to the bottom, so put the second one ontop of the maxijet, "buds fav hangout spot" while bud was on the same side of the glass so i knew he would see him, the crab didnt move one time.. just sat there.. bud went over and reached WAY out to touch it with one arm and it ran like crazy into the rock, bud went to crawling left to right across the top of the glass like he was doing some kind of victory dance, i dunno.. but he didnt eat.. owell, i am not going to offer any more food tonight, i will see if there is a dead crab in the morning. i am off to bed.. "sucks working weekend shift"..

I tried to feed bud a piece of shrimp again, since he hasnt touched a fiddler crab in a day or so, i think i spooked him, he jeted down to the sand, so i took a few shots to show him in camo mode.. they arent the clearest pics but they are cool i thought,

two first for bud today,
he made a daytime apperanace today, after a water change and i reanged a few of the rocks, he came crawling out, he also turned a black/blue color, i kinda got a picture of it but it not a dark as it was...

Bud passed sometime last nite.. dont know why, checked water params, all is perfect.. he had not ate in 3 days..

:angelpus: So sorry to hear about Bud.

I'm so sorry

:angelpus: Goodbye Bud :(

did you notice any unusual behavior prior to its death, so i would know what to look out for. Thanks

RIP Bud. :angelpus:

Nancy

RIP Bud :angelpus:

RIP Bud :angelpus:

RIP Bud....

Thanks all, i will try again soon, but i am going to redo this tank,..
i just wonder why he stoped eating? i gave him fiddler but he only ate 3 of them, and he stopped taking shrimp offerings from me. i wasnt to worried about it, i figured he would eat when he got ready.. but owell.. it was to short..

is your guarantee still in place? because if it is you could get another octo from Live Aquaria..