My octopus from Marinedepotlive.com arrived today. The box it came in was wet but luckily the bag seemed okay. It is currently acclimating and will go into my 100 gallon tank. I plan on keeping it in a critter keeper for the first few weeks. I am still unsure of the id, since it has been balled up for most of the time. It has not shown any rings of any sort so i dont think it is a bimac. My guess is A. Aculeatus or if not, possibly hummellincki.

Here are some pics of dr. zoidberg acclimating
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2323/2536416809_75254324d5.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3096/2537229842_e5ff668ede.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2304/2537224790_e7224dfa11.jpg

sorry for the crappy pics, i will get better pics once its in the tank. anyone have any idea what it is?
Im thinking A. Aculeatus

here are some pics of dr.z with the critter keeper in the tank.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3191/2536503057_a46cb54f2f.jpg
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2102/2536508225_8aa8b0f022.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3071/2537330862_39abf9e674.jpg

Very cool, keep us up to date. He doesnt look like a hummelincki to me initially, but I could be wrong. I think Aculeatus is a good guess. Did you see any eyespots yet? Also where did they claim he came from? Enjoy your new guy!

:welcome: Dr. Zoidberg. love the name.:smile:

they claimed he originated from the US, but i saw the typical aculeatus horns on dr.z so im almost 100% sure its an aculeatus. For only 27 buck im pretty satisfied, he is in very good condition, all eight arms. haha

How big is he or she?

when in a ball id say around golfball sized, maybe slightly bigger.

Thats great nice and small:thumbsup: Usually when I see any octos they're about fist sized and near the end.

Of the species we typically see, I would venture Aculeatus as well. Judging from photos, you would have a difficult time telling Bimac from Hummelincki based upon coloration. I think the eyespots are different but I am going by pictures (in high color the Hummelincki's eyespots are a ring of orange around a deep blue disk with an orange bullseye and a few orange dots within the blue disk, in dull color, when visible the pattern is the same but the colors are dull and indistince ). Not having seen a young Hummelicki, I can't be 100% positive but I think the arms are way too long and uniform in thickness. 'Tanes arms are very thick at the head, taper quickly and are a maximum of twice (closer to 1.5 x) the mantle length when swimming VS the long almost even thickness arms of the Briareus and Aculeatus. Additionally, it appears that both Bimac and Hummelicki typically show an orangish underside and Hummelicki has a blue ring on the outside of the suckers.

I fed it a piece of thawed out shrimp today and it took it right away. I am pretty sure it is aculeatus since it has long arms, the signature "horns" and it seems to do the "conehead" shape a lot with its mantle. I will post more pics tomorrow hopefully. Just wondering, how long do you think i should keep dr.z in the critter keeper before letting him out to the rest of the tank?

I wouldn't keep him in one at all. He will have to reacclimate to his surroundings and he has already had more new homes than he needs.

Yeah should be fine to release him/her now. Congrats.

ok i let dr.z out of the critter keeper and he crawled around the glass for a bit and is now in the process of building a small den, or so it seems, since he keeps blowing sand out from under a rock, so my guess is he will try to squeeze in there soon.
Ill post some more pics soon

Ahh the ceph construction period. Im glad you got a young and healthy specimen, enjoy.

im pretty glad that i got a small one, hopefully it will be with me for a while. He has been hiding ever since i let him out, but i know that is normal. Hopefully in a few days he will be out and about.

Congrats dude and good luck.Please lots of pics.

looks just like Octopus Prime. another MDL Aculeatus-- interesting! Prime was happy with frozen shrimp until i got him fiddlers. How big would you say its mantle is? arms?

the mantle is probably slightly bigger than an inch. i am not sure as to the size of its arms but they are pretty long in comparison to the mantle. He finally appeared last night and i gave him some more frozen shrimp. I also placed an order for fiddlers which should arrive soon.

Where did you order your fiddlers from??

He might warm up soon, it took only 2 weeks of hiding for my hummelincki to turn the opposite. Enjoy the hiding while you can because you will be able to actually do maintanence on your tank without being attacked now ;)

i get them from aquaculturestore.com

ha yea for now he's pretty shy, but i found his den today and he came out for a bit, stared at me for a minute or two then calmly went back in his den.

He might warm up soon, it took only 2 weeks of hiding for my hummelincki to turn the opposite. Enjoy the hiding while you can because you will be able to actually do maintanence on your tank without being attacked now ;)

Or climbing out while you are cleaning the other side!

i received a adoptus yesterday its perfect. i finally figuerd out why my octos keep dying. i had some mineral mud in a plastic container sitting in my garage. it was in there for over 2 years. i think something driped in it. so before my octo arrived i took all the sand out and this one is doing fine so far. i want to thank everyone that gave a reply to my problem. jim.

last night right before the lights went out dr.z was moving around on the glass, exploring the upper part of the tank. he even put his arm out of the water and touched my pinky. He was out again this morning, but just hanging out by his den. It seems he is becoming less and less shy. His fiddlers should be here tomorrow, so i will get to watch him hunt.

Awsome.Hope to see some photos soon.:)

sweet. dr. zoidberg. im thinkin of namin mine Octavio.