Day 1
Hello,
A little background info about me. I'm a lifetime hobbyist (first freshwater aquarium received as a birthday gift when I was 10, and except for a few short months during my "dark periods" lol! I have had one ever since). I graduated to saltwater in my early 20s, and have had as many as 7 going at one time ( I do not reccomend!) I am now 40, and I currently am down to only one tank (technically) at this writing (90G Bowfront Reef with Fish). I have wanted an octopus for at least the last 10 years,. but due to living inland, and other factors, I was unable to make the plunge. That all changed on Saturday. This is my first octopus. I believe she (for now) is a Briareus. I am fortunate enough to have first hand knowledge of her origins (the middle Florida Keys) where she was collected by a commercial diver/wholesaler. According to him she made her way up his well pump and through several feet of plumbing where she was able to find his cache of live snails (lunch!). When I found her, she was sitting in an open top tank staring out at me from atop her perch on a piece of PVC pipe. Of course, I knew I had to have her.
So, with no foreknowledge of her species, age or anything else, I took her home with me (15 hour drive bagged in a styrofoam cooler with a half frozen bottle of water keeping her metabolism down for the trip) along with a few other species that I procured from the same location. Not too shabby for $20 and gas money home (I must admit, I was heading that way anyway, so I can hardly count the latter as a cost of acquisition).
But I haven't named her yet, she has only been in her species tank for about 12 hours. It's a 46g bowfront half filled (safety precaution) and taped shut with a Fluval 350 running in it. It's the biggest tank and best filter I had at the time that wasn't in use.
The tank is pretty bare right now. I put about 17 gallons in it from my reef tank, and gave her a big fake rock to hide in as well as a few live rock from my host tank. I gave her a Nassarius snail, a hermit crab, and an emerald crab to eat. She devoured the emerald crab within minutes of introducing it to the tank (remains seen in the foreground of the second picture).
I also have a video I will upload as soon as You tube Mobile stops acting up on my home network.
As I said, I believe she is a Briareus due to her mottling, green coloring and underlying iridescence, but I am open to suggestion. Her mantle is about the size of a quarter right now and she has a full armspan of almost a foot when fully stretched out.
Thanks for reading about my new little Briareus.
Hello,
A little background info about me. I'm a lifetime hobbyist (first freshwater aquarium received as a birthday gift when I was 10, and except for a few short months during my "dark periods" lol! I have had one ever since). I graduated to saltwater in my early 20s, and have had as many as 7 going at one time ( I do not reccomend!) I am now 40, and I currently am down to only one tank (technically) at this writing (90G Bowfront Reef with Fish). I have wanted an octopus for at least the last 10 years,. but due to living inland, and other factors, I was unable to make the plunge. That all changed on Saturday. This is my first octopus. I believe she (for now) is a Briareus. I am fortunate enough to have first hand knowledge of her origins (the middle Florida Keys) where she was collected by a commercial diver/wholesaler. According to him she made her way up his well pump and through several feet of plumbing where she was able to find his cache of live snails (lunch!). When I found her, she was sitting in an open top tank staring out at me from atop her perch on a piece of PVC pipe. Of course, I knew I had to have her.
So, with no foreknowledge of her species, age or anything else, I took her home with me (15 hour drive bagged in a styrofoam cooler with a half frozen bottle of water keeping her metabolism down for the trip) along with a few other species that I procured from the same location. Not too shabby for $20 and gas money home (I must admit, I was heading that way anyway, so I can hardly count the latter as a cost of acquisition).
But I haven't named her yet, she has only been in her species tank for about 12 hours. It's a 46g bowfront half filled (safety precaution) and taped shut with a Fluval 350 running in it. It's the biggest tank and best filter I had at the time that wasn't in use.
The tank is pretty bare right now. I put about 17 gallons in it from my reef tank, and gave her a big fake rock to hide in as well as a few live rock from my host tank. I gave her a Nassarius snail, a hermit crab, and an emerald crab to eat. She devoured the emerald crab within minutes of introducing it to the tank (remains seen in the foreground of the second picture).
I also have a video I will upload as soon as You tube Mobile stops acting up on my home network.
As I said, I believe she is a Briareus due to her mottling, green coloring and underlying iridescence, but I am open to suggestion. Her mantle is about the size of a quarter right now and she has a full armspan of almost a foot when fully stretched out.
Thanks for reading about my new little Briareus.