Hey! Well, I got my 4 1/2 month old bimac from Zyan Silver today. I'm going to call it a girl, but it's only a guess. I named her Blinky because she does the Pac Man thing where she flashes her eye spot. She flashes it bright blue to tan over and over again rapidly. I was seeing if she would let me get close to her, and she grabbed a hold of my finger, and I pulled back. She inked twice, and the filter got it, but will this hurt her in any way? There are crabs probably the same size as her in the tank, and I was wondering if they would attack or kill her? Also, her tentacles are curled, but not up, they are curled sort of sideways when she is sitting on the sand bed. How long before she is active? Right now she is just sitting on the sand bed, breathing moderately hard. She will occasionally pick up a snail, hermit, or small crab and bury it in the sand. She's evil, lol! Here's a picture of her sitting on the sand reaching for a marble.

Cute, good luck.

Ok, the lights are off, and she's still just sitting on the bottom...she's not huddled in a corner or anything, just sitting there. She's even letting the crabs touch her with their legs when they walk past.

Give her time, the stress of travel, acclimitization and human hands can all cause her to stress out - leave the lights out and let her calm down - check on her in the morning, but leave her alone tonight.

Ok, will do. I checked on her right after posting the last comment, and she has receded into the rocks for the night. We'll see how she is in the AM then!

Yes, let her settle down and then explore her tank. No fingers for a while, until she gets to know you better. You want to build trust.

Blinky is a nice name. Welcome to Blinky and I'll add her to the List of our Octopuses.

Nancy

Ok, the past 2 days she has been hiding in a little cave in one of my rocks. She hasn't come out to eat, explore, anything. She also didn't eat the first day. That means no food for 3 days the poor little thing. How long can 4 1/2 month old baby bimacs go without food? There are small hermits, snails, and then shore crabs in there for her. I just wanna know when everyone thinks she'll eat. I'll go look for crab remains, and empty shells.

Brock, do you have a lot of amphipods in your tank? Your little Blinky could be eathing those

Nancy

Yes, but she hasn't come out of the same crevice for 3 days.

It's not uncommen for babies to hide. I remember one of my bimac babies in the past, stayed out of sight for almost 2 weeks. The more secure they feel in their environment, which means, observing only, not trying to find them, no threatening creatures in their tank, the more quickly they seem to become curious about the world outside their tank. He'll come around!

When it first arrives, a young bimac may choose to move about at night or even stay completely hidden while right in plain site (I say this from experience).

Nancy

Yah, most of mine come out at night. Also, I am sure he has gotten some food. Unless you are watching 24/7 he is walking around the tank when you aren't looking, or at least getting a crab. They are very sneaky! BTW they are funny when they touch u!

No, he hasn't eaten anything (unless he's eating some amphipods). I have 2 crabs in the tank, and 7 hermit crabs. All the hermits always hang out on a rock off of the main structure, because they hunt little things in it. Also, when she's resting, she is constantly showing a green sheen.

Green sheen? Is she hiding, or in a den or just sitting out in the open? What day is this since you got her?

Well, it's not really a den. it's more of a crevice. Yes, she's got a green shine to her most of the time. This is day 5.....:(

Ok, now she is in a little cave, with 3 openings. One big opening, and 2 tunnels that lead to the main area. PERFECT for an octo. Trash chutes, and a big entrance! Well, I dropped a hermit down a chute (and it rolled perfectly down in) and she grabbed it and ate it. I think this will be the beginnig of the bonding process, because she watched me drop it in, probably wondering what the heck I was doing with her meal, lol. I'm just happy that she's finally eating!

DHyslop,

Blinky didn't eat for nearly a week, so your's may be fine after all.

Good news, glad to hear it Brock.

Ok, since that last post, she has eaten 2 Oregon crabs (both about the same size as her) and another hermit. She's eating everything! I don't see how she can be this hungry...

Be glad she has an appetite!

Lol. She snatched the second Oregon crab today, but she shoved it out of her den untouched. I can understand, lol. She ate her own weight in food yesterday alone, lol.

She just killed another crab. She ate this one though.

Haha, I tried to feed her another raw shrimp tonight, and she started nibbling on it, but then she shoved it out of her den. It still had some bouyancy, and she didn't have a good grip on her rock, so she started floating around the tank with it, HAHA! It looked like an octo on a hot air balloon!!!

my vulgaris will only eat frozen shrimp. hes gotten to the point that hes too lazy to chase crabs around but when i open the freezer on the other side of the kitchen he goes nuts

my vulgaris will only eat frozen shrimp. hes gotten to the point that hes too lazy to chase crabs around but when i open the freezer on the other side of the kitchen he goes nuts

That's a well trained octopus!

I've only gotten Einy to eat 2 pieces of krill and I *think* he munched on a shrimp tail I put in his shell.. such a large portion, hard to tell if any meat was gone. He always reaches out to grab ahold of whatever I'm placing in front of his shell, but he usually blows it away if he decides it's of no use to him.

The fish and Seahorses come to the front/top of the tank when they see the baster in my hand.

I dropped a fiddler in an hour ago, and she flew out of her den and jumped on it. Sges feasting as I type. It was the coolest thing.

Brock,

My turn to fret. How many days before Blinky was obviously eating? I can't even find Trapper and I see no signs of his dining (lots of little blue legs and hermits in the tank but only three real dinner crabs). I keep checking my ammonia (and holding my breath) but I assume he is still OK since I continue to have a zero reading and have found nothing that suggest escape (like a dead octo under the couch).

Blinky didn't eat for nearly a week. Are the little blue legs ripped off of the bodies, or do you mean just little blue leg hermits?

Brock,

Just after I wrote, I found Trapper. He probably moved because I kept checking on him with my red flashlight ;>(.

He still has not eaten but at least I know he is mobile.

The blue legs I mentioned were the crabs, not their parts ;>). There is a virtual banquet in the tank but I am hoping he goes for the larger crabs and the blue legs can exist as clean-up (I also have a couple of serpent stars for help keeping the tank clean). I had asked what kind of bait was used in the crab traps in hopes of putting the same in the tank but I never got an answer.