• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

banded octopus vs Caribbean two spot

Also, cautionary notes on handling. Octopuses are shy and not all of them are receptive to interacting, especially to touching. Some will be out front the minute you approach the tank where others will only show up when they are hungry. Very young animals (under an estimated 5 months) will almost never be seen and you have to locate their den and encourage them to eat (especially if dinner is not alive).

Always let the animal approach you, not the other way around (you can encourage by scratching on the tank or moving your fingers but don't chase). First encounters will be sampling your fingers as food items and I separate play time from feeding time. Neal prefers to play after they have a beak full of food but we have seen them shift food away from their beaks :biggrin2:. Initially, it is usually a touch and go type contact. When they get bolder, they will latch on and try to pull you fingers to their mouth. Don't panic, gentle resistance will usually stop the initial undesired behavior but as they become more bold, you may need to stroke the back of the arms or gently (easier said than done) remove the arms using your other hand. Don't offer your hand near the live rock. This gives them a surface to grab and their strength is unexpectedly strong when they have good purchase on the substrate. It is much more difficult to disentangle yourself and your rock work will take a beating (with some animals, resetting live rock becomes a monthly routine). Some, like Monty and most hummelincki as well as the small nocturnal Macropus become gentle very quickly and like to have their mantle rubbed (or will squeeze through your fingers/hand). I think this is more like scratching an itch than enjoyment of human attention but is definitely fun for the human. Others never stop being aggressive. Little Bit (O. vulgaris) really seemed to enjoy play, always came to the front of the tank and suggested she wanted attention but was never gentle and some really seem to shun their human keepers. Each one is a unique experience.

One other thing I should always mention to new keepers that sometimes is not understood. The warm water animals only live for between 10 (dwarfs) and 18 (vulgaris) months with 12 months being the expected life span. Virtually all warm water species and most cold water animals (generally with slightly longer lifespans) are wild caught so the age is unknown and very few are less than 5 months old (likely because of the above mentioned seclusion).

Finally, I have observed that the behavior you witness for the first two weeks will not be the behavior that follows. Often an animal seems very interactive and outgoing while it is acclimating to tank life. Once it is truly acclimated (roughly 1 month) new behavior patterns appear and you will have to work with the animal regularly to have the most enjoyment of its company.

Be sure to see my notes on a few correction I suggested to your tank in the comments section, the grill for the sump/equipment area is a major concern.
 
natalie1404 said:
My babys new home so far :smile:
Can you add a Koralia or other water movement device (protect the intake, I use a media bag) at the far end and put the bubbler in the "sump/equipment" area? Roy has seen a few cases where bubblers will put bubbles up into the mantle and can cause death. If you can't move the aerator, place it up close to the top of the tank. You may not need the extra water movement of the Koralia but I suspect you will need to push from the far end, especially with the nice LR denning area in that position.

You will also have a definite problem with the grill that lets water into the sump/equipment area. I would suggest placing a very course sponge behind it so there is no place to explore but the water will still enter. The opening are big enough for most animals to slide through (keep in mind they can get through anything as big as their eyes (actually the beak is the restriction but the sizing is about the same). IME, hummelincki are less likely to squeeze through small openings but this is still a serious concern.
 
thanks for advice bubbler is out will put some sponge behind the grill the holes arnt as big as they appear inside the upward parts you can see are also grills that are only spaced 1mm apart but will put some sponge behind aswell to be on the safe side thankyou for your input it is greatly appreciated i also will take on bord everthing you have said about interacting i know they can be shy i was going to let him come to me anyway i dont want to push myself on him as thats his space :smile: :smile: sorry cant insert image like you seem to be doing am on a tablet thankyou for opening them :smile:
 

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Lol, It looks like you figured out the insert. I have an instructional post but need to update it before sending you there.

I did not see the grills on the black panel. You will likely be able to remove the sponge but compare the opening to the eyes AND be sure that poking arms cannot reach the intake for the pump.

