Poe Poe - O. hummelincki

**Lmecher** · Jan 04, '11, 12:26pm

My octopus from Saltwaterfish.com arrived at 9:20 this morning.

It looked terrific. I began acclimating as usual. Immediately this little one wanted out. I had a heck of a time keeping it from crawling out. It sat with it's eyes out of the water looking at me. An hour into it, it must have gotten startled and inked. It was an OMG moment. The water in the was so fouled I knew it would definately suffocate if I didn't get it out fast. I dumped all the water and released it. It was not until I saw it in the tank that I noticed it's false eyespots. It walked on the glass then retreated into the rockwork. I am hoping it will be alright, darn it, it seemed so promising. I am keeping my

about all I can do at this point. I will upload my photos and videos now...to be continued

**SabrinaR** · Jan 04, '11, 12:39pm

I hope everything is ok. And yay! You got the hummelincki you wanted

It doesnt sound like it was all that bad. I had the same problem convincing Sedona that she liked the water and should stay put

**Lmecher** · Jan 04, '11, 12:43pm

Thanks, she (leaning towards female) is hiding so time will tell.

**Lmecher** · Jan 04, '11, 1:18pm

Here are some photos...

first photo~

open bag~

acclimating~
see what I had to deal with

acclimation video~

more to come

**CaptFish** · Jan 04, '11, 2:44pm

Cool!!!

I had one ink really badly in the bucket while acclimating, I think it was Waldo.

I see you have an airstone in the acclimation bucket. Thales recently advised us not to do that because it causes the pH to spike a lot.

**SabrinaR** · Jan 04, '11, 2:56pm

Either thats one big airstone or thats one tiny octopus... I am sooo

right now I cant stand it.... Please cant some body tell me its ok to keep one of these guys in a 40 gallon reef

**Lmecher** · Jan 04, '11, 3:49pm

Originally Posted by CaptFish

Cool!!!

I had one ink really badly in the bucket while acclimating, I think it was Waldo.

I see you have an airstone in the acclimation bucket. Thales recently advised us not to do that because it causes the pH to spike a lot.

No Dave, no one passed that on to me. Hmm...well whats done is done.

Sabrina, not really sure on required tank size but they are a smaller species with good husbandry maybe, not sure if they require more room to move about than a 40 could provide. How was that for a non-answer answer? I'd defiantly try one in my 50 which is not much larger.

Airstone is 1" long.
octopus ml is appx 1"- 1 1/4"
arm length is appx 4"-5" a couple are shorter from previous damage? One freshly severed at webbing, no new growth.

**skywindsurfer** · Jan 04, '11, 4:07pm

Originally Posted by sk252006

Either thats one big airstone or thats one tiny octopus... I am sooo

right now I cant stand it.... Please cant some body tell me its ok to keep one of these guys in a 40 gallon reef

It all depends on the dimensions of the aquarium. If it was a 40 long or "breeder" than I think it might be do'able. My O. Hummelincki is pretty much full grown with an arm length of 9" - 11" give or take (these are rough measurements) and a mantle lenght of 3". She can span arm tip to arm tip roughly 24" and does A LOT of crawling around during the day. She is currently in a 55 gallon(roughly 48" long x 12" deep x 19" tall with about a 4" - 6" sand bed depending on where you measure it in the tank) and seems to be doing ok. I wish I could still keep her in my 250 gallon aquarium(96" long x 24" deep x 25" tall) but we have to down size at the moment.

**SabrinaR** · Jan 04, '11, 6:22pm

Originally Posted by Lmecher

No Dave, no one passed that on to me. Hmm...well whats done is done.

Sabrina, not really sure on required tank size but they are a smaller species with good husbandry maybe, not sure if they require more room to move about than a 40 could provide. How was that for a non-answer answer? I'd defiantly try one in my 50 which is not much larger.

Airstone is 1" long.
octopus ml is appx 1"- 1 1/4"
arm length is appx 4"-5" a couple are shorter from previous damage? One freshly severed at webbing, no new growth.

So yay nice and small! And it was the best non answer one could hope for lol.

