Found an octopus in my tank!!!

got it, i'll be patient!
:smile:

In the mean time (while you are waiting on an ID), have you decided what to do with your hitchhiker? Have you watched to see if the arm stays mostly curled to validate/negate my call on male? You can always go with a non-gendered name (or you can just uhhh have a boy named Sue :tongue:).
 
passed away tonight as I came home...found him dead...

RIP my friend...

thinking now of actually starting a proper tank for an octopus...any good, reliable source with species that can be trusted? I've done so much reading on this that I am now pissed that it didn't make it...

rod
 
R.I.P :angel::goodbye:

My first octo was a bimac they are excellent but are a cold water octo. So the tank needs to be at least 65F. Also if you want to keep it tropical go with a aculeatus. I am going to get one of those in a couple of days! good luck with your tank.
 
bluespotocto;139696 said:
R.I.P :angel::goodbye:

My first octo was a bimac they are excellent but are a cold water octo. So the tank needs to be at least 65F. Also if you want to keep it tropical go with a aculeatus. I am going to get one of those in a couple of days! good luck with your tank.

thanks...where is your aculeatus coming from?

rod
 
If the photo of the curled arm happened to be incidental and not typical there is a plausible explanation for why you did not see your octo for so long and why it died. This is antecdotal at best but one senario that works with some of the mysteries would have been that you acquired a brooding female whos eggs were not viable. When a female lays eggs, she will go into a den and stop eating (the dead animals could have been killed to protect but sometimes brooding females can be coaxed to eat). She will not come out until it is time for the eggs to hatch (10-14 days seems common for the small egg species we see and 8-10 weeks for the large egg animals). At hatching time (successful eggs or not) the female will leave the den and die shortly there after. We have seen post brood females die as the last eggs hatch (up to 10 days typically) and other live as long as 11 more weeks (highly unusual but Trapper made it that long). Beldar brooded for about two weeks and is still with me but is definitely senesent and very grey.

However, often we see loss of color and inability to create skin patterns as an octopus reaches its natural end (for both male and female) and your hitchhicker seemed to have full camoflage control. Males also stop eating at the end of their natural lives and evidence suggest yours was still eating so my suggestion on cause of death may be wishful thinking. Sometimes we loose them without a clue as to why they died.
 

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