banded octopus vs Caribbean two spot

[DWhatley]

In these pictures he looks much less like Espy and more like aculeatus. Espy's arms were much shorter.

You might try offering about half that much food. It does seem that size makes a difference, especially when they are learning to take dead food, hand delivered. Mantle length is pretty much the max but we have found about half that size is the best starting place. We also notice ours eating the very small pieces and Cyclop-eeze (frozen, not dried) we feed the urchins, polyps and serpent stars.

Stealing the feeding stick is a game they all seem to play. Usually captured items lose their interest after an hour or so but occasionally items remain in their dens for days.

 

[natalie1404]

i did take the prawn back out and half it then he took it so if its a aculeatus is it only a baby i cant believe how strong he is makes it very dawnting to put fingers in to play but wouldnt atempt to yet any way hasnt been in there no where near long enought might leave that till hes been in there over 4 weeks and his charector comes through abit better is espy playful

 

[DWhatley]

No, Espy was not at all interactive and after the first two weeks was almost never seen (see her short journal linked by her name in #36 above). I was never sure of the species (pretty sure she was a member of the Abdopus complex though), hence the name, Espy = sp (Wikipedia

Books and articles sometimes intentionally do not identify species fully and use the abbreviation "sp." in the singular or "spp." in the plural in place of the specific epithet: for example, Canis sp. This commonly occurs in the following types of situations:

• The authors are confident that some individuals belong to a particular genus but are not sure to which exact species they belong. ...

You might want to trade your feeding stick in for a bamboo skewer (easily found by the 100 pack here in the grocery but not sure about availability in the UK) or a nylon feeding stick as it appears the one you are using is being impacted by the ever corrosive saltwater.

 

[natalie1404]

the more the days go on the more he is coming out his confidence has grown alot today hes been playing on the lego and swimming up and down the tank in daylight and with white light on in tank so im thinking hes diurnal

 

[natalie1404]

omg i am so honered and excited at the prospect of my little man wanting to know me i went to feed my baby which now has a name i have settled on ruffles as he looks all ruffled up and he stretched 2 tenticles up the feeding stick and was investigating my fingers for quite awhile before deciding he wanted to play tug of war with the feeding stick lol and he is now still out which is unusual he usually gets his food and then i dont see him till next day he usually stops still when we walk in the room but i think he is getting used to us as he isnt so much now so much progress in so little time hes only been with me 2 weeks i am so pleased am i able to still have this whole topic tranfered over to be a journal so i get to look back at me meeting and getting to know him now he has a name he still comes out most the day and i have a new born baby so get up quite alot in the night and know he is not nocternal so does this mean he is a aculeatus i think thats the right word lol thanks

 

[DWhatley]

It sounds like Ruffles is becoming quickly accustomed to aquarium life but keep in mind that it will take at least a month for typical behavior to be recognized (and then it may change as she ages).

So far, I am inclined to believe Ruffles is female. Keep an eye on the third arm (octopuses have arms, not legs or tentacles ) to the right as you orient your eyes the same as the octopus'. If ruffles is male, you will see this arm curled closer to the body when the other seven are fully spread. Roy posted an excellent (as usual) photo and description of the arm and how to identify is in this post (there are 3 pages of pictures and discussion in the thread that are worth a look but the highlighted link is specific to aculeatus).

 

[natalie1404]

my baby playing

 

[DWhatley]

I do wish you had not put fish in with Ruffels. Watch the damsel closely as they often become territorial and start picking on the octopus. The beautiful firefish will likely not make it in the tank long. We try very hard to explain that cephs need a species only tank environment. specifically to avoid fish. One of our (now) staff learned and acknowledged the reasons by recording his experience in his article, Tankmates, It works until it doesn't.

 

[natalie1404]

i will try catch them is there anything else i can put in with her other than star fish ?

 

[natalie1404]

Is it just females that put stones in the entrance of there den or places they like to go

 

[haggs]

I don't think so, Hector likes to take objects into his den to "hide" behind and I have seen both female and males do it in rock pools. So I'm guessing it's a natural habit for protection.