Live aquaria indo id please

Male because some of the suckers are larger near smaller suckers?

(copy and paste from a post by dwhatley in a previous aculeatus thread http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?19862-Mr.-Squiggles-A.aculeatus&highlight=aculeatus )
Just to help you understand the ID:

Physical aspects of a male octopus:
- Looking at your first photo note there are several enlarged suckers
- In the second (and you will notice it in the first) you will see a curled up arm. That should be the third arm to the right (clockwise) but the arm positions are difficult to enumerate in the photos (and with Puddles, my octo, all but impossible to determine all the time due to his crazy arm movements).

Species Aculeatus
- color and small frame, arm to mantle ratio about 5:1
- purple lining on suckers (also true of hummelincki/filosus)
- Neogonodactylus (darn it Roy couldn't you have used just Mantis - spelling that kills me) and Muctopus have studied this complex in situ and in lab for years

Additional observations for you to watch for
- A star pattern around the eye
- Little horns to appear over the eyes.
- Wonderful skin Patterning - Muctopus' avitar is another look for this animal. Check out some of her video for this species (try YouTube search huffard aculeatus)
 
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Not sure on the suckers. The arms where the sucker seem enlarged are also very thick and would have larger suckers than the thinner (often amputated and regrown) parts of the arm. In some animals the enlarged suckers really stand out when they are attached to the glass but on others is it no quite as obvious. Since almost always prefer to have males, I may try to see enlarged suckers where they are only larger because of the natural grow. Generally, after a few days in the tank, the rolled up arm becomes obvious. here is my attempt at describing what to look for accompanied with several photos of males of different species.
 
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Yay, so on my first ID attempt I may have been right? (I said female aculeatus) Because to me a few suckers are a tiny bit larger, but they are also up against the glass and closer to the camera. And D, Im pretty sure Aculeatus cant be sexed by the old curled up arm trick. Im pretty sure their tentacles are so long that both male and female curl sometimes. Just to get them where they want them. But then again D is correct more than me, just thought Id make an input so that the pros could think about it when they ultimately decide and give you a semi sure ID. What we know for aure is that its Aculeatus. Now the question is, male or female?
 
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Ryan, have a look at the link I provide above (note the briareus - whos arms are far longer) and the aculeatus further down. You will see that there is no reason for the arm to be curled and that it is ONLY the third arm that is being carried this way. The male will not ALWAYS carry his arm this way but it is very often in this position, especially when traveling about and not needing it for anything special. SueNami (once it grew back) kept his curled at all times but that may have had more to do with the original amputation than anything species specific. There is at least one species that drops that arm and grows a new specialized arm at sexual maturity.
 
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A am going to go way way out on an uneducated limb and say that I think this one is a female. The times it moved around a lot in the acclimating container, I didn't see it carrying an arm curled and I think the suckers that look larger are just pressed to the glass when I zoom in on the photos.

I'm gathering that this species we have been unsuccessful in raising the eggs and she looks like she might be full grown? What is the size range of the adults in this species? I'm having a really hard time finding the basics about them online.
 
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Thanks D. And to answer your question flighty, they can get up to a 2.5 in mantle and a 14 in tentacle length. It all depends though, some will get smaller, some a bit bigger, but that is a common size I believe.
 
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