Hi all,

I haven't had an Octo in quite some time after my Vulgaris died after 4 months :sad:

I finally decided to get another when someone I know had the fortune of getting one in stock. I thought it was Vulgaris but I have seen this one change colors and texture in a way I never noticed with my other. I don't take the best pictures but here are two. Most of the time this Octo has a white stripe down the middle of his head. Actually, the color and texture in the pictures is quite rare for this Octo but the only good pictures (clear) that I could take.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/DSCN1588.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/DSCN1589.jpg

I have had this one for three weeks.

Thanks!

It sort of looks like mine (Abdopus Aculeatus) and i have seen mine with the white stripe, though she doesn't do it too often. Do you know were it originated from?

I think is was included in a "bali" order.

does it come out during the day or at night?

Looks like a juvenile A. Aculeatus. They have long arms compared to their body size and little webbing. Papillae are typically seen and make the octopus appear to have a rough texture. Have you noticed that on yours at all? He looks very smooth in the pictures. I feel sorry for that poor cardinal :).

Looks like a juvenile A. Aculeatus. They have long arms compared to their body size and little webbing. Papillae are typically seen and make the octopus appear to have a rough texture. Have you noticed that on yours at all? He looks very smooth in the pictures. I feel sorry for that poor cardinal :).

LOL. There was 3 cardinals....Now two hmmm.

Here are some better pictures. the Octo is out in the morning and in the afternoon with the lights on. What an appetite! The Octo is eating a fiddler while I am taking the pictures.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/DSCN1595.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/DSCN1596.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/DSCN1606.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/DSCN1614.jpg

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/DSCN1615-1.jpg

I am pretty certain he is Abdopus Aculeatus. Nice shots.

I was just adding your octopus to the List of Our Octopuses (at the top of Journals and Photos) - does it have a name yet? And where did you get it - at a local fish store?

Thanks,
Nancy

Hi Nancy,

I haven't officially named him/her yet but I have referred to him/her as "glove" because he/she catches fiddlers out of the water column when I drop them in like a baseball player catching a flyball. Pretty funny.

I got her from an LFS that doesn't usually carry Cephs but gets them on occasion (NYAQUATIC). They specialize in Fish not Cephs.

I think we would all like to go somewhere that specializes in cephs. One of my first questions would be, "How do you stay in business?" :-D

I think we would all like to go somewhere that specializes in cephs. One of my first questions would be, "How do you stay in business?" :-D

I understand that but I have good reasons for posting that but didn't want to go into details or create a bad perception of a great company. I didn't want people trying to get Octo's from them that's all. Not unless you can see them in person.

I didn't mean anything negative. There just aren't enough people that are willing to sacrifice what they have to in order to keep cephs. I don't think a specialty store could make much money unless the owner had something else on the side that was bringing in cash.

Keep us updated on how he does with your Hydor "power head". I love those things but was going to remove the two in the 140 when we convert it, however, if you don't lose any arm tips, I may be tempted to leave it in as they do a wonderful job moving the water.

Sure. I haven't had any problems and it has been almost a month. I have four K1s and two K2s in the tank. They are not extremely powerful though so I don't anticipate any problems.

I will keep you posted

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/th_DSCN1691.jpg (http://s121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/?action=view&current=DSCN1691.flv)

Very impressive color changes as he captures the crab!

Nancy

Very nice.

I also have an aculeatus that I received a couple of months ago. I love the nature of this octo. Though I can't get him to feed on any fish only crustaceans. No big deal though he seems at home with his crab delights.:smile: Keep us posted . I would love to see how similarly they behave. And get more info on the husbandry of the sp. Mine seems quite content for the moment but I am always ready to give him a little more .

that video was really awesome! poor crab didnt know what was coming haha

I love this Octo. I've had Vulgaris, Red Octo and Blue Ring (long time ago on the blue). This one is by far my favorite. I actually have two now. One I got from a Distributor with only 3 legs!!!! It now has 5 little ones growing in. The 3 legger is a little more challenging as I have to stick feed him live crabs by putting the stick into the back of the crabs which almost kills the crab. This keeps it alive enough to make the 3 legger feel like he caught it but disabled enough that it can not hurt the Octo. I'm hoping the legs grow back quickly.

I noticed the two of them interacting (yes they are in the same tank). It looked liked the smaller one (3 legs) stretched a tentacle out and was feeling around the larger Octos head as if it was attempting to mate. This only went on for about 30 secs before the larger one took off. The tentacle never made it underneath the larger one.

These Octos are much more active during the day and seem to have quite the personality. I have several fish in the tank with them (nothing harmful) and the only victim was a super small convict tang I had. Other than that, I have had 0 luck feeding the Octos anything but Crabs and live shrimp. I think the larger one ate my flame scallop though but I did not witness it personally. I had the flame for almost two years before I added the Octo so I put 2 and 2 together. So far everything has been great and we are quickly approaching two months if not already.

