I had a brief photo op this morning! Seems like Inklet is getting more curious as to what is looming outside his tank all the time! This afternoon his new spot is a shell right in the front of the tank!!! :mrgreen:

He looks a lot different than the other octos, he seems to be staring at the camera. Cute little guy, love that shade of red in the second pic and his little ring. :)

Here he is in his shell!!!! :mrgreen:

Those are great pix! Inklet's wonderful! :D

Cant wait for mine! 8)

Great pics!! Love the curiousity he shows even in the pics!!! :D

Carol, again with the sweet torture. Your pictures really make me regret being the pet-murdering spawn of Hell that I am.

:D

How big is the shell, Carol?

What an excellent pic of the little guy.

Nancy

very nice carol :)

Excellent pics! Thanks for sharing Carol!

The shell is 3" x 3". He's holed up in it this morning with acouple shells as his door but an eyeball stratigically placed to keep an eye on us!!! :mrgreen: Should be receiving my fiddler crab order today so hopefully there will be some alittle smaller to entice him with! He's wiped out almost all the local snails in the tank!!! Looking at Lil Pumpkin and Inklet, they're about the same size! Lil P might be just a tad bigger, but not by much!!!

Carol

Awe how cute Inklet is :) I hope you get a photo op with him and the crabs :wink:

Fantastic pics Carol ! tugs at the 'ol heart strings... I can't wait to get a setup again...
Greg

Looking at Lil Pumpkin and Inklet, they're about the same size! Lil P might be just a tad bigger, but not by much!!!

Carol


How odd. What do you keep the temp. at in Lil P's tank?

Temp is 68. Lil P was the size of a dime curled up, maybe smaller when he arrived. I figure he has to be maybe 5 to 6 months old now. He's been with me for 4.

What's the temp. for Inklet's tank?


Maybe Lil P is a runt or somethin'. :?

75 is Inklets temp! Interesting!! But I really think Lil P was such a tiny baby, he could have come from the same batch being he came from Fish Supply.

When do you get yours BOE?

Tonight Inklet ate his first fiddler crab! Came home to a box of 20 sitting on my front porch. They arrived from Florida in great shape!! Only lost 1 and he puts in extra I quess to acount for a fatality or two. Anyway as soon as I put it in the tank Inklet was on it. I have started clipping the small claws as I saw how much one crab was hurting Lil P. The large male crabs don't seem to pinch.

Heres another shot of Inklet happily eating his first crab in his shell!

:shock:

Now that is a cool shot! :D


This Sunday! Im so excited; octos are what got me into aquariums. Now I have 8 tanks! It all started when....

Do you really mean Sunday? Do they deliver Sundays? I'll be watching for moment by moment reports!!!

He's so cute. :)
I don't think BOE's octo has come yet, has it?

Maybe Lil P is a runt or somethin'.

Pudge was too, Paul says that they "grow to their tank size". How big is Lil P's tank, Carol?

He's in a 29 Gal. I know eventually I may have to convert my 45 flatback hex to salt for him! Or I do have a 50 gal pentagon, but I bought it used and am not sure on the history of copper usage. Could make that Fresh and still use my 45 for Lil P.....Hmmmmm... Maybe we need a poll on how many tanks everyone has!!!!

Carol

And how big's Inklet's? (I love that name! :D )

From those pix of Octopets (the place) it looks like Inklet had as much room as he wanted!

Wow, what a hoppin thread today!
What a great pic. Inklet, makes raw crab look delicious! :lol:

So is it the size, lights, temp, or age? :bugout: :P

Inklets is a 44 gal pentagon, corner tank. I really think Lil P is so small yet the tank size would not be influencing him yet. He used to live in a small 5 gal pethome within the tank!!!

Wasn't it said lower temp slows the growth rate? There is a good 6 degrees difference in temp between the two.

I know that lower temps add to the longevity to a bimac, but does that directly relate to growth or over all health, and conditions?

Lower temps can also slow down growth rates but not sure to what extent. Isn't Inklet in Ink's tank? Boy, who knew one could miss so much in just 1 night!

I kept Roxy's tank at about 68, and she didn't get nearly as big as Ollie did. I'm not sure how big Roxy was compared to Ink. But then again I usually only fed Roxy every other day, so that may have also affected her size. John
I haven't started chilling Truffles yet with the fan. With our room temp, the tank stays warmer at about 77-78.

I think there's a lot we don't know about feeding/water temperature/bimac size/lifespan.

When adjusted for the arrival date, Ollie, Ink, and Roxy all died within ten days of each other - yet they were kept in different temperatures, fed different amounts, etc.

In an article on GPOs, Roland Anderson called into question whether less food resulted in longer lifespan - he mentioned that this may be true for vertebrates (some experiments have been done in this area), but would not necessarily be true for invertebrates.

I have never been able to find any real experiments or substantiation of the less feeding/longer lifespan or the lower temperature/longer lifespan theories. That doesn't mean this work does not exist, but it does seem hard to find.

There is also the theory that an octopus will grow no larger than the den it has available. Well, Ollie just kept expanding her den!

Some bimacs do grow large, like Ollie. I knew of three last year, and have been told of others. I guess I have wondered if there is some genetic component as well.

Nancy

I personally don't agree that the size of the environment will keep and octo small, or else we would have quite a few tiny ones with the smaller set-ups, and no need to set-up another tank once there bimac outgrows it. How could a bimac outgrow anything if that were true?

With verts it does make sence to a certain degree, and food definately has to play a factor in both. IMO -Proper nutrition for anything is ideal, for body mass, health, and life span.