Hey well i'm in a marine science class and and set up an octo tank. I've had the little guy for over a month now and he seems to be holding up well. i was wondering tho can anyone tell me what kinda i have i believe its a briareus but thats only from my own knowladge. thanks for all the help.Here are some early pics hope to have more soon.


Jon :mrgreen:

Hello and welcome to Tonmo.com!

This is a fine little octopus, but doesn't quite look like briareus, which has more webbing between its arms, bulging eyes, and often a blue-green iridescent sheen. Briarius does have long arms.

Maybe you could post some more pics. Does it have two false eyespots on the mantle below the eyes? If it does, try to get a photo of those.

Nancy

A fine specimen indeed but octopuses are extremely hard to identify as they are masters of contorsion, so I can't really help much as I'm not too good at ID. This whole post was just to ask, is that a volitans lion in the other tank?

Welcome to TONMO! The octo looks great.

Have you added your class' tank to the database?

Melissa

Howdy! I've collected and kept a number of briareus, and the second picture in particular does indeed look very similar, with that distinctive mottled green-and-pink coloration. I would agree that the webbing doesn't look quite as prominent as you sometimes see, but they can expand and contract it to a great extent, no? So while I can't say for sure, I wouldn't rule it out, either.

If it is a briareus, they're fun guys, and pretty hardy. Remember to keep a tight lid on the tank, of course--I had one that kept escaping despite my best efforts--gave my mom quite a shock one morning when she found him staring up at her from under the dining room table! He was fine, but he eventually got too big for the tank, and had to take him back to the sea.

Good luck on keeping him!

John

Welcome Jon and John 8)

Id agree that the middle pic does look like briareus but they can be tricky to ID in genera....l but I'd go with that for now :)

i'll second the 'tight lid' note too!!!

Welcome from me, too!

I"m making a list of the octos we're keeping by species, and I'll add this one to the briareus list - does it have a name?

If you haven't already done so, you might like to add your octopus to our Octo DB, too.

Nancy

:welcome: to TONMO, Jkuge!!
:welcome: to TONMO, St.Jon!!

That is a nice looking octopus you have. 8)

hey well i'll try to get more pics of my littel octo. whose name btw is James bond my class calls him Mr. Bond for short. and yes thats is a lion fish in the tank next to mine. i would like to thank you all for your replies and for all your help. my tank is def shut tight as me and my father have made some modifications to the tank lid. i've been feeding him crayfish, and once i got him a couple of fiddler crabs, however he will not eat anything that is dead i tried some jumbo shrimp from the supermarket he took it from me then a few hours later i found the whole thing floating untouched. i havent done any of that adding littel guy to any list how would i go abotu doing so? again thanks for all the info and help any comment are welcome thank you

Jonathan :mrgreen:

Nancy-could we possibly set up something on the site like an octopus species/photo page...with 2 or 3 pictures of each known species in their most well known color/shapbnhe patterns? That would be a great refference for site visitors.

:welcome: Jkuge!
:welcome: St.Jon!

:D

Very nice octo indeed. 8)

Yes, John, good idea, we're planning to do that. I have been disappointed in what's available to identify octos. There's not even a good collection of eyespot photos. We'll start with ID sheet and care sheet for the bimac.

Nancy

most well known color/shapbnhe patterns?

mush mouth :lol:

Hey thanks for all your help and suggestions i have more pics if anyone would like to see. and i was wondering a rubber ball in the tank bad idea as a toy? like one of those small high bouncers you get in the 25 cent machines.just for my own reference has anyone ever been bit does it hurt??

Nice pix! :D
The 3rd was my fave!

If your finger is bitten your hand will fall off.



LOL! J/k, it would swell like a wasp sting.

I liked the third pic very much, too, although they're all good.

If you look in dbbga's March 10 post
http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=24445#24445
you'll read about how she was bitten by her briareus, who is now guarding her eggs.

The bites hurt a bit but don't cause much damage, unless you are allergic to the venom.

Nancy

:welcome: To Tonmo!!!! 8) That last pic,,, now thats a pretty octo... It is a Braireus. That green huge and those big eyes and the webbing,,, got to be one... Arent they great :P Oh by the way, anyone want one LOL Im fixing to have a few on hand LOL well its 4am on Friday and Im off to galveston to collect Mysid shrimp for the babies. Will be back on Sat. night or sunday.


Again Welcome to Tonmo, and I cant wait to hear all about your adventures with the new octo. The bites kinda hurt but not bad enough to not have octos. Just try not to make it mad like I did :roll: :wink:

Great pics, and nice oct!!!

Out of curiosity what temp does this tank need to be at?

well, this is a tropical species and anywhere between 75 - 80 would be best :)

Nice pics of an even nicer octo there!