After Pandora died, D hooked me up with this awesome briareus through her friend Lynn of Island Marine Life. It came almost 2 weeks ago (12-15-09). The packing job was phenomenal, the temp on arrival was 66.5 F, but it was in the 20's here in MI that week!
I have never had such a hard time getting an octo out of the drip bucket. The acclimation went fine and after 3 hrs it was ready to go in. It didn't hid in the LR that was in the bucket, so I was hoping it'd drop into the tank as others have. I opened the tank, drained off the H2O from the bucket into a pail and quickly held the bucket above the tank thinking that once dry, down it'd drop. It stayed put. I got nervous so I grabbed a plastic cup with tank H2O and held it next to Lerxt. The octo just grabbed onto the cup, too, but wouldn't budge. It seemed like a good idea to just gently nudge it into the cup with my finger. Of course, then it grabbed onto my hand, too. Now I was less an arm, holding a big Instant Ocean bucket over my tank with a stubborn octo hanging on... I used my left hand to splash the surface of the tank H2O and after a minute it finally got the idea and descended. Amazingly, no inking!
The first 2 days, I had no tank lights at all. It would come out to inspect us, 5-10 min. at a time, any time of day. Once I put the lights on a schedule, I didn't see it out before 11 pm. It was right up against the glass on the 3rd night and John measured the mantle against his thumb- 1.5 inches! As soon as it started coming out sooner that 10 pm, it was time to set up the X-mas tree- right next to the tank. Back to "out after 11." All this while, we did see it out in the morning, before 8 am. Finally, it is coming out as we eat dinner- popping in and out of hiding places. It isn't shy but keeps it's visits with us short, still spending a lot of time watching us from farther back.
It has eaten fiddler crabs, hermits and the peppermint shrimp that was living with it. D, I'd have to agree about the bad eyesight, I saw it try to get that shrimp a few times and miss, then give up. It took almost 2 weeks before it got that shrimp! Last night was the first time I tried stick feeding it grocery counter shrimp, no problem.
I have never had such a hard time getting an octo out of the drip bucket. The acclimation went fine and after 3 hrs it was ready to go in. It didn't hid in the LR that was in the bucket, so I was hoping it'd drop into the tank as others have. I opened the tank, drained off the H2O from the bucket into a pail and quickly held the bucket above the tank thinking that once dry, down it'd drop. It stayed put. I got nervous so I grabbed a plastic cup with tank H2O and held it next to Lerxt. The octo just grabbed onto the cup, too, but wouldn't budge. It seemed like a good idea to just gently nudge it into the cup with my finger. Of course, then it grabbed onto my hand, too. Now I was less an arm, holding a big Instant Ocean bucket over my tank with a stubborn octo hanging on... I used my left hand to splash the surface of the tank H2O and after a minute it finally got the idea and descended. Amazingly, no inking!
The first 2 days, I had no tank lights at all. It would come out to inspect us, 5-10 min. at a time, any time of day. Once I put the lights on a schedule, I didn't see it out before 11 pm. It was right up against the glass on the 3rd night and John measured the mantle against his thumb- 1.5 inches! As soon as it started coming out sooner that 10 pm, it was time to set up the X-mas tree- right next to the tank. Back to "out after 11." All this while, we did see it out in the morning, before 8 am. Finally, it is coming out as we eat dinner- popping in and out of hiding places. It isn't shy but keeps it's visits with us short, still spending a lot of time watching us from farther back.
It has eaten fiddler crabs, hermits and the peppermint shrimp that was living with it. D, I'd have to agree about the bad eyesight, I saw it try to get that shrimp a few times and miss, then give up. It took almost 2 weeks before it got that shrimp! Last night was the first time I tried stick feeding it grocery counter shrimp, no problem.