By this time tomorrow I should be acclimating my new bimac and hopefully posting some new pictures! Just got off the phone with Jack at Fish Supply and he said it will ship out tonight and be delivered as close to my 4Pm arrival home from work as possible! I am sooo excited! Just have to relocate the Dusky Jawfish!

I have questions????? :?:

Checked the tanks water - Nitrate at about 80, Zero Ammonia and Nitrite, Salinity. I just raised to 1.23, they said my PH was low around 79, and sold me a Marine Buffer by Seachem. Can I add this tonight to bring it up to 8.3 or should I leave it alone since he's coming tomorrow????

Jawfish has been relocated!

Carol :D :D

Hey Carol:

Congratulations!!!! It shouldn't be a problem if you add the buffer, as long as its before you put the new Octo in. Let us know how the new guy (or gal) is doing. :D

George

:roll: I'm still waiting......... 4:25PM and 15 minutes later FedEx arrived. Bag was a little cold and Ink, as my son named him seemed a little dazed, but did try to squirt water at us as soon as I opened the bag. Right now, he's dripping! Hope to maybe have some pictures later! 2 hours later and he's in the tank, but refuses to leave the bag. I ended up cutting the bag down to where he was and he's now floating at the back of the tank with the ends cut off of the bag. I'm not sure.... He deffinately was not as active as Nancy's or the others on arrival.


:D Carol

Would you believe Ink is still latched on to the piece of plastic bag? Last night I really thought he may be a gonner. His legs were hanging limp. This morning I check on him, and he's all balled up, still on the piece of plastic, but squirts water at me.

Quess time will tell!

Carol

Hi Carol

Just make sure that all is as queit as possible round about Ink, hope fully it will adjust and move about.

Is it deffinetly a bimac?

Hi Colin!!

Yes!! Deffinately a Bimac! Got it from Fish Supply and I can see the 2 blue spots! This morning, Ink was still on the piece of plastic, but took 2 pieces of frozen prawn and ate it! Just got home from work and he's off the plastic and sitting on the wall by the bottom behind a barnicle!

Should I continue to keep the light off? Turned it on to find him and he is in a dark spot!

I'm sooo happy to have an octo again!!!!

Carol :D

Carol:

I'm glad to hear that Ink seems to be doing ok!! :D keep us updated as to his condition. Good luck!

George

Glad to here that Tralfaz and Roxy's brother/sister is doing better. :wink: You could give it one more day with the light off, but then again Ink's had a few days to settle in. Try taking the light off the top, cutting it on and then slowly putting it back on so as not to frighten the octo.

Hi Carol,

Glad to hear that Ink is doing better. Maybe he had a rough trip.

These little octopuses are all so different. Ollie has been much more friendly recently, but has never once squirted water.

Keep on letting us know how he's doing.

All the best,

Nancy

Hi Nancy and everyone!

Do ya think we may have relatives???

This morning, I could not find Ink. I looked everywhere. My 5 year old daughtor comes up to the tank and says there he is! He was sitting in the front of the tank, under a piece of coral watching us! Normal brown color today. Also does not seem to mind the lights, or my camera :) . Plus took another piece of frozen prawn.

I think he was really traumatized on the way here cause when he tried to squirt me from the bag, it was a really weak attempt. I am impressed with Jack at Fish Supply. He not only tried to call here, but replied quickly to my message that I was a little worried on Ink's condition!

Anyway, so far all's well!!!

Carol

Carol:

I'm glad to hear that Ink is getting comfortable in his new home. I figure that because Ink, Tralfaz and Roxy were all purchased from Jack at the same time and are all around they same age , they must be brothers and sister. :lol:

Are you using a particular brand of frozen prawn?? So far Tralfaz has no interest in frozen food. (He'll take it but then spits it back at me). Maybe I try the prawns and see if he likes them. Keep us updated on Ink's progress.
George

Well Carol, they were obviously collected at the same time and probably the same area because Jack got all the babies in at the same time. And even if they're not siblings...it'll would be real cute to pretend! :wink: George, I haven't tried frozen shrimp yet. How did you get the shrimp to him...did you just stick it on a wooden skewer? Thanks, John

Hey:

I used a plastic feeding stick that I originally got to feed shrimp to my various starfish. I just stuck (skewered) it on the end and waved it around in front of his face. He jumped up and grabbed it but had no interest in eating it. :?

