Well recently I have been bummed because of my loss of OCTOROK obviously. I did a really large water change, algae scraped the tank, and had these fiddlers establish themselves in some hiding places. I'd been taking my time on making another order from octopets, and had been somewhat worrying about putting a baby octopus in with these crabs and all that, so I wanted some time to 'sleep on' what I would do next.

Well, as it always seems, things worked out for me better than I could ever have imagined!!!!!!!!!!!!

On friday I finally went to this far away 'legendary fish store' that everybody has been recommended to me, because I wanted to get an exotic betta. This place was insane, they had about 15 types of plecos (I ended up picking up an L333, 'yellow king tinger plec', so cool), a huge area of exotic bettas for $2.99 (I got a light/dark/medium blue, white, green, with orange gills crowntail. Unbelievable!!!), and in their dry goods section I saw aquarium lighting, which I want to upgrade in my 120g FW to be a bit brighter. Their staff was happy to plug in bulbs into a universal-sized fixture to show me how they looked -- this was really really cool I thought.

Now the part of the store that obviously COMPLETELY floored me -- they had FOUR octopus for sale!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! I have never seen ONE, or any SINGLE LFS that would even take an ORDER for one before, so this was completely new to me.

They had a bimac and I thought, 'well awesome I can at least get this guy and save myself some money/octo stress from shipping from octopets', but then I saw they had even more! They had a tank with one small bodied very long/thin legged octpus, with 2 labels 'small octopus' and 'bali octopus'. I believe this may have been briaerius from the descriptions I had read/seen, but hard to know for sure of course. In the next tank they had two octopus side by side, both labelled as 'octopus joubini'. I chose the larger of the two to take home :)

It has been named by my girlfriend, and is 'octavia' and a girl. She was much larger than expected when I saw her really stretch out in the jar she came in!!!!!!! My friend took a picture using his camera phone, which I will attach at the end of this.

I am looking for an ID on the species; I have a feeling it is actually not joubini. octavia's mantle I would guess is about 3 inches (~7.5 cm) which exceeds the max size for a joubini. Also cephbase does not show any mature pictures of this species, so it's hard to make the match. However, the red look and size for rubescens seems to match much more closely.

At first while acclimiating, the octopus did not move much and would not come out of the jar. When I came home hours later I noticed a severed fiddler crab claw in the tank and a crab carcass, and octavia was moving the sand around to burrow underneath live rock!!!! I notice a lot of sand was blown around by her, and she has pulled a large rock in to cover the opening of her den. Really neat stuff! When I woke up this morning I saw that another crab had become prey.

I can't remember if I had the light off last night when I left for several hours or not, but I have a feeling that this octopus is nocturnal from what I have seen so far. Of course, it has only been a day or so, so I have no real idea of its 'normal' behavior.


Robert & octavia :tentacle:

http://lucidsoft.org/~rcl/octavia.jpg

This is so cool! I'm still mouring for the loss of Mr.Ink, A local octo I bought from the fish market that died on my journey to the seaside where I was planning to se it free. Mr. Ink is currently in the sea at last and at peace where it body will once again be in the life cycle of the animals in the sea. I have made a clay tab that says R.I.P Mr. INK :cry: But I hope you have sucess with your new friend.

Welcome to Octavia! Robert, I'm sure you're glad to have an active octo in your tank again. I'll add her to my list of octos as soon as I have a moment.

Sorry about Mr. Ink, Chrono war. It was kind of you to try to return him to the sea.

Nancy

Welcome Octavia!!! You didn't by chance run out to Lancastor did you??? This is where my favorite shop of all time is, and usually that is why at times I am a 2 octo family because I can't resist!!! Good luck with her!! She's cute!!!

