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Kooah's Hatchlings - O.briareus

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WooHoo!
 
Your little octopuses are older now and more self sufficient and may hide even more, so don't give up when you can't find them! You've certainly done well by them!

Nancy
 
D, you really are amazing! I am so impressed with your dedication to this project! Even though John loves his new job, I wish he still had a reason to travel to Gainesville to see you!
 
D, I would love to see the inklets when they grow up but don't aniticipate a trip to GA this winter, they usually come here for Christmas. Who knows what the future holds though. I am hoping several (or all) survive, wouldn't that be something? An octopus in every tank would be pretty cool.
 
Well, I have HAD an octo in every tank before but not ALL the same species (and I would have to acquire a dwarf to have a full house) and certainly not all hatchlings. I am excited and hopeful that I have two but really would like to find I have 4.
 
SittingBull has remained out of site since his last spotting.

Ammendment: 5:30 AM SittingBull was on the right side of the tank climbing along the overflow (the overflows are rectangular boxes at the top of the tank along the back wall but are only about 4" tall - just enough to hold the bulkhead). This is where I have seen SittingBull most often in recent spottings but on the left side where there is a small gap that he can use to get behind the box. When he saw the light he crawled into the overflow and hid in the corner. I chased him out with the flash light and was able to watch him hunt for about 15 minutes. At one point he left the LR and came halfway to the front corner that used to be the place he would wait for food. I think he was finding pods in the substrate as he would slither along and then capture the sand. He didn't like the red light but tollerated it as long as the bright center was not in his eyes. This is the longest I have been able to observe one of these little guys since the mass dissapearance at 1 week old. I didn't have any food thawed and am out of live shrimp (should have some from Paul tomorrow) so I just sat and watched and did not try to feed.

I am usually able to find Cassy, especially if I look early in the evening. She is by far the best at camouflage (SittingBull does not appear to use camo at all but that may be why I don't see him) and even out in the open is hard to spot but she does not wander far so I know where to search. On the nights I can't find her I would not be surprised if she was out or partially out of the LR and I just missed her. Tonight I saw her breathing. I did not realy see her for awhile but I saw the LR move in an octo breathing manner. When I offered the breathing rock a piece of shrimp it moved further into the hole but did not disappear. I could see two rock lump eyes and eventually the rock worked an unmistakable octo arm out to take the shrimp. None of my adults could/would pattern like this (and the color under red light looks very unbriareus greenish grey) and I wonder if she will retain the abilty as an adult.

Ammendment: 5:15ish AM I found Cassy sprawled along the overflow wall near the bottom of the tank (the rock she uses for a den is next to this wall). PeskyToo (the orange brittle star) also had an arm on the wall and would slowly touch Cassy. I have seen this before with the orange brittles (and hence the names Pesky and PeskyToo) The octos don't really seem to mind them and they are not aggressive toward living things. The common star in the tank ambled over to the wall but when it tried to go where Cassy was sprawled she pushed on the arm with one of hers and it slowly removed its arm and changed direction. She was not fond of the red light and ducked into the rock a couple of times if I tried to watch with too much light but she came back out several times after I reangled the flashlight.

Still no sign of Late4Dinner or Sam.
 
03 10 18 29 36 47 CaptFish Lottery Number Results

I tried CaptFish's numbers and, unfortunately he is better at calling Octo survival than picking lottery numbers. I played two games for 10 trys. I got nothing with the Power Ball tries but will get my money back with Mega Millions :smile:
 
Tatanka :wink: and Cassy are getting easier to find and feed but I have not seen Late4Dinner or Sam and have given up hope on them. We are not using our air conditioning this summer and I am really fighting issues with the tanks. I lost most of the shrimp I just got from Paul and froze the rest. So far the octos seem to be OK.

I found Tatanka on the wall in the corner that originated his name tonight (he did not eat last night) as if he was waiting for me (or the heat is an issue) and when I touched an arm to the shrimp there was little reaction. Until he woke up that is. I don't see these guys ink much (briareus seem to use ink infrequently) but once he realized something was touching him he inked and split ... not too far though and I was able to find and reoffer dinner.