It looks like you are ready for tomorrow.
 
i will defo watch little moster to make sure he cant get his arms through to pump but the pump intake has its own cover/basket on it anyway as it was in a tank with anemones in it very excited i got a red brittle star today they had to give me the small pipe it was in as they didnt want to distress it to much getting it out :smile:
 
Tell me how you like the brittle after you observe it for awhile. All of ours are named Pesky. It is rare for us to name a starfish so it shows their elevated status in the tank kingdom. If you enjoy hand feeding, they are pretty easy to train to hand feed and love any kind of meaty food. Getting it out of the pipe should be easy (I just performed the act during water changes this weekend). Hold the pipe tilted toward the water if the arms are dangling let them touch the surface and then gently touch the other side of the pipe. Your Pesky should quickly evacuate.
 
my pesky was out and about this morning come out himself in the night wow hes beautiful havnt put the light on yet left the blues on dont want to scare him let him explore abit longer :smile: lol i just realized the time differance im 7 hrs infront of you :smile:
 
Humm, that puts you at Greenwich +2 (or +3 because of our daylight savings time) from my own time zone (eastern United States) which could be a lot of places with coast line. Further hints would be helpful :wink:. EDIT: I forgot our new software does not display location on posts but will show it on profile if entered by the member. I am hoping we can have this back once things settle down a bit. The one place I have visited in northern UK is Saltburn-by- the- Sea (home of maternal Great Grandmother) so I Googled it to see it was 2 hrs or so north of you, not swimming temperatured water :biggrin2:

Night blue light may be undesirable for octopus viewing but the jury is still out on this one. Red night light has been shown to be quite effective (except for photography) and does not seem to effect the nocturnals negatively and allows the diurnal and crepuscular (early AM/ early PM) foragers human viability without impact. Theoretically, but not observed conclusively, the blue may act like bright white to marine animals (based upon wavelength). If you end up with a diurnal animal (excuse the skepticism but it is rare for a supplier to know what comes through the door) be sure there is complete darkness near its den at night. I use red lights over half the tank and have found that often the young animals choose the red lit side to den where the adults often choose the dark side. You might try not using the blue for the first month to allow the animal to adjust to its environment (or switch to a red).

Onn (crepuscular) has moved back and forth through his life time and at 8 months in the tank (guessing 10 months old) now dens under the red light (placed forward of the rock). I just added a night light to Margay's tank (bulb died on the fixture and I just now replaced it). She is primarily diurnal, waking around 3:00 PM but also shows crepuscular activity on a regular basis. I placed the light away from her normal denning area since it is an addition and she is active in both the dark and lighted side when out after dark.
 
defo not swimming teperature lol, im in grimsby (north east lincolnshire) i will switch over to reds then i would rather be sure its not in the wrong lighting and do as you say red light only half to give him a choice between red and dark , i went to see the guy where i am getting him from he is going to collect him personally on tuesday to make sure he is eating ok and everything before moving him then i am going to collect him when he gets back this end to cause less distress for the octopus of aclimating him twice (at the shop then again me bringing him home ) i also got a load of hermit crabs and turbo snails today, very very excited :smile: any tips on making my little fellas acclimation as comfertable/smooth as it can be , i think i am going to call my little guy jacob will see if it suit him when he gets here lol thank you very much for all your help and guidence it is greatly appreciated :smile:



 

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We may be half a world apart but your "Pesky" looks just like mine :biggrin2:

Before you begin your acclimation, set up your camera, acclimation chamber and testing supplies. I like to do this in my kitchen sink and use the counter space with my acclimation water bucket (tank water), turkey baster, salinity checker, test strips on one side and my camera on a tripod on the other with the actual acclimation bucket in the sink. If you set all this up before you leave to pick up the animal, it makes life easier.

Acclimation should be slow (see note about inking below). I am not a fan of drip acclimating and usually use a turkey baster every 10 min to start and about every 5 near the end. I don't start removing water until I have half again the volume I start with but will initially dump some of the water if it is more than twice the height of the octopus (container should be large enough for it to spread out completely without touching the sides). As with other marine animals, matching salt, temp and ph are the goals. If the bag temp is significantly different from your tank, you might place an inch or two of tank water in an outer container and then place the acclimation container in the water (similar to floating a bag in the tank but less stressful for a long acclimation). You can add and subtract water from the outer container to keep the temp close to the tank temperatures if ambient is considerably different. Watch for signs of stress (rapid breathing, pale gray coloration, cork screw arms) and slow down your water changes if you even suspect you see stress.

