Joe Louis

sedna

Architeuthis
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Jul 13, 2008
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1,552
Location
Livonia, MI
The long, octo-less summer has finally come to an end! The girls are back in school, and I've FINALLY got a new octopus!! He came last Friday (9-10-10) from Live Aquaria. I met Kevin Kohen (who runs the facility in the Mid-West) at a conference in the spring, and he said he'd get an octo for me. He finally did! I got an e-mail with photos of 2 octos (both abdopus but distinct from each other) and THE LOCATION THEY WERE COLLECTED from! One from Philippines and one from Fiji. I described how to tell the sex and asked for a male, and they delivered! I talked to them before I ordered, they go out to the tanks and watch them every day, so they had already acclimated him to human attentions. He's been friendly since the moment he arrived!

He arrived bagged no less than 6 times with 2 "black out" bottoms. As I took off the last black out, he popped out and was curious immediately! I gave him a large chunk of barnacle in the acclimation bucket and he went right in to investigate. He made an easy transition to the tank and fell into a routine right away.

In classic abdopus fashion, he got spikey and walked on his back arms with the front two up like boxer fists. I'm not a fan of boxing, but in that moment he could only be named Joe Louis.

He is so perfect! He has a day time den in the barnacle close to the front of the tank. The one pic shows him napping with his collection of toys. At night he sleeps in the back somewhere in a deeper den. He's taking shrimp from a stick, but I haven't tried to play with him in the water yet. He's the delight of the endless stream of kids through our house, dancing on the glass and changing color and texture constantly- he's a total show off when he has an audience. The one pic shows him with some colored blocks (Unifix cubes) each cube us just under 2 cm. I did adjust the color on that one, only the blue lights were on when I took these.

Now that the girls are back in school I hope to be able to get back to regular Tonmo-ing!
 

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Joe Louis gets the girls!

The other night my daughter's girl friend (9 yrs) was over and I heard her yell, "OH MY GOD!" It sounded serious and I hurried into the living room where she was standing in front of the tank! She was so excited as she yelled, "Joe Louis, he changed colors, is he supposed do DO that?" She was so genuinely fascinated, it was worth the long wait for a good, healthy octo!

I had first contact the other day. No shy, one arm at a time meeting. He grabbed my fingers with his front 4 arms and pulled hard. I was wary of being bitten, so I kept it short. He likes live hermits and shrimp from a stick, which I alternate. He also chases and catches larger pods on the glass which is great fun to watch.
 
Joe Louis is a wrestler!

Yesterday I was working in the tank during Joe Louis' nap time. Other octos I've had always ignored me working during their regular sleeping times, but not Joe Louis! He was still in his barnacle when he grabbed my hand and tried to pull it in. He didn't care that it obviously wouldn't fit, he simply kept hold of my hand while turning the barnacle, trying to find a way to pull my hand into any hole it might fit into. At one point, the barnacle was completely off the ground of the tank, suspended by nothing except Joe's strength. It took about 5 min. before he finally gave up and let go- he noticed his hermit crab escaping and knew at least that would fit in his den.

Joe Louis has stolen my heart!
 

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Joe Louis has passed

I am sad to post that Joe Louis died this week. I have been so busy that I barely posted about him, but I can assure you all that if my blood pressure is at a healthy level, it is due to the extreme relaxation just watching him brought! Once again, he awed neighborhood children and adults alike. It is so gratifying to hear the exclamations of friends when they watch an octo, and especially when they are touched by one. While I may have been too busy to post, I always took moments every day to admire him and (hopefully) stimulate him!
 
It is so frustrating that this species is only caught near the end of thier lives. I was probably lucky that Puddles was a Macropus rather than the expected aculeatus since I could arrange to work with him in the wee hours of the morning.
 

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