Found an octopus in my tank!!!

Joined
Jul 19, 2009
Messages
11
:hmm: hello everyone!

My name is Rod and I am here not by choice but by luck...or lack there off...nothing against an octopus but this one is in my tank as a hitchhicker (?), must have come in some coral or who knows...as an egg????

just saw it a couple of days ago chasing a emerald crab and haven't seen it since...small and has a mantle that looks like a clam! i have noticed som piles of empty shells that once had crabs in them...and both my urchins died....:banghead:

how can this octopus be in my tank??? I haven't added anything to my tank in about 4 weeks?? What was it eating untill now? how do I get it out!?

my tank is a mixed reef 75gal open top tank...not good mix for an octopus...should i screen the top for safety? I don't want it to die, I would rather capture it alive and give it to someone that wants it!

someone told me to use the coke bottle method so i'll give that a shot...any ideas? if i ever can see this guy again, i will post pictures!

rod
 
Unfortunately, we don't have a thread with experiences on how to capture an in-tank octo :hmm:. I have transferred several but they were either still in a breeder net, already tame and just climbed into my transfer cup or captured with a net while out looking for food.

To help protect your tank inhabitants, I would suggest buying a supply of live fiddler crabs and putting in a new one when the current one disappears (likely a daily occurance). Fiddlers seem to be a universal octo food and keeping it fed will help minimize the damage until you can catch him. Fiddlers can be kept in a bucket with a place to climb above the water line. A deep bucket is usually preferable to prevent escape but I have no trouble keeping them in a 2 gallon nano as long as the climbing rocks are in the center.

In the mean time you need to figure out what you will do with him once caught :biggrin2:. For immediate needs, a critter keeper usually works if he is large enough not to escape (as a general go-by, there should be no openings larger than an eye. The eye is not the determining factor but is generally thought to be about the same size as the actual restricting beak size). Second best is a plastic jar with holes drilled in the sides but the critter keeper is better for the octo and would allow for a shell den. If you have a sump, keeping the captured octo there in a container should keep it healthy, easier to find if it does escape and out of harms way for your other critters. Your local pet store may take it in trade but only one of mine had an interest in housing an octo.

Did you see the hunting octopus at night or during the day?

Your comparison of the mantle to a clam is curious, could you elaborate?
 
Hi and welcome to the site.

Over the years, many people have reported hitchhiker octopuses. Do you know where your live rock came from? That might help determine the species.

The octopus could be eating amphipods, snails, small fish, and of course, crabs. They ususally have no trouble finding a meal in a large tank with many inhabitants.

Could you post where you live in case a local TONMO.com member is interested in having your octopus?

Nancy
 
Hello everyone!

Thanks for the replies! I saw the octopus in the afternoon, I was actually watching another hitchhicker in my tank, a miniscule crab that lives inside one of my acros...then I saw an emerald crab fighting what seemed to me like a big slug, it looked like the color of one of my clams, squamosa to be precise, dark brown with spots...then I realized it had arms!!! A small ocotpus!!! I stood up from my chair and the thing dropped the crab and retreated into the live rock, never to be seen again...at least for now!

It is eating my shrimp, crabs, and something ate both my urchins...do octopus eat urchins!!???

I have two local reefers that want it if I catch it, I am also contemplating keeping it..I have been reading here a lot and may be considering the option...

The last thing I introduced to my tank was a Bali acro attached to a large piece of rock...does that help?

Rod
 
For your entertainment and because this thread should never get lost, you might like to adventure over to another forum and read one of the best journals ever recorded about a hitchhiking octopus.

If you stay too long on TONMO you will likely decide to keep the little guy but you will need to get an environment set up for him quickly.

As for ID, search the Images section for aculeatus and see if the pictures look right for your new friend. The location, availability and diurnal activity would work for at least one kind of adopus, the aculeatus being the most common or at least the best guess for most that come in from the importers.

Additionally, our Journals and Photos forum offers a lot of first hand keepers journals and the Tank Talk forum is helpful for setting up an octopus aquarium.

Whatever you decide, please start a journal on your adventure with this little hitchhiker and encourage his/her new keeper to maintain it should you decide to give him/her away.
 
I caught it! In a kritter keeper in my tank, baited it and waited! It went inside and I closed the door trapping it in!!!

Here it is! Any ideas what kind it is? I am so excited!!!!