Transferring to the tank is a stress point and I like to use a critter keeper for this process. I have a video showing how and why NOT to use a bag from an attempt with an animal that was particularly difficult ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3Ov9...pJtwOCIqVb5-Sr ). Notice the arms at the beginning of the video, the cork screw look is a stress sign. This little guy did not survive. My preferred way is to get them out of the bag immediately and into a critter keeper or some other hard container with drain holes and place the critter keeper in a bucket with the bag water (preferably without the bag). You can place a shell in the container and hope it takes to the shell as a hiding place (easiest). If the octopus goes in to the shell then you can simply pickup the shell and place it on the substrate. If not, a container with holes will drain most of the acclimation water as you gently raise it from the acclimation container and place the whole thing into the tank. Let the octopus leave on its own.Sometimes this will be immediate, sometimes not until the tank is dark.

DO NOT leave the bucket unattended. More than one animal has escaped during acclimation when the keeper left for just a few minutes (take a bathroom break before starting :wink:).

Photograph your process with both stills and a few video clips. This gives you something to do, a record of how the animal changes over the acclimation process, documentation on how much it grows in your aquarium and a few posts for your journal as you will not likely have many photographing opportunities for at least a couple of weeks.

I like to attempt to feed an animal IF it seems to be unstressed at the end of my water match. I don't focus on them eating but make an offering of a small crab or piece of shrimp touched to the suckers. Often food is rejected but I make the attempt because they often do not eat for the first day or two when introduced to the tank (this may be more important for my piece of mind than for real concerns about nutrition).

The one time acclimation should not be a roughly 3 hour process is when there is ink in the bag. Ink will coat the gills and suffocate the animal and needs to be mitigated quickly. The best option is to rapidly alter a bucket of tank water to be as close as possible to the water in the bag. If the bag water is lower in salinity, you can add RO water to approximate (I keep a bucket of super saturated saltwater for upward adjustments but shipping water is almost never saltier than my tank). If the PH is significantly lower (usually the case), there is not a lot you can do but adding a little fresh, non-buffered RO will help a little, just don't lower the salinity too much. If the water in the bag is cooler than you tank water (usually the case), use the method mentioned with an outer bucket of cooler water (tap is fine, you are not going to expose the animal to it, just the container). DO NOT take a lot of time with matching parameters as the longer it is in its ink, the less chance it will survive but a quick attempt at matching is worth a few minutes. Transfer the animal without the polluted water into the new water. This can be easier said than done and you may have to drain the bag and then invert it. Leave the animal in the new container for about 30 minutes then start your normal acclimation (the time will depend upon the water differences and may only be long enough to adjust temperature since you started with tank water.

My acclamations (shipped animals) usually take about 3 hours. Speeding up or slowing down depend a lot on watching for stress signs. Ideally, the animal will start out pale, start showing a little color and begin to explore it surroundings but some never move around and some make numerous attempts to exit the acclimation chamber. If you see it trying to climb out, with clean but NO SOAP fingers, gently touch the back side of the arm. This is usually enough to coax them back into the water. Should you turn your back and it exits the container (very rare), cup your hands and slide them under the mantle and gentle lift so that the arms and beak end up facing the ceiling. If you are at the end of your acclimation place it in the tank, otherwise, put it back in the container.

More info than you needed I am sure but the monologue is meant to give a little confidence. Here is example of documenting an acclimation and some of the antics you can expect. I hope it helps.
 
hellooo, i have put a power head in that corner you said about with the den LR it has its own basket would this be safe enough ??? :smile:
 

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Keep a close eye on the external filter to be sure it never gets "relocated" (if the octo plays with it, it is likely to get relocated at the expense of an arm). Hopefully, it is very difficult to remove. If it pops off easily, the answer is no. Where is the impeller in relation to the filter? If you can place a sponge (very course, idea is not to trap particles but to prevent curious arm tips) inside the cap where arms investigating can't get to the impeller, it would be safer. Alternately, a zippered mesh media bag (not velcro and not tie) will definitely do the trick if you can find a good way to attach it so that it surrounds the filter cap and zips up over the pump. This should keep the cap on if snug as well as keep arm tips attached to the octopus.

You might also experiment with the flow by angling the deflector down to blow on the live rock. Where it is is good for pushing surface scum (helping with oxygenation) but they are so messy that moving water around their rocks is a good idea. I believe the unit (double check) is fully submersible so you could lower it enough to place the bottom of the filter snuggle against the rockwork to help ensure it will not come off and provide flow in the rock work.
 

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