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Kermit & #2 - Octopus Bimaculoides Hatchlings

Update: Kermit is 100% eating blue-legged hermit crabs at this point (you can see one in the pics below), and going through 2-3 a day. As that is a bit pricey at a buck a crab, it's time to make a concerted effort to move him to frozen, lol. He is approximately 1 month old, and you can see his eye spots starting to form.





 
Kermit update! He was out hunting this morning for some hermit crabs (he's eating about 6 a day now...), and returned victorless to his shell. I gave him a piece of krill since I knew he was hungry, and he took it! Not sure if he's eating it or playing with it, but he's been holding it for about an hour.

Also, he inked today. Is that normal for an unstressed octo, or was something stressing him out? At least I think he inked. Maybe he pooped. It was a big BIG black blob, but didn't disperse in the water column.







 
What a little cutie!

Yes, that would be ink and in the form we call a pseudo-morph. It is quite thick and is usually easy to scoop out with a fine net. It is generally believed that this form of inking is to mislead a perceived predator while the animal takes off in another direction. The other form of inking produces a very thin ink that is much harder to remove and coats everything it lands on. Sometimes you will see both forms when they are startled. The quantity varies. I have had only one animal (hummelincki) that completely blackened her tank and suspect her own ink continued to frighten her (it can coat the gills and is a major problem if they ink in shipment). Fortunately, I had another tank available and could transfer her as I don't believe she would have survived. It took over a week to completely clear the tank. This is NOT common and I know of only on other reported incident (vulgaris). Normally the amount of ink is minimal, can be netted and a water change and the skimmer removes any problem. With your tiny, there is no issue and we do see the little ones appear to ink for no obvious reasons.

Poop will look like a skinny worm and sometimes thread like (I have only seen the thread elimination in older animals and have no idea what it means). I took a picture of "octopoop" and journaled it in my thread about my merc hatchlings. In this photo it is red because I feed the tank Cyclop-eeze and have found that octos either eat it (I know some do for sure) or eat the pods that eat it (or both). For other foods it looks similar but will be white or almost clear. Sometimes you may also see a white cloud that will look a lot like thin white ink. Again, I don't know why the elimination has these three forms but I have seen the first two in all animals I have kept.
 
Hi,
You're getting wonderful photos of your little octopus!

Returning to what D described about ink - you can add my Bimac Ollie to the list of octopuses that inked a cloud.
She was maybe 7 or 8 months old and was clinging to the glass at the front of the tank, in the early morning as she usually did. I came to greet her and turned on the aquarium lights, not realizing she had gone to sleep. She jumped And released a big cloud of ink, turning the water black. I did a 20 % water change and put more carbon in the filter, and eventually all the ink was removed so the water was clear again.

Nancy
 
Some new pics! A little over two months now. :smile:
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The tiny ocellus makes him look like a little stuffed animal :biggrin2:. Is he eating Krill/shrimp in addition to the hermits now? You mentioned that he took one but were not sure if he ate it.
 
Hi everyone! This is the first time I've been able to be back onto Tonmo since the upgrade. Kermit is doing great, almost a year old, and living in my 75g coldwater reef. Here are some pics!







Stealing my tongs. :smile:

 

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