Ah well, I am going to try to pick up some fiddlers this evening. Tralfaz even seems to be having a problem with snails. He grabs them end envelops them in his mantle. But later I see them still alive and cruising around. He can't seem to work out how to get them out of the shell :x
Next stop, LFS for a variety of different potential foods. Wish me luck!

George

i think that a lot of it depends on what species they are fed on... some of the snails sold as 'turbos' have quite a firm 'door' that they close on themsleves to keep safe that a small octo has difficulty with

Hey All!!!

The kind of prawn is from Newmans Fish Foods, out of Hackensack, NJ. I've been using my hand. I make sure the shrimp touches him so he knows there's food. Has taken it every time! Now Hermin, only ate live food. I also went to my LFS and found they continuely stock hermit crabs at $1.00 each, so I threw in 10 of them.

Once the weather gets nicer, I will start collecting my own food again! My daughtor loves to go"mucking" as we call it, and we're able to get lots of different kinds of crabs and snails and fish locally.

How old do ya think our babies are????

Carol

Just a guess would be 3 months, maybe 4???

Well... I came home and was looking for Ink and out he came! First time he's come out! Actually was doing laps like Hermin used to! I threw in a fiddler crab and he grabbed it immediately!

Think he's gonna be ok!!!

Carol :D

Carol:

That is excellent! :D Glad to hear that Ink seems to have made a full recovery from his trip. (Hmmm, Do Octos get jet lag??? :? )


George

Carol,

So glad to hear that Ink is OK. So all of our little bimacs are doing well!
It'll be fun to post pics and stories of their adventures as they grow up!

Nancy

As the days go by, Ink gets bolder and bolder! This morning he did the front glass pacing! He's watching us as much as we watch him! Plus you could tell he was squirting water in my direction. Think I have an octopus with an attitude!!!!

Here's one more picture! Promise, I won't do this daily!!!!!

He doesn't seem to mind the camera at all, but I'm trying not to use the flash too much!

Carol

Glad to here that Inks doing well. Roxy has gotten a lot bolder too... it's seems that she is out and about more than she is hiding nowadays. I caught her a bunch of hermits at the tidepool 2 days ago and she loves them.

Glad to hear that Ink, Roxy and all the other little bimacs are doing so well!

Since I don't live by the sea, I mail ordered a bunch of hermits (21, to be exact) for Ollie, who's munching on one right now. They arrived in good shape, and I'm keeping them in low bowl with rocks and shells and places to hide, with about 1" of brackish water. So far this works!

Nancy

Thanks Nancy!!!

Today, Ink came right to the top of the tank and took frozen prawn from my hand. He was squirting me with water and his arms were flailing out of the water trying to grab me???? I was a little hesitant about letting him get ahold of my hand. When I was acclimating him, he did grab me and even in his weakened state, I had a hard time getting him off my finger. I am continuely amazed at the ability they have to change to whatever color they are near. Yesterday, he looked green, like his cave. Today he was blending with the barnicle on a red rock! Sometimes, I am looking for him and he's sitting right out in the open, probably laughing at me cause I can't find him! :D

I'm gonna try to locally collect later today. Not sure if the waters warm enough yet to find anything close to shore. Bait shops still donot have any fiddlercrabs, so he's been dining on $2.50 crabs....ouch!!!! but he's worth it! Once the bait stores get stocked, I can get them by the pint.

Carol

Carol, I don't know if this will work with your Bimac "domesticated" octopuses, but regarding "holding hands":

A fellow diver friend gave me this bit of advice that works well when a Giant Pacific or little Red (O. rubescens) has hold of you and you wish them to let go - just gently run your finger along the back of the arm that is holding you! The effect is almost like unzipping a zipper :)

Maybe it just tickles them, or maybe the sensory stimulus confuses them, I dunno. But it works well with our cold water species here in Seattle. Maybe it would have the same effect on your Bimac?

