did my octo acclimate well? what kind do i have?

ajones5289

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Sep 11, 2012
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i have never had an octo before and now i do, im wondering if the heavy breathing and very active locomotion as well as the constant white brown color changing is cause for concern, it is officially day 1 for luna, and she appeared to do well last night, but im wondering if i should worry? i would also like some help identifying her, here are a few pictures. she is normally brown with a pointy head and a little white spot on the tip. any help is well appreciated, i want to ensure she has a proper environment and is not freaking out.
 

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Heavy breathing is a bad sign and you definitely want that to stop. Does she have a place to hide? She needs a den where she can hide in the dark. Stress can be lethal to octopuses and is often characterized by heavy breathing so reducing stress is important and letting her hide may help but her splotchy coloration does not look healthy. Check your ammonia and nitrites (both should be zero).

The photos are not very helpful for ID but my first guess from what is available would be a nocturnal macropus making it doubly important to provide dark shelter.
 
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regarding my other post as well as this one, how long does it take to cycle a tank and are there any visual signs that it has been done? would an octo die in an uncycled tank? I am also curious about what other factors might stress an octopus to death? she has several rocks in the tanks to hide behind, but does an octo need to feel tucked into a tight place or just dark place? either way, since receiving your reply, i have kept the tank half covered in a blanket to keep things dark, and have ammonia of .5 and according to my nitrate test the levels are acceptable. i have been adding ammonia reducer daily to help get the .5 to 0. my last questions would be. do i have to have a protein skimmer and a sump? my tank right now has a 30 gal canister filter and no sump. will this create issues for me later on?
 
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There is no visual for a completed cycle as it is bacteria that you are building.The LSF time is determined when you see a spike in ammonia, followed by nitrites and then both become zero. This is when they will consider it safe to add hardy fish. This is only the beginning for something with a heavy bio-load like an octopus. We recommend a minimum of 3 months, adding continuously to the bio-load over the entire time.

Yes, your octopus needs to be able to fully hide in a dark den. This is true of all species and especially important for nocturnal animals.

Please do a daily saltwater changes. Any detection of ammonia is bad. The chemical solutions are not adequate only water changes will be beneficial. You are in serious danger of losing the animal.

Sumps are desired but not required. Most keepers will include a skimmer as mandatory, especially with a cannister.
 
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I'm going to jump in here and ask where you got your octopus? It looks a lot like the one I recently purchased from a shop in New York. Even the size is similar. The owner had mentioned that he had been getting several of this type in recently, but he didn't know what it was. lol! After posting several pics here, I think it has pretty much been identified as a Plain Bodied Night Octopus. "D" was of great help in solving my mystery!!

I was excited to get it (probably) identified, but disappointed when I found out that it doesn't like to come out at all during the day. I was also disappointed when I found out that, because of her size, she won't be around as long as I'd hoped. :frown:

I will say that she is doing quite well. First she ate a couple of small hermit crabs, then I ordered her some marine shrimp. She seems to eat them regularly, as their numbers are dwindling in the tank and I find "left overs" outside her den. She also likes pieces of raw prawn that I got at the fish market. By the way, everything I'm telling you I learned from the staff at this site! They are great!! Good luck with yours! Definitely stay up one night to see how she's doing. They are really amazing animals when active! :smile:
 
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