Rod
 

Attachments

  • conv_294389.jpg
    conv_294389.jpg
    129.3 KB · Views: 145
  • conv_294390.jpg
    conv_294390.jpg
    146.9 KB · Views: 117
  • conv_294391.jpg
    conv_294391.jpg
    163.5 KB · Views: 146
So many of us would love to find this little guy but I am surprised he just showed up. He has had his front arms removed sometime in the past and they have grown quite a bit since the amputation (I am guessing they grow about an inch a month from rough estimates watching my briareus - may not apply to every octo and may not apply to different species). If he keeps that third arm rolled up most of the time like in the first photo, he is a male and may be sexually mature (but that does not say a lot for age).

It is always fun to play ID the octo but I am only comfortably familiar with a couple of common species. If you took a look at my favorite hitchhicker story, that octo was a Caribbean briareus, your little guy is not. The colors and texture are very hummelincki (Caribbean) but not the webbing and arm length. Octos in the adopus complex (renamed since the text below) have very similar coloration and texture ability with a longer arm to body ratio (I have not kept one for more than a couple of weeks).

When he is on the glass, do you see dark blue/purple rings around the edges of suckers?

After looking through Norton, the size, stripe on the webbing and overall look leads me to give my final guess as abaculus. Unfortunately, if I am right, this one is likely an adult.

The photo below is one Dr. Roy Caldwell (TONMO Neogonodactylus) contributed to Mark Norton's Cephalopods A World Guide.
 

Attachments

  • conv_294392.jpg
    conv_294392.jpg
    654.3 KB · Views: 144
does this shot help?
there seems to be a line on its head, also all the legs are intact, he/she is just curling them up into the top of the trap, I guess it is trying to find a way out!

Still trying to find out what it is and sex...should I post in the ID forum? Thanks!

Rod
 

Attachments

  • conv_294393.jpg
    conv_294393.jpg
    176 KB · Views: 140
Unless I am looking at the pictures wrong, the two front arms are thick at the body then much skinnier than the others immediatly after the webbing. If that is what I am seeing and not a camera angle misperception, this would be new regrowth (the arms get longer then fatter as they grow).

The only big hesitation I have with my guess is the width of that lovely webbing. Do post a request with that last photo (and a link back here) on the ID thread as new posts there usually get Muctopus' attention and sometimes a peak from Roy. Between them there it is unlikely anyone on the planet would have a better guess from the photos if it is an Indonesian animal.

Try putting a ruler (plastic) in the tank next to the critter keeper if you have one handy and snap a photo. I am guessing you are over estimating the body size (most of us do) or under guessing the arm tip to arm tip length. Just looking at the photos, I would guess that a single arm is more than twice the body (mantle) length (arm length is even more arbitrary than mantle length).

Even at a 2" mantle (measured behind the eyes to the end of the mantle), it would be larger than abaculus but not aculeatus.

The center stripe (brown with white stripe or white with brown stripe) is a common coloration for most all octos.
 
That's a beautiful octopus and quite large for a hitchhiker. Perhpas it's been living in your tank and growing for some time.

Yes, post on the ID forum and include pics.

Nancy
 
thanks for the replies! I have posted on the ID thread, hope someone knows what it is! And the sex!

I am shocked that something that large can be living in my tank without me noticing for maybe a long time! HIs presence does explain fish loss, crustacen, death, and spike in water parameters, all in one!

I wonder how long it has to live and the gender so I can name it!!!

Rod
 
For gender observe that third arm to the right (clockwise). If he keeps it rolled up as in the photo (this should be obvious) then you have a male. If the photo is not his normal posture with this arm then he could be an immature male or female. Take a look at SueNami's catching shrimp video to see an exagerated example. SueNami came to me missing two arms up to the webbing and a portion of a third arm. The hectocotylized arm is exaggerated because it has not fully regnerated but you can see how he minimizes the use of that arm and how he returns it to the protected position when he does use it. This specialized arm has a groove (that I can never find) the length of the arm and a specialized tip (that I can never see). But the curled protective positioning of the arm is the best way I know of to determine sex and is reliable at the point of sexual maturity.

On some octopuses, you can also see enlarged suckers on two or more of the front arms. The best photo I have clearly showing the enlarged suckers is this one of Sisturus, my favorite male mercatoris.
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top