Carol

No but I'm interested in hearing about this place in Lancaster! I went up to a store near baltimore, MD called 'aquarium center'

http://aquariumcenter.com/

450 tanks of freshwater fish and invertebrates
50 tanks of marine fish
46 tanks of marine invertebrates
60 tanks of live aquatic plants
500 gallon reef aquarium display


Also of possible interest to people on this forum, they had a porteugese man of war jellyfish for sale!!! There's something you won't see every day; $350 though (ouch)

Also of possible interest to people on this forum, they had a porteugese man of war jellyfish for sale!!! There's something you won't see every day; $350 though (ouch)

Welcome to Octavia! and definitely ouch about the p-o-w!!! They can be very hard to keep too! They have real difficulties with filtration (given that they can't swim against a current!) and probably would eat your other fish! Definftely a species tank inhabitant. We've held them in the past but we have to modifiy all our inlets and outflows....a real pain in the neck!! Plus they can inflict a fairly nasty sting!

J

Jean,

It looked totally mean. They had it sitting in a specimen bag on a counter -- I thought somebody was buying it but then I realized that's probably the only suitable setup they could provide for it. Do they do much of anything when you hold them in a tank, or do they just float around? Also what do you feed them? Just kind of curious

Robert

Here is a picture I just remembered I took of the acclimating of octavia. This is actually a pretty good shot of my OCTO TANK. When tonmo's revamping is finished hopefully I can get some extra good shots to put in my tank profile.


http://lucidsoft.org/~rcl/peace_sign.jpg


You can see him in a plastic cup in the front lower right of the tank. You can also notice a hand decorated rock that I use to hold the lid of my tank closed. The rock features a sea-water color on the front, and an orange felt octopus with some green felt seaweed. Extra cool! This was a christmas present from my wonderful girlfriend, who is extending the universal symbol for 'peace' to our new 8 legged friend.

:archi:

Since P-o-ws can't swim, you'll need a round tank that makes the current go in a cycle. Not like the one on Squidcam but like a rolling pin. Then you'll need a fine mesh over anything that sucks too and then you'll need to find small fish larve as food. But the real bad part is when they eventually die, you'll need nets, plastic gloves and all the other things to remove it from your tank. Also be careful since I heard that P-o-ws can grow to over 40 cm on the bell ( the floating thing where you can pop it with extra strong shoes). If you want to buy jellies, start with moon jellies since they don't sting.

It has been a while now and I have not seen OCTAVIA since the day I put her in. For several days I found the shells and rocks closing her den disturbed and different every day, and I kept finding crabs dead, and I could see her sometimes (just an arm or her eye)... now the den has been completely closed in and I have not seen her at all. I'm starting to get a bit worried.

I only have one crab left but he is still quite alive. I have added 50 common shore shrimp, and its impossible to know if any of them have been eaten or not really...

Right now I have replaced the bright white flourescent lighting of the tank with blue cold cathode lighting. I ordered a pair of red cold cathode tubes to swap into this DIY fixture I made, on Nancy's suggestion. Hopefully this can lure the octopus to come out.

Assuming this is octopus joubini, is this normal? Should it be a completely nocturnal species? What kind of temperature should I be keeping it at? As for now I have been keeping it room temp (like I did my bimac) which is ~68-72'F.. should I have a heater going maybe?

I should get the red light in a couple days and then I guess I will experiment around.. I am starting to get worried though, and if this keeps up for another week I think I am going to have to try to uncover her and see if she is ok :(

Robert (HOPEFULLY with octavia!)

hm...red. Havn't heard of using redlight. But there was a video on NG that shows Humbolts 'seeing red', dunno if it agitates them or not, but they sure know something is going on with the red ligths. :shock:
Dunno if the other cephs will also see red.

If Octavia is a dwarf, there's a possability she has eggs! Especially the way you describe she has herself blocked in the den!!!! Her arrival shot reminds me of Rummler who I believe we also identified as Joubini!

Also, if you do a search for That Pet Place in Lancastor Pa, they have a website with directions!!! :smile:

Carol

Cool present!!!! Interesting to see that stores are getting more into octos...same down here !
greg

I have installed red lighting in my aquarium and have had some interesting reaction to it (and a dark room)! First off, my urchin has now moved like CRAZY since I made things dark/red. This is something it hasn't done at all, so way cool!

