[Octopus]: Kobe - Abdopus aculeatus

[sedna]

I added the pics of Abe's senescence to the tread, check those out for some comparison. I don't know how long I "typically" had one, it so depends on how old they are when you get them (no sarcasm intended there…). I think they naturally die off in the late spring if they hatched out the summer before. I never really start worrying until I see autophagia setting in. At least since you have a male, you get to see him until the end. Female aculeatus brood for about 6 weeks then die. The whole time you hardly get to see them, then a flurry of babies and everyone dies. My girls like males better, they don't think loosing them is as hard.

 

[Dools]

Thanks Sedna, I did check out Abe's thread; nice photos. Kobe stayed fairly active today and he actually ate some shrimp today; so I'm hoping to have him for a little while longer. Another month or more would be awesome...fingers crossed.

 

[Dools]

Kobe is now on Day 98, which makes him the longest lived octo I've ever had. I know many of you have had one live much longer than that, but it is a milestone for me,

. He remains active, but he is still not eating as much. I did capture him playing statue again.

 

[Dools]

Kobe is now on Day 98, which makes him the longest lived octo I've ever had. I know many of you have had one live much longer than that, but it is a milestone for me,

. He remains active, but he is still not eating as much. I did capture him playing statue again.

 

[sedna]

He's awesome! I know it's hard not to be looking for signs of nearing death at this point, but he still looks good!

 

[Dools]

Thanks Sedna. Well Kobe has made it to 100 days,. As you will see in the vid, he's staying active; but he is still not eating very much. He took some food today, but only held on to it for a few minutes and I really don't think he ate any of it. I will try again tomorrow.

 

[DWhatley]

No lethargy and no corkscrew on the arms are both good signs. His color looks better than I thought and he seems to pattern evenly when near the live rock so it is only the lack of eating that suggests an aging problem. If he eats tomorrow, try waiting the same number of days to offer food again. Once they are adults, their fuel needs decrease and their growth rate slows (but never really stops).

Are the white specs in the tank food or bubbles? If bubbles, try raising your air bar to within 2 inches of the surface (or where they would not be blown by the circulating pumps). This may not have anything at all to do with his (prior?) top of tank location but air stones have been questioned for a cause of problems. I have used them during acclimation and usually still do but don't keep them in the tanks. The potential problem is getting air into the mantle sac and then not being able to release it. @Neogonodactylus has suggested that larger bubbles trapped inside the mantle can be serious, possibly fatal where small one may be able to eventually escape. I have seen this only once when I placed a dying animal in a small container with an air stone (large bubbles, close quarters). The animal lived longer than I expected (possibly extended beyond natural and without benefit) and the mantle stayed erect. At the time I wondered about the oddity and it later fit with Roy's comments in another thread. What I am puzzling over is the possibility of small air bubbles being trapped and leading to Kobi's top of tank preference. If it has stopped, possibly the bubbles have escaped naturally or with effort from the mantle muscle.

 

[Dools]

They are air bubbles and I will turn off the pump. Glad to read that your assessment of Kobe has improved. I was glad I was able to record his color change for you to see as well. He doesn't colors as much as he did before, but he does still do so. As always thanks for the advice.

 

[DWhatley]

Just be sure you are still oxygenating the tank (the reason I suggested moving it up instead of turning it off). We are still learning about proper care and so much is anecdotal that it is hard to be diagnostic. So far, we seem to be able to manage natural life cycle but don't have much improvement in expanding it. Lifespan improvements may not be possible or may only come with captive breeding (which may be the same thing) but we muddle through.

 

[Dools]

Ok, than I will move it up and not shut if off. Thanks D.

 

[sedna]

Don't forget they with his smaller appetite, he may be hunting 'pods and living things in the tanks that you don't know about. That is one of the problems with "free feeding" hermit crabs in my tanks, I try to collect all of the hermit shells to keep track of lives ones, but not very successful with that method.

Watch his arms for blunt tips- signs of autophagy. In the vid I see some tip growth, but have arms with the blunted tips always been there or are they new? When they aren't eating other food, we have to start watching to see if they are eating themselves. There's nothing we can do about it. Abe was autophagic for about 2 weeks before he finally died.

 

[Dools]

I checked him out again today and he only has the one arm missing its tip. I'm pretty sure this arm has been missing the tip ever since I've had him. So as far as I've observed he has not been eating any of his arms. Thanks for the info Sedna.

 

[Dools]

I know this may be bit morbid, but has anyone ever preserved an octo after death? When he has passed (fortunately not yet) I am considering keeping Kobe in a decorative jar, but do not know what mixture of fluid to use.

 

[Dools]

I know this may be bit morbid, but has anyone ever preserved an octo after death? When he has passed (fortunately not yet) I am considering keeping Kobe in a decorative jar, but do not know what mixture of fluid to use.

 

[DWhatley]

How many do you want I keep a supply of preserved on hand for students and people who have asked for them. If you look at the end of some of my journals, you will see where the preserved octopus was sent to budding teuthologists to either keep or to take to school (or both). I don't accept postage but do require a photo of the final display.

Here is a post on the method I use. Take care to note that if you want the animal to display well there are some tricks to positioning it when you first place the body in formalin. Unfortunately, I am not well versed on best methods (but @muctopus is, according to @Neogonodactylus ). The arms are the hard part. After the formalin replaces the organic tissue, the corpse feels very much like a rubber toy and nothing like the living animal, quite weird.

If you see Kobe languishing and clearly close to death, I recommend placing him in a breeder net. This will keep the clean-up crew away, allowing for better preservation and the animal to die in peace. Fortunately, it does not appear that they feel the over anxious clean up critters. However, one of mine (OhToo) did seem to notice them snacking early and would not release me when I picked him up to put him in the net at the point he could no longer support himself in the upper part of the tank. It took awhile to convince him that I was not going to let him fall back to the bottom and he tried to bite me when I attempted to release him from my hand (no broken skin). Once he understood the net was away from the worms, he relaxed in the net and did not grab onto me again.