Originally Posted by skywindsurfer

It all depends on the dimensions of the aquarium. If it was a 40 long or "breeder" than I think it might be do'able. My O. Hummelincki is pretty much full grown with an arm length of 9" - 11" give or take (these are rough measurements) and a mantle lenght of 3". She can span arm tip to arm tip roughly 24" and does A LOT of crawling around during the day. She is currently in a 55 gallon(roughly 48" long x 12" deep x 19" tall with about a 4" - 6" sand bed depending on where you measure it in the tank) and seems to be doing ok. I wish I could still keep her in my 250 gallon aquarium(96" long x 24" deep x 25" tall) but we have to down size at the moment.

I cant say its a breeder or long tank... wish I could...its a corner bowfront tank so thats a no... It would have almost no room to move around except in a circle (not good for mental health) but I wish... Oh how I wish. I would have to get another dwarf or a few dwarfs in order to keep an octopus right now... not to mention I have the cuttles to think about.

**DWhatley** · Jan 04, '11, 8:50pm

What is the diameter of the bow you used to put him in the tank?

**Lmecher** · Jan 05, '11, 1:39am

Originally Posted by dwhatley

What is the diameter of the bow you used to put him in the tank?

I don't understand what you mean "bow" what is that?

edit... went back, looked at photos, it does look like a bowl, was it a typo? It was a plastic bag not a bowl.

**DWhatley** · Jan 05, '11, 1:42am

bowl

or was that a different octopus?

**Lmecher** · Jan 05, '11, 1:45am

I just got home, had to make a trip to WS to pick up a tractor. While I was gone (killed me to leave) my son saw the little one out. He tried to take a video, didn't know how to use my camera. He took a photo, I will post it but I think it may qualify for the find the octopus thread, I was not able to find it on the 2" screen.

**Lmecher** · Jan 05, '11, 1:48am

Originally Posted by dwhatley

bowl

or was that a different octopus?

No, photo 2 (is that the photo in question?) it's in the shipping bag in my kitchen sink, it does look bowlish.

OMG LOOK AT MY POST COUNT!! 999

**DWhatley** · Jan 05, '11, 1:50am

No, I followed the video to the photobucket website and the next video was of an octo being released via a bowl. It looked smaller than this guy but size is really hard to tell in pictures without reference. However, NOW when I click on the video and go next, I see an obvious hummelincki about the size I expected

**Lmecher** · Jan 05, '11, 1:56am

Oh, I feel stupid

That is the release video, it was down loading so slow I forgot about it. I was rushed earlier. Mark helped, this was just after dumping the ink-water, early release was our only option. This also is not a bowl, plastic bag.
Here it is

**DWhatley** · Jan 05, '11, 2:03am

I think it was el Diablo's release that I saw but now there are still shots when I hit next so I must have looked before everything was loaded. In any case what is you best guess on mantle size?

**Lmecher** · Jan 05, '11, 2:08am

post #7 I compared it to the airstone. 1"-1 1/4". Unfortunately I am leaning towards female but I've been wrong before.

I knew it was O. hummelincki moments after release.

**DWhatley** · Jan 05, '11, 2:27am

I had to laugh when I read that you failed to notice the eyespots (or look for them considering the crisis mode) but once she was released, it was kind of an, "oh, yeah, there they are" comment. She is smaller than I thought. Arm length is pretty useless with this species (mantle size too as far as age goes) as they rarely come in without regeneration in progress or obvious signs that the arms have been severed in the past.

Monty's arms are very hummelincki like in their odd taper and even as a tiny tike, he had already lost parts of them. Now, he is very interesting to watch as he will put them into every little hole in the LR searching for tidbits and I think this is typical of the arm shape (somewhere I have a post on either OhToo or Octane doing the same thing). I realy want to get a video of the unusual way he will pick up scraps with the tips and put them directly into his mouth though as I have never noticed others doing this.

That first gray color is unusual. I don't think I have seen it before. It is not the dieing octo gray (lack of color) but actually gray coloring and I suspect it is because of the gray rack below. Do you have purples in the tank (coraline algae)? They have a great deep purple color they can display. Be sure to keep a camera ready because they can display a wide range of colors. Unfortuantely, once they are fully acclimated and comfortable, you don't often see much more than a boring brown.

**corw314** · Jan 05, '11, 5:36am

to your new little octopus! He looks good! I have seen the same coloring in Kringle. I am still in crisis mode! Well trying to be more relaxed as he ate a snail. Do we have a name yet?