As for the octopus, I have SEEN it now for the first time in a while. It isn't coming out, but I can see it peeking out at me and moving around inside the den. This makes me less worried, I'm pretty sure its safe... but its weird that it isn't coming out at all. I'm beginning to think that it indeed may have something to do with eggs. Is anything known about the breeding of octopus -- would it have waited until it got to my tank before doing this, since in its 'creature cage' it wouldn't have had a proper place to lay the eggs? This could explain the reclusion happening shortly after the octopus coming to my house. Also, what about males? Do they do anything special or weird before their life ends?

Robert

Hi Robert,

I've read over this thread - your little octo does seem rather large for a pygmy octo. Now that it's hiding, it will be hard to take pics. Joubini only grows to a mantle size of less than 2 inches, and is reddish orange with pale bands across the web and arms, if that helps.

It's the time of year for egg laying. She might have a den with eggs - be sure to offer food where she can reach it without leaving her den. Most of them do seem to continue eating when provided with food like that. If she doesn't accept frozen food, try live - someone else had an octo with eggs that wouldn't accept frozen food anymore.

She is an attractive little octopus and I hope you enjoy her whatever.
As for the temperature, without knowing the species, it's hard. Probably just leave it at room temperature. O. joubini lives in the Gulf of Mexico - I've been told it's in the bay between Galveston and the Mainland, and I don't think the temperatue there is always so warm.

I'm going to start a new list of our octos for the non-bimac octo pets, so I'll add Octavia.

Nancy

Thank you for adding octavia and for your comments.

I have all of these shrimp and one crab still running around. I always see her looking out of her den at me, so I am sure that she sees this food running around constantly, yet none of it seems to be touched as far as I can tell. I would be shocked if this ended up with her not having eggs...

What happens to a male octopus? Everybody seems to talk about octos laying eggs.... but never about male octos? Do they stop taking food as well?

Robert

Hi Robert,

The male octopus becomes senile. I haven't personally experienced this, but I believe Carol has. They seem to get a bewildered look and die shortly afterward.

If Octavia does have eggs, she will most likely not come out to hunt, even though you have a lot of food in the tank. A lot of us have had good results offering the food directly to the mother octo - maybe placing a piece of food where she can reach it without leaving her den.

I noticed that my bimac set up her den so that she could reach out her arms to the sand through crevices in the rocks and perhaps find a piece of food. But she was used to the feeding stick, so I gave her pieces of thawed frozen shrimp on the stick.

Nancy

Well OCTAVIA definitely was a female after all --- I came home after a long day and I was looking at how filthy this octo tank is (algae on sides) and I noticed a small creature with 8 arms blowing around in the current!!!!!!!!!!!! A baby!!!!!!!

I am completely excited. I think from what I have read, the best bet would be to try to raise them in this tank and let 'nature take its course'

There's only one so far, but it sounds like there may be around 150 that hatch over the next few days or longer? Wow, this is amazing!


Octopus Party 8-)

Congratulations!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for you!

P.S. DID you go to Rolling Ridge Elementary school in Sterling Park, Va a really really long time ago?

Congratulations!!!!!!!!! I am so excited for you!

P.S. DID you go to Rolling Ridge Elementary school in Sterling Park, Va a really really long time ago?

I didn't, but I almost did!!! We moved a few miles in the other direction and thus I went to Sugarland Elementary. You are from the area I guess!

Perhaps you are thinking of an octopus you knew in 3rd grade 8-)

Hehehhee! Good one! Yeah, I lived in Sterling age 0-11. I think that Octo I knew was named Marty.

So are there any pics of this new baby??

No pics yet but there undoubtedly will be by the end of the day --- there are MANY babies this morning!!!! I would guess there are many 20 to 30 now.. it's amazing to watch so many of them jetting around in the tank together!

This morning I looked in at the mother and I was afraid that she wasn't moving, so I disturbed the area around here with a stick.. after a while she finally put an arm out, but it looked like she was very tired/weak... I guess helping all of these little guys hatch has put a strain on her!

I will definitely be dragging people with cameras over here today, I can't wait to share the pictures with everybody!