Cassy hangs out (or visa-versa) with my orange brittle star, PeskyToo (not unusual to see either of these where the octos are and locating them is often helpful to find the octos). The brittles recognized the red light as an indicator that food is on the way and get active when they detect it. Pesky (the other orange brittle) stays on the right side of the tank at the moment even if Tatanka is on the left. Cass has taken food consistently for the last three nights and stayed out a little after accepting food tonight so I hope this continues. Unlike Tatanka, she has been staying around the same rock for at least a month. I am hoping this behavior difference means Cass is female and Tatanka is male. It has been a consistent difference but they also look different both in girth (Cassy being the chunkier) and in coloration. The one article I could find on briareus hatchlings stated there was no observable difference at this age so either the environment did not allow for the kind of observations I am seeing (one per tank and lots of room vs a rather crowded lab setup) or this is just a difference in these two specific octopuses but these two could easily be two different species.
 
I didn't find my two until about 4:30 this morning (like kids, you make a comment and they put egg on your face).

Tatanka showed up stalking the peppermint shrimp (missed again) and then disappeared into the LR which got Pesky active so I saw all kinds of arms poking out of holes but eventually saw him on top of the LR (so he promptly went into a hole). They both are getting better about expecting shrimp with the pipette and getting close (touching no longer required) with relieve the stick of its meal.

When I checked Cassy's tank early in the evening, I noted that PeskyToo was nowhere to be found. With my heat concerns (house in the 90's this weekend and only down to the mid 80's at night) I was worried he may have expired. Later I found him on the other side of the tank so that is where I concentrated looking for Cassy and sure enough Cass had moved (more egg). She ate sitting where I could see her but disappeared once she finished the shrimp.

A small oddity occured tonight and I don't know if I fed a brissle worm or if Sam might still be around. When I looked for Cassy on her normal side of the tank I saw an arm and I think it took the tail of the offered shrimp. I know it was not PeskyToo and it did not look like a worm but I can't be sure. Part of the reason I hunted the other side later (or earlier depending upon how you look at the late night side of morning) was that I was unsure Cass got enough to eat. With PeskyToo's relocation, I am sure it was not Cassy but I am not sure it was an octopus.

I sat and watched the tube tank just before sun up and saw Tatanka cross the tube to sleep on the left side just as the first rays of light started to show.

They will be two months old on Wednesday! :biggrin2:
 
How large is Pesky Too? Do you have any photos of him?

Two months old! - that's incredible that you've been able to keep so many of them alive. Congratulations for all your hard work!

Nancy
 
Both Pesky and PeskyToo are somewhere between 10" and 12" arm tip to arm tip. Their bodies are probably about 1.25 inches (max). These have been excellent clean-up companions for the octos and other than being "Pesky" by touching the octopuses (I mentioned that Cassy pushed on a common star to redirect its travels but she totally ignores being touched by PeskyToo), they don't harm even the smallest ones. I don't think they eat any live food but are always looking for a meaty meal (tiny, water born scraps, Cyclop-eeze being a favorite, that they collect in their hairs). They are nicely colored with an orange body and orange and black striped arms (the black striping seems to come later in life as they did not display this when I first got them but I have them for a couple of years now). I have a third one in the large tank that I rarely see but the ones with the octos have their own personallities and are an especially nice addition to a clean up crew. When there is no octopus in residence, they are hard to find and become much more recluse. At times, Pesky will live in the overflow box on the tube tank and all you will see is orange arms waving from the box at feeding time.

There are only two hatchlings left (with only a slight chance of a third) so "so many" is not much of a number but I am hoping to raise the pair now since they are finally showing signs of learning to be fed or at least have less resistence to accepting offered food. I will be very happy when they are finally eating table shrimp as my supply of shore shrimp has crashed twice this month. Once from the shipper and the new ones from Paul arrived in great shape but did not do well with this heat. I did not catch the problem soon enough and the water was toxic before I could pull out many to freeze. In retrospect, I should have frozen the live shipment when it came in but I did not expect the house to reach the high 90's.
 
Two Octos Two Months Old

I had wished for more to still be alive but feared there would be none at this point so I am happy to wish Tatanka (AKA SittingBull) and Mamma Cass a happy two month anniversary.:party:

The last three days have been easier to find and feed them and I have hopes that Cass will soon be less shy. Tonight she came to the feeding spot (in her normal spot on the right side of the tank) and started waving arms almost as soon as I put the red flash light on. She has remained semi-visible while eating her shrimp (a 1" shore shrimp one takes about an hour to consume) but is still not responding to overatures to be visible at other times.

Tatanka was on the back wall tonight (on the left) and did not run away or need much coaxing to take his shrimp (touching an arm was necessary). He did a snatch and run but it was clear he had the concept of taking the shrimp for dinner clearly established.

Now if they continue to remember what they seem to have learned and progress toward identifying the feeding hand. :fingerscrossed:
 

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