I'll have to try that too. When my octo Roxy had ahold of me the other day I was cluesless how to get free.

Great idea!! I will try that if I get the nerve to let Ink get ahold of me again! He deffinately has an attitude! More aggressive that Hermin was! Now when he see's me he comes right up to the top of the tank and starts the arms flailing out of the water! I put a fiddler in this morning, and he stuck his mantle straight up in the air and proceeded to walk across the bottom, on all legs, but with the mantle sticking up! Never saw this behavior before! Have any of you noticed this with yours???

Carol

So - I have a question for those of you with "domestic" octopuses in aquaria.

When diving, the easiest way to find an octopus is to look for a pile of crab shells outside of a hole - the middens. This pile of refuse almost certainly indicates the recent presence of an octopus, and more often than not, there's one at "home" when we look.

This would mean that the octo catches its prey in its webbing, then carries it to its den and eats it, and throws the refuse out on the "front porch".

So:

1. When you feed your pet octo, do they feed in front of you or do they take the prey to a den and eat it in seclusion?

and

2. What do you do to clean up all the shimp, crab and snail shells that the octopus leaves behind?

Curious,

-d

Hi D

The octopuses will quite qucikly accept our presence as a good thing and we take on the role of 'food god' so quite often an octopus will eat at the front of the tank. Babies however, still tend to hide until about the 3 to 4 month mark.

I have yet to see a midden being used full time by an octopus in captivity. they do seem to put scraps in a general sort of area but not as they would in the wild. Part of this may be due to the fact that the aquarium is smaller than their natural territory and the whole tank is seen as their den?

Also, as people keep brittlestars and other scavangers in beside the octos they are likely to wander off with carapaces etc.

Ocassionally I do clean up old carapaces, especially when hermits in another tank may be needing 'new homes' :) Otherwise i just leave them.

I have also found many behavioural differences from one species to next so not all wil eat in the open

Cheers
Colin

It just depends on what I feed her. If it's a crab or a shrimp, she usually takes it to her cave and leaves the carapaces in a pile. With hermits, its usually 50/50. Sometimes she'll pull it out right in front of me, leaving the shell in the open and finishing the meal in her den or sometimes she'll carry the whole thing into the den. She doesn't leave the shells in the midden, she lets them sit in her den. I guess she's planning on doing some decorating once she gets enough saved up.
John

Fishing for an octopus..... What an interesting concept!!!! I may have to try it!!! :wink:

I know Ink drags his food into a cave I have near the front of the tank. As he finishes, he pushes out the remains! My population of worms has gotten quite active since Ink's arrival! They are my cleanup committee! Some are getting quite impressive in size! Funny, they weren't around after Hermin died.

Ink eats in one spot and sleeps in another. I noticed, when he's sleeping he gets to be a very white color and even his eyes look white. I was afraid he was commotose the other day and then realized after I bugged him, he was indeed asleep! Never had an octo that slept where I can see him.

Carol

Hi Carol,

Ollie is doing the same thing as Ink. After the first few days in the tank, he's slept at the entrace of a little cave in the live rock, about 10" above the aquarium floor. He's always visible when he sleeps, but recently he's grown so much that he has trouble stuffing himself into his favorite places!

Nancy

Roxy also sleeps in the near open. Either on the glass halfway behind a rock or sitting halfay out of the den entrance.

HI Nancy

How much growth has Ollie had??? Has everyone else noticed some too??

Its only been a week for Ink so I really can't tell yet.

Carol

Hi Carol,

I was just noticing today how much Ollie has grown. I've had him a little over a month, and he's more than twice as big as when he came. Most of this growth came in the last couple of weeks. I don't think I noticed him being much bigger the first two weeks, so don't worry. However, Ollie does love his food!

I'm going to post more Ollie pics - just took some today and haven't had a chance to see how they turned out yet.

Nancy

Here's an updated shot of Ink! He had a pretty good size crayfish under him! First time I've tried one on him! He flashed the bright blue as he was heading for his cave! I also took a small video but I'm not quite sure how to post yet!


Carol