Hello everyone I have been on tonmo researching and learning about octos for about a year now and yesterday the big day came and my little guy arrived.

He seems to be doing well last night he pretty much stayed to himself and then this morning when i woke up he was swimming around and checking out his new home.

Here come the questions:

Right now he is just in a cave with his tenticles curled by his head and it looks like he is sleeping is this normal?

Next do you think the lights on my tank might be too bright...do you do something to dim the lights?

and lastly i am going to need help identifing this little guy because the LFS sold him to me a common brown ill post a picture the minute he comes out of the cave.

thank you for your help,

GR

Ps his name is Octavian i thought it was pretty cool because of the octo in the beginning.

:welcome: It is perfectly normal for your new octo to sleep for a while. As far as lighting, I have always left my light on. Some people don't. Others use red bulbs as if it's a nocturnal, the lighting doesn't bother them.

One suggestion, if you try for a photo, don't use the flash. You want your new octopus not to be afraid of the camera. I try never to flash them.

Best of luck with him. And make sure you leave him alone to rest for a few. He will seek you out when he's ready.

Carol

oh great... that puts me to ease. Also i was wondering if im feeding ok. I have put a bit of a selection of live food in there for him but nothing yet. if this normal as he is getting accustome to the tank?

What kind of food did you put in for him? If you put in fish, he might be intimidated.

Hi and welcome to TONMO.com! :welcome:

And a big welcome to Octavian!

You don't need bright lights at all - a fluorescent will do. No metal halides or other really bright lights.

Is your octopus nocturnal or active during the day? You won't really know until he settles in.

I'll add him to the List of Our Octopuses at the top of the Journals and Photos forum.

Nancy

:welcome: to both of you!

Hello again all, I first wanted to say thank you for all the welcomes and that i appreciate everyone who has posted with some help.

At the moment in the tank with Octavian are two small damsels which i had in the tank for cycling and thought it would be alright to leave in the tank for a meal for Octavian when he gets a bit bigger. I have kept an eye on them and the damsels do not seem to bother the octo, physically, as far as i can tell. Is that ok?

Along with the damsels are a couple hermit crabs and snails. I through in a couple ghost shrimp as well but they were freshwater so i think they just died but i plan on pulling what i can see out to see if is the whole shrimp or just the carcass.

Any other suggestions or insight would be greatfully appreciated.

Thanks again
GR

Welcome!

Damsels are bad news most of the time. They can be very territorial and aggressive little fish. I lost 2 Twinspot Goby's to a pair of Damsel's that had already been settled in the tank and claimed their territories. I would suggest removing them with a fish trap just to be safe. They could turn out to not be a problem, but it's just not worth the risk. I've also read that someone who was keeping Damsels with an octopus observed that the Damsels are actually too quick for their octopus to catch.

And we've had previous problems with damsels going after the octopus's eyes and causing him to stay in the den and not come out.

Nancy

i want an octopus so bad im still trying to get one for my 55 gallon tank