Lir - Octopus ?

[DWhatley]

Immature tanks are touchy so watch the water like a hawk. If you see ammonia, change some water. Smaller daily changes would not be a bad thing since you can see ammonia and nitrite. Both are deadly to all your animals.

I can't imagine having MTS (I currently maintain 8 full-time - 4 for cephs - and various feed tanks that I don't count)

 

[Crabcrusher]

How much smaller is smaller? 1 gal.? The downside of doing it daily is that it wipes out the good bacteria I'm adding as well.

 

[DWhatley]

I am not sure how much good that stuff does but I have never read that it did harm. The bacteria will grow in/on the substrate (primarily your rocks but the sand will contribute a little), not the water column. So if it contributes to building the bacteria, probably adding in the AM and changing water at night would be helpful. A gallon a day seems about right with perhaps a larger change once a week. The most important part of doing this is to not allow the ammonia and nitrate to accumulate. When you are cycling, you want this to happen to encourage rapid bacteria growth but not when the tank is populated.

 

[Crabcrusher]

Well, he just inked. Turned on the light in his room and he inked. Activated Carbon, upping the skimmer, and a water change? Figures my tank numbers were just getting back to normal.

 

[DWhatley]

The ink won't add ammonia and the skimmer will take care of what you missed (a primary reason we insist a skimmer is necessary). Fortunately, with the exception of a major inking episode (where the inking continues over several minutes and the entire tank turns black - very rare fortunately) and inking during shipment (almost always fatal as it coats the gills) ink is not a major problem and most animals will ink as some point(s) of their tank living. You did well with your choice of actions.

A major inking incident IS a problem. We have only seen a few - only two that I can recall over 8 years, one of mine being in that number and are almost impossible to handle. Of the two I recall, one died and the other was moved to a fresh tank and survived.

There are two "kinds" of ink. One form is called a pseudo morp. It is quite thick and most of it can be removed with a turkey baster or brine shrimp net if you are present when it happens. It is probably the most dangerous to corals though as it can suffocate the more delicate. The other form is very thin and is the most difficult to remove by hand but is usually taken care of by the skimmer. In both cases a water change is recommended.

 

[Crabcrusher]

It was not thick, golf ball sized amount. Pulled 10% out and everything seems fine, I don't think ink would affect my numbers but I checked them and they're good too.

 

[Crabcrusher]

Here's a few pics of his latest hermit crab meal. He seems settled and is out exploring most of the day lately. What is a good feeding schedule? I thought twice/wk was good, but he decided to eat all the snails in between. Haven't seen him catch the peppermint shrimp yet though.

 

[DWhatley]

Cute! It looks like he is doing a "happy dance". Sorry, just can't help smiling.

 

[Crabcrusher]

Thanks! Things seem to be going well and he's nearing the one month mark in the tank. Still trying to dial in a feeding schedule though, how often do you guys all feed your octos? Don't want to starve him or overfeed him. Also; is the bubba magus worth it? My LFS is recommending it to help scrub the impurities and from what I've seen and read I like the idea of it. I still can't find a better species that fits his habits and markings, but that's ok for now.

 

[DWhatley]

LOL, had to look up "bubba magus" and eventually found a Bubble Magus skimmer. Sadly, I have no useful opinion other than a skimmer IS necessary for inking and I would not have a ceph tank without one. My budget keeps me on the cheap side so I have little experience with the more expensive equipment. For the low end skimmers, I have replace all of mine over time with Coralife models as the have worked far better than any of the under $300 units I have tried.

 

[Crabcrusher]

I have a protein skimmer currently, can't remember if it's a coralife one or not. My LFS was recommending this one and some pellet packet to lessen the maintenance on the tank. No thoughts on feeding schedules still?

 

[Crabcrusher]

Sorry, I should have clarified earlier; the Bubba Magus BP-130 Pellet Reactor is what I'm looking at. It's not just a skimmer.

 

[DWhatley]

Still not sure what species. The video still make him look more hummelinki or possibly burryi (see Margay and also note how she died - she was one of my favorites).

Feeding days and quantities vary a LOT between keepers with apparent equal success. I feed daily but others feed more food every other or every third day. There is concern with overeating and most of our scientists feel that a hungry octopus is healthier than an overfed animal but mine have all ignored food or left portions when they were full. I have had some to refuse food if the pieces were too large.

 

[Crabcrusher]

I would agree more with a burryi, like Margay, especially after watching the videos and reading about your interactions. I haven't seen anything even remotely resembling eye spots to indicate a hummelincki. I'm not sure how a supplier in California, with an Australian inventory, would end up with a species from the Gulf of Mexico. Then again, they did have a Wunderpus as well, so anything is possible. My tank has 1/4" glass on the top with latches, with 120db alarms wired around the perimeter of the top and the refugium, as well as screens over my sump and an acrylic seal on the top too. I'm unreasonably paranoid about an escape. I'll have to pay attention to the R3 next time he's out flirting with us.

 

[DWhatley]

O. burryi has a clear (when exposed - often not) diamond pattern of large raised papillae on the top of the mantle. Margay was a high favorite and it broke my heart for her to escape. The tank was closed, it has held at least a dozen octos without problem so I has stopped using weights on the lid ... The alarms are interesting

Wunderpus can be found in northern AU. I am not sure of the distribution of burryi. Small egg species may be all over the world where the larger egg species are (generally speaking - almost NO absolutes on the genus) typically localized.