Agent Update! :)

Joined
Jul 31, 2003
Messages
1,312
I dont think its as long as last time. The the length of each days update keeps getting shorter. :frown: Anyway (From 3-27 to 4-29):



4-29-04 Thursday - When I saw him in the afternoon he was out of the den and so I got a shrimp and lured him with it. His first pounce missed but with the second he achieved capture. He went into his den and I got a toy and wiggled it near him so he reached out and took it. :cool2:

4-28-04 Wednesday - I gave him a snail but he didn’t rush out and get it, I guess he’s full from his last big meal. I still feel sorta sorry for the turbo snail. :frown:

4-27-04 Tuesday - He didn't do much today, just sucked on the snail.

4-26-04 Monday - This morning I saw his pounce on one of the Turbo Snails. All through the day he has been eating it. I gave him a shrimp but he didn’t stop eating the snail. This day was alittle sad because those snails had been in the tank nearly since I got it. :?

4-25-04 Sunday - I didn’t have time to see/feed him today. :'(

4-24-04 Saturday - Well, my friend came over again. He was amazed at my octo and when The Agent ambushed a shrimp he was very excited! 8)

4-23-04 Friday - Today wasn’t exciting but he did he eat a few shrimp. :smile: Also, he moved back to the den in the middle of the tank. :biggrin2:

4-22-04 Thursday - My friend came over today but didn’t get a chance to check him out. :frown:

Later, I gave him a ghost shrimp. The first one was an easy kill. The second, however, was not. It fell stunned within an arms reach and he lashed out at it. He had it cornered in the glass then suddenly flashed out of his cave and onto the ghost shrimp, but, it just narrowly escaped! He rushed the shrimp and jumped on top, scoring a meal. 8)

I gave him another but he caught it with ease.

He’s an awesome lil octo. :biggrin2:

4-21-04 Wednesday - Today he was in a different den, one I hope he doesn’t stay in. It's kinda hard to see him :frown:. I gave him another ghost shrimp today but I don’t think he got it.

I also finally got that distilled water which made the SG perfect. :biggrin2:

4-20-04 Tuesday - I got some ghost shrimp for him! It was really cool! I got 20 and put them in my 10 gallon freshwater tank. While it’s possible they might be a salt or estuary species, I didn’t feel putting 20 easily unseen things (there is a reason their name is ghost shrimp) in a tank with many holes for them to hide, and maybe die in. :frown:

When I put the first one in I wasn’t sure whether The Agent would know what it was and what to do with it. I was wrong. It came out of the cup dazed, and swam right by 8). He looked at it for a second, then shot out two arms to grab this food that moves. It flopped away with a quick dash of speed. He looked out of his den, saw a way to catch him, and launched out toward the small crustacean. He jumped onto it and his webbing trapped the ghost shrimp. He grabbed it and held it, savoring the flavor I guess. Next he went back to his den. He did this several times and caught each shrimp in about 5 minutes. I took alot of pictures too, which you can look at here: http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=27115&highlight=#27115


4-19-04 Monday - Today I took the tests which I was supposed to take after I did the water changes. Here are the results:

Ammonia: 0 PPM
Nitrite: 0 PPM
Nitrate: 5 PPM
Salinity (Specific Gravity): 1.028

Nearly perfect! The SG was a little bit high though so I added the last of my freshwater (only about 2.5 gallons). That put it to 1.027. That’s ok, but I'll probably get some distilled water to make it better in a couple of days :smile:

4-18-04 Sunday - This morning I didn’t do much. At night though, I needed to change the water. I also had gotten some things at my Local Fish Store(LFS). I had gotten more filter floss, more carbon, and some carbon bags(which I ended up not using). When I was working on the tank, I saw that the blue Rubbermaid, which is housing the Bio-Tower, was collapsing under its own weight. I got a piece of wood and slid it under the blue Rubbermaid, (but not before I changed the filter floss) which fixed it. :biggrin2:
And now comes the cool part. . . After I had turned the eletricity back on, The Agent began exploring the tank. First, he wandered around toward his old den. He went in the den, but came back out quickly. Then he went to the back of the tank and I didn’t see him much. When I finally did catch a glimpse of him he was near his new den but higher up. He had one eye stretched up to see over a rock. It was 8). After I while, when I was gone, he went back to his den.

Next, I got everything running again smoothly. Then I got the water in my 30 gallon trashcan to be good. After that, I took out 10 gallons from my tank and replaced it. When I turned on the pumps again the water got cloudy because of the stirred up sand. I hope everything is ok. :-/

4-16-04-4-17-04 Friday-Saturday - I didn’t get a chance to go see him. But be prepared, tomorrow will be full of stuff.

4-15-04 Thursday - Today I saw him alot. I took some tests too:

Ammonia: 0.25 PPM
Nitrite: 0.25 PPM
Nitrate: 60 PPM
pH: 8.2
Salinity (Specific Gravity): 1.026

Ammo' and 'trites are high again ((Both should be zero :\). I couldn't do the water changes right then but tomorrow I surely will. :wink:

Also, I changed the carbon; it had been used since the beginning of the tank i.e. 3 1/2 months. Hopefully that will help some too. :smile:

Oh, I also moved his bottle so he could see inside and put some more snails and clams in it. I wonder if he'll go inside. :?:



4-14-04 Wednesday - Sadly, I didn’t get a chance to see him at all today. :cry:

4-13-04 Tuesday - I didn’t see him much today either. At night he was spiked and I gave him 2 snails, but he didn’t rush out to eat them.