Robert and Octavia :tentacle:

AWWWW how sweet!!! I am so excited for you :bluering: OH! And if you happen to have a bunch live in a couple months, put me down as someone who wants to buy one, please:mrgreen:

Thanks so much to my friend, I have gotten some pictures of the baby octos!!!! These are all the small versions of the pictures. If you would like them in all sizes (up to 1600x1200), you can go to....

http://lucidsoft.org/~kingfish/gallery/bobs_sea_world

All of the pictures he took tonight are up there, the octopus babies are the first group of pictures, the others are of other tanks. Here are some highlights...

http://lucidsoft.org/~kingfish/gallery/bobs_sea_world/.cache/640x480-CIMG1652.JPG

http://lucidsoft.org/~kingfish/gallery/bobs_sea_world/.cache/640x480-CIMG1654.JPG

http://lucidsoft.org/~kingfish/gallery/bobs_sea_world/.cache/640x480-CIMG1657.JPG

http://lucidsoft.org/~kingfish/gallery/bobs_sea_world/.cache/640x480-CIMG1676.JPG

I may upload several of these to the picture database when I get a chance!!!

Wow!!! Great pics! They seem to be of pretty good size! What are you doing for feeding?

Good luck with em!

Carol

Right now I am feeding only frozen food, cylopese, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp, and other 'formula one' frozen prepared foods.. I'm feeding this in total darkness (man do they like to come out when its dark!) with garlic. I have no idea if it is being eaten or not...... I also have no idea if they're finding food on the live rock or not!

Tomorrow I'm planning to go out and get some brine shrimp cysts to hatch, and I'm going to feed ones of all size to the tank, and I'm thinknig I will order amphipods as well from octopets or sachs.

I sure do hope they are eating!

WOW!
:shock:
One day, one day I too will have baby octopus.
can I just put in one more wow!

If you were in the neighbourhood I would strip all my mates damsels and give you the bubs as feeders..... 8-)

Very cool! Best of luck, dude! :D

That has got to be the coolest thing i have ever seen :mrgreen: !!!!!!!
Your so lucky!! I would buy one, but i think that you live too far away for me to get one :cry: Oh well, i'm thinking of going to that one in Lancaster. A map would help a lot too :grin: ! Once again, your so lucky!!!!!

How are the wee ones doing now?

How adorable!!! I :tentacle: them!

They are doing great, it seems! I counted 27 of them a couple days ago, which is when they are maybe 1 week old or so? They seem to be getting larger!! I'm going to be feeding them some live brine shrimp starting tomorrow when these eggs hatch. That will be interesting I think, and good for them too! They like to eat food!

Lastnight octavia made a guest appearance by coming out of her den and crawling around some! This is the first time I had seen her since she was in the creature cup and I got her. Really cool, but I'm thinking that the end is probably near for her.....


Does anybody have any information on around what size/age the octo babies might become cannibalistic? I am considering making many small 'creature cages' for them, but I don't want to do it until it is neccessary because I feel that allowing them freedom gives them a much larger change of living. Also how old should they be before they are considered to be past the high-mortality zone? Any information on this?

Thanks for the positive comments everybody!

Robert :welcome:

Hi robert, glad things are going ok

The could be cannabalistic right from the start, I'd suggest putting in as many cut pieces of 1" pvc tube as you can just now and a bunch of shells etc as hiding places until you have a number you can easily rear seperatly.

I agree that leaving them be just now is a good idea and that if they are all feeding well then they are past a large part of the high risk zone

keep it up

Based on talks with people who have raised octo hatchlings and our TONMO experiences, I'm not sure there's ever a time when they're not cannabalistic! But having lots of hiding places as Colin suggests and plenty of food should make cannabalism less attractive.

You're doing very well! Keep us posted!

Nancy

Sry for leaving everyone hanging, I have been *ultra* busy recently :(

Sadly I think the babies have perished.... about 2 weeks ago I saw 2 of them dead in the sand and I saw a third one jetting around, and he stopped jetting and fell to the sand.. tank params seem to be fine, I'm thinking this might have been some kind of nutritional cutoff or something like that. I guess there could be more, but they sure are hiding if that's the case....

And (the real reason for the post), yesterday octavia was found after some brave rock lifting by myself. She was a good octopus and mother, and it's nice that she got to have a place to lay her eggs and rear her young! We will all remember her :)

(RIP octavia, Apr 29, 2005)

Robert