Big day was today and my first octo arrived about 1:30. I ordered from MDL, they had no clue what they had and could/would not send me pictures of what was in stock. I ordered the cheapest (and hopefully smallest) one listed, as assorted octo (USA) west. I am figuring on a bimac.

I am pleasantly surprised at the size, very small, mantle about the size of my thumb and maybe 6" tip to tip. Pretty sure its a bimac but my lack of experience may come in to play, I'll post some pics for ID help in a day or two.

I drip acclimated him/her about 2 hours before releasing him/her. After a brief once over of the tank he settled on the side wall and proceeded to curl the tips of his legs up, not good I'm thinking. After about 3 hrs of this I'm very concerned, but hoping its just some shipping stress. He is periodically morphing between a neutral gray to black.

He finally moves and begins to exhibit what I would considered normal octopus behavior. Moving about the rock work. He is showing dramatic color and texture, blending in with his surroundings, very cool.

Unfortunately he arrived before his food, but I imagine he must be hungry. On a whim I tempted him with some thawed krill on a stick, to my surprise, and after a brief tug-of-war, he took it. He worked on it about 5 minutes then rejected most of it.

He seems to be very outgoing already. He shys back when someone approaches but doesn't attempt to completely hide. I will be very nervous the next few nights until he settles in.

Wish me luck!

:welcome: to your new octo, and good luck!

We haven't seen anyone shipped a bimac when sent a "random" octo for a while, so if it has eyespots, my money's on hummelincki.

Pix would, as always, be appreciated!

Congrats on your new octopus! Everything you describe sounds pretty normal for a first day. Very nerve-racking for the first week or so but once settled in you should both do fine :)

6am on Saturday and I'm up! Octo looks good, back to bed.

:welcome: to your new octo, and good luck!

We haven't seen anyone shipped a bimac when sent a "random" octo for a while, so if it has eyespots, my money's on hummelincki.

Pix would, as always, be appreciated!

After looking at some hummelincki pictures I think you are right. He Has very definite eyespots.

BTW we will call him/her Ocho.

West Coast would be the wrong side for hummelincki (thats is, if it really did come from that area?) both species of bimac also have the eyespots so don't rule them out just yet :)

here is a pic of my Hummel (filosus) at about the same size you mention... http://www.open-services.com/oqtopus/imgocto4.jpg

Here are some early shots, I'll get some closer more intrusive ones when its settled better.

http://inlinethumb57.webshots.com/41848/2401251130103389578S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2401251130103389578QFoTeF)

There is a small network of tunnels in the rock its on that he seems to be settling in to.

http://inlinethumb31.webshots.com/39262/2417274210103389578S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2417274210103389578dJWyBz)

Eyes and 2 arms out of the hole.

http://inlinethumb31.webshots.com/41822/2082251280103389578S425x425Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2082251280103389578foqZLM)

Here is a good shot of his eye spots. That gray seems to be his base color. He goes to solid black and various patterns as well. Mantle is typically smooth can become very textured when he hides. Eyes are pronounced and round typically but I've seen him make "horns" once or twice.

If his unbroken blue ring has circles of orange surrounding it, its a hummelincki. During certain shades of the octo this will be more appearant then other times. Have fun with your octo!

If it is Hummelincki (definitely looks like Octane) you win! I have not owned or seen a bimac but the pictures I have seen never show the spikey look that you will see when Hummelincki is on live rock. 'Tane definitely changes texture (as well as color) to whatever he is touching. Also of note, Octane likes to swim more than any of the other keeper have mentioned with other species but my only other direct references have been watching a newly introduced GPO at our aquarium (also liked to swim when young but after a year is not very active) and my Mercs who only swim when escaping preceved danger.

from the pics and the description, looks like hummelincki to me. Probably quite young, from the size you give. Congratulations - they're fantastic pets!

:welcome: Ocho!

congrats! it looks very different from the adult a.aculeatus i recieved from MDL upon requesting a bimac. i can't help much in terms of ID'ing it, but they did say they had several small bimacs in stock a few months ago when i was working with them, and he looks a little bit like the picture Kira sent me from their warehouse:

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2174/2232171206_68424916c3_o.jpg

anyway, best of luck to you and your new friend!