4-12-04 Monday - Today I only had a chance to see him once. :'( He was at his usual out-of-den spot; a place near his old den. He bobbed his head at me and I bobbed back.

4-11-04 Sunday - Well, today was Easter, so, I didn't have much time to watch him. I did give him a snail which he eagerly took. He’s built a fortress around his den out of snail shells now! LOL!

4-10-04 Saturday - Today I made a few additions and alterations. I put some aluminum foil with holes in it under the light so The Agent would feel more comfortable(Octos don’t like bright light). And he did too. He came out of he den and wandered around. 8) I also added a clear bottle and snails inside for him to play with. Tomorrow, I'll see what he did with it, if anything.

4-09-04 Friday - I dropped a snail in for him and he pulled it up to his den. 8) At night he was nearly symmetrical and was mimicking the badger look. 8) I really love his new den too! It makes him so much easier to view.

4-08-04 Thursday - He mostly stayed in his den today but at night he blew some sand around.

4-07-04 Wednesday - This morning he was in the middle of the tank with an arm stuck a piece of rock. Later, he moved a Finding Nemo toy in front of a hole in the very same rock. I think The Agent has a new den! 8) He also was moving around under the rock, traveling by holes. He blew out quite alot of sand clearing them. I think he will feel much more secure now because He can travel the tank unseen. 8)


4-06-04 Tuesday - I saw him alot today. He just stayed in his den but most of his body was out. He didn’t really do much but I did see him eat a hermit crab. 8)

4-02-04 to 4-05-04 - Friday to Monday - Dear people that read this, I’m really sorry, I haven’t been updating this journal for awhile. I haven’t done alot of stuff, although I did get him some Finding Nemo toys. Ill start back in here tomorrow, you can bet on it :wink:.

4-01-04 Thursday - I didn’t get a chance to see him. :frown: I was busy pulling pranks on my buds. :heee: And BTW I may to show him off to some of my friends next week. :biggrin2:

3-31-04 Wednesday - I saw him in the morning; stuck to a piece of liverock. Didn’t move much 'cept for the twitch when he shifted his weight.

Later, I didn’t interact much with him; he ate the snail as soon as I started tempting him with it. I'll play with him tomorrow.

3-30-04 Tuesday - I had alot of interaction with him today! It started out pretty uneventful, he was nowhere to be seen in the morning. :frown:
After I had gotten home I gave him a snail which he pulled up to his den. I pulled it back with two fingers to see if he'd grab me again. After a few minutes of enticing him (I shook the snail to get his attention), he grabbed my finger and I let him pull it next to his den. 8) I wasn’t ready for a bite attempt yet though (maybe tomorrow) so I pulled my hand away and began shaking the snail again. He grabbed my finger a few more times then took the snail and sat on it. I got the little orange ball again and shot it a few times but he didn’t do anything. I moved to go up the stairs when for some reason, he came out. I got some pictures, which can be viewed in this TONMO.com thread. It was really exciting that The Agent decided to come out! Have fun looking at the pix! :biggrin2:

3-29-04 Monday - Didn’t spend much time with him today; was busy. :frown: I'll be sure to have a great update tomorrow though.

3-28-04 Sunday - Well, when I went down to do the water tests, I noticed a huge puddle. It took a while to clean up but it definitely came from the tank; I wrung out a towel into the hydrometer and it was too high of a salinity to not have been from the tank. After I had gotten that cleared away I did the tests:

Ammonia: 0.25 PPM
Nitrite: 0.25 PPM
Nitrate: 20 PPM
pH: 8.2
Salinity (Specific Gravity): 1.028

WOAH! Ammo and Trite spike! Those should both be zero. The salinity was a little high too. I did a 15 gallon water change and checked again:

Ammonia: 0 PPM
Nitrite: 0 PPM
Salinity (Specific Gravity): 1.025.5

MUCH better! I decided to try to get him to handfeed so I pulled a snail off the glass and tempted him by waving it near his den. Eventually he stuck out 2 arms and grabbed my finger, pulling it closer to his den. It freaked me out so I pulled my finger back, but next time I see if we can play tug-o-war. 8) Next, I got the orange mini ping-pong ball and started hitting it around. At first he reached around for it but then he stopped; I guess he got bored. Ill try again tomorrow. :smile:

3-27-04 Saturday - Today was the day to do the water tests and see if the snails were alive. He really looks bigger. :biggrin2:

First thing to do was check which snails were alive. I was going to take each snail and hold it above a piece of rock and if it reached out and grabbed the rock, it wasn’t dead. This was a big job since snails aren't known to move quickly. Most snails were alive which is good. Only 2 were dead for sure and a few were without trapdoors so I pulled then out too. I also took out the manila clams because they stunk. I didn't get a chance to do the water tests, but, I will tomorrow for sure.
 
Interesting Journal - I think this will help new octo owners get a feel for keeping an octopus plus give you a good record of The Agent growin up!

Thanks for letting us read it.

Nancy
 
Fascinating BOE ! I agree with Nancy...very informative ! More, more!
greg
 

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