Something else I found interesting about this species is I have never seen them trying to get out. I'm not sure if it is because my tank has several dens and they have been happy with their choices or if this species is not one of the aggressive escape artists. Maybe someone could shed some more light on that?

I read a report on these species that was linked to this website that gave me good insights on how to set up the tank for them.

If you do see them mating one will have its hectocotylus inside the others mantle. Sounds like that might have been either possibly mating or just simply searching out the enviroment, but this is also how octos kill each other. They strangle each other by wrapping their arms around the other ones head squeezing until it's lifeless. Hope it works out for you though. Would make for interesting discussion.

Exploring arms are hard to determine intent. With my little Merc's, I was SURE (well almost sure, certainly wishful) that I had a male and female in my 15 gallon tank. I have posted pictures of the male "mating" with the female. The "female", however, turned out to be a slowly maturing male :oops:. At about the same time, I also posted pictures of another pair and now have babies from that mating :grin:

If you want to try another method of feeding "Tripod", I have found I can squeeze a claw (or half of one depending on the claw size) of a male fiddler into an air line tube (ther curvature of the claw helps to hold it in place). This might work better than impalment but I did occassionally loose crabs to the tank with this procedure.

Keep us updated on how he does with your Hydor "power head". I love those things but was going to remove the two in the 140 when we convert it, however, if you don't lose any arm tips, I may be tempted to leave it in as they do a wonderful job moving the water.

I took this picture for you a while a go and forgot to post. I had an algae problem that required me to remove my fuge from the system (what a difference!).

This is the "3 legger on the Hydor Powerhead" PLEASE NOTE HE HAD 3 LEGS WHEN I GOT HIM. Both Octos don't seem to have a problem with the PH. My sea slugs crawl over them as well without a problem. They eat the pieces of macroalgae that break away when I feed them.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/DSCN1767.jpg

Here is an updated full tank shot too (post algae problem):

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o210/Domboski40/DSCN1772.jpg

Nice gorgonias. Fish AND a cleaner shrimp... and an octopus, together. See, this amazes me. If you have success with it then that is fantastic. I would love to see more of this. Perhaps it does better replicate the aculeatus' natural environment and allow it to adapt to captivity better. Very well done.

Look forward to seeing this progress.

I think the larger one ate my flame scallop though but I did not witness it personally. I had the flame for almost two years before I added the Octo so I put 2 and 2 together.

What were you feeding the Lima? My first guess usually is starvation when these guys go, and 2 years in your tank sounds pretty good, depending on the age of the animal when you purchased it. (Avg. lifespan is only anywhere from 2.5-3.5 yrs in the wild :)

Thanks for the update and pics on the Hydor's and PLEASE let me know if you do have a problem. I have noticed that none of my snails, stars or slugs have ever been ground up in it but that open front still concerns me). It will be at least 6 months before I strip down the tank to reestablish it for an octo (I have a pseudo UG I am going to remove and want to change the substrate and will have to secure the rocks - AND build out another tank for a few of the corals that would not do well with an octo) and I would dearly love to use the Hydors in stead of the pumps.

Your tank makes me sad all over again about Trundle. I am trying to find a Fu Manchu dwarf because they stay smaller (Trundle was betweem 7" and 8" long) and I have it in my head he may have out grown the tank (which may also be why he became aggressive at 2 years old).

I mentioned that I had a seahorse and mandarin that learned from each other so I had to laugh when you said yours was eating frozen mysid as that is WHAT the mandarin learned to do from the seahorse and her mate learned to do almost immediately when introduced to the tank. My dwarf, however, never ate anything but live shore shrimp. On a rare occassion I could get him to take a dead one if I snuck it in with the live but as a rule, he only ate live shore shrimp. Never any of the small hitch hiker fish that would come with the shrimp or any other small fish I would try, just shrimp (redundancy intentional :cool:)

What were you feeding the Lima? My first guess usually is starvation when these guys go, and 2 years in your tank sounds pretty good, depending on the age of the animal when you purchased it. (Avg. lifespan is only anywhere from 2.5-3.5 yrs in the wild :)

Although just a theory, I felt it was feeding off the biologics of the frozen fish and BBS I added to the tank on a consistent basis. I have no proof of that of course but it seemed to make sense.

Nice gorgonias. Fish AND a cleaner shrimp... and an octopus, together. See, this amazes me. If you have success with it then that is fantastic. I would love to see more of this. Perhaps it does better replicate the aculeatus' natural environment and allow it to adapt to captivity better. Very well done.

Look forward to seeing this progress.

The strange thing is Glove chases the monkey shrimp all of the time but does not mess with the two cleaner shrimp or the fire shrimp (for now). The Octos seem to prefer crabs over anything else and I always have a healthy supply on hand.