Wow. Nice to see someone supplying babies.

I requested a picture or further info before I purchased from them. I was told that they could not send me an actual specimen photo and that the only ID they would guaranty was on captive raised bimacs they had been receiving. So it seems they are working on getting younger octos and even captive bred/raised.

Well been about 10 days and all seems well. Ocho eats vigorously, primarily fiddlers. I did my first water change today and thus our first in tank interactions. The mood was a nervous curiousness, and I think Ocho felt the same. No actual physical contact but he would come out of his den to observe. I dropped some LR rubble in front of him and we would take turns rolling it around in the sand. After a few minutes, he had had enough and went back in his den and blew sand out at me when I was close by. Although its only been 10 days he really looks bigger, he can certainly kill, crack and eat his crabs quicker.

I am curious, as he gets larger what are some other foods people are using. Ghost/shore shrimp already look to small. I can get saltwater bait shrimp very easily but am somewhat concerned about pollution.

The shore shrimp will give your octopus something to chase around. I got 50 about 2 weeks ago and I think they're finally all gone but my octopus would chase them around for hours, so at least something to stimulate the octopus, give it something to do. You can try clams or scallops, silversides on a stick, krill on a stick, frozen raw shrimp on a stick, etc. if you want to add variety.

Here's Ocho at his favorite pass time.

http://inlinethumb17.webshots.com/28176/2052162280103389578S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2052162280103389578FwZjiN)

http://inlinethumb15.webshots.com/33870/2359347530103389578S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2359347530103389578kZLpIK)

http://inlinethumb35.webshots.com/43234/2220857450103389578S500x500Q85.jpg (http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2220857450103389578vszYXR)

My photo skills are not the best but anyone confirm an ID on him yet?

Judging by the photos I'd say it looks much more like a bimac than anything else we've seen on here lately. Any chance of a good picture of the area between his eyes and arms? I can't tell if what I'm looking at is a large orange chromatophore or an eyespot. If it is an orange eyespot then it's most likely an O. hummelincki.

He has definite eyespots. I've been looking through the gallery at pictures but I'm still unsure. Ocho's spots don't really have the electric blue coloration of the bimacs. However, I would not call it orange. I can't find any small O. hummelincki photos. "Ocatane's" eyespots look much more like Ocho's but he seems a much "rougher" texture but maybe thats do to size (ocho's mantle is the size of my thumb)?

I'll try for more photo's when he ventures out more.

but he seems a much "rougher" texture but maybe thats do to size (ocho's mantle is the size of my thumb)?

Just to add to the ID fun......they can alter the "texture" at will!

J

Octane can be very smooth and is most of the time. Trying to learn observation skills to ID octos, I have come up with these traits for Hummelincki (note, they may well be common to others):

1) Two false eyespots above the real eyes. These are not the ocellus you mention at but dark brownish marks just above the real eye and visible to some extent all the time (I believe I see them on Ocho)

2) A pigtail of lose skin at the tip of the mantle when the skin is smooth. The skin is lose on the mantle and will "slide" when rubbed gently (not so of the skin below the eyes on the true "head" and top of the web). Sometimes Octane wears is wrinkled (not spikey) but usually the extra skin is gathered at the mantle tip.

3) Ocellus that can be barely visible to brilliant blue surrounded by orange. The brilliant blue is displayed when trying to ward off evil vistors and not often seen if your octo is happy but the ocellus will show clearly at other times. I have not yet interpreted more than the brilliant blue display.

Do you have rough LR in the tank. I see the cool spikey look mostly when he is on very rough LR and sometimes when he is eating even on a smooth surface. On the LR he usually looks like the "I am a rock" video in shades of white and almost purplish brown. Mostly he is in shades of a much more boring but ever changing brown and cream.

Hope this helps. My goal over the next year is to collect info and work on an ID set of observations.