[Octopus]: Mama Cass - O.briareus (tank hatched)

[DWhatley]

Hajar,
She is reaching for Neal's hand to see if he still has the crab since she missed it when it dropped through the water column. This species (or at least all that I have kept) are very far sighted and can't see well at all at close range (but can detect movement at at least 12' (3 meters). They primarily hunt by feel (as you can see in most videos of O.briareus) and by motion in the water or vibration on the rocks (very good at isolating vibrations).

Corpusse, Cassy will eat small amounts of food twice a day where her male sibbling only eats once.

 

[Lmecher]

Is Neal into octopus petting/playing too?

I am enjoying your videos very much O. briareus are just so beautiful. The long arms and shimmer make them look so graceful.
I am suffering from empty tank syndrome, until I find one or two, I will get my daily fix from the journals. When you don't have one, you realize just how addicted you are.
I have actually started propigating my maxi mini carpet anemones again.

 

[DWhatley]

Neal does not have the patience to train an octopus to come to his hand but he feeds them most nights and enjoys interacting for that short period of time each day (which is what he was doing in the video). He will occassionally spend a few minutes to SEE if one will come to him to play and will pet one that has become very interactive but is not one to spend an hour or more a day to get them acclimated. He really enjoys building out tanks though so you will hear no complaints from me He would pretty much enjoy anything I am willing to take care of but doesn't understand how people can have FOWLR tanks when there are so many more interesting animals to enjoy. Having most of the tanks were we eat was the best idea we had with them (and I had wanted to keep all the tanks in one room but, as you know, they have crept into others) because we see them while eating in addition to other times purposefully spend mucking about.

Cassy seems like she really wants to interact. She is staying out more and more during the dinner hour and will sometimes reach to touch but is still too timid to play. Tatanka has gone the other way and we rarely see him. I am hoping this will change but I have no clue why as I expected that he would be the more interactive of the two.

 

[zeekat]

I always wonder if you (or anybody interacting with octopuses) never get bitten?

 

[DWhatley]

We have a thread to report bites that is "stuck" to the top of the octopus care forum. You will find some of them rather amusing (be sure to read the one by Neogonodactylus . I always think of the movie Airplane when I read it).

 

[DWhatley]

Touch And Go and Touch, Grab and Go

I was able to get a video of Cassy experimenting with touching my hand. It also emphasises my points that I think O. briareus' eyesight is not a major element in their hunting success. She knows my hand (or at least that the tank top is open something from above is present) but has a hard time finding it. From other experiments, I can tell she knows when I remove my hand and close the top (when she ducks down into the LR, she will immediately pop back up).

Here she can't locate my fingers but wants to investigate:

and here she locates my fingers and tries to pull them to her webbing but releases when she realized there is resistence (or that I am not tastey):

In the first video you can see damage on her arm (R2). We are not sure what caused it but suspect it was the end of a zip tie from our plastic ice cube floating feeding stick. We have used this same device with several octopuses and have never seen an injury but I can't think of anything else that might have caused the slice in her arm. Neal removed the end tab section he thought felt rough even before we noticed Cassy had arm damage. I am debating on giving he a little antibiotic in her shrimp but at her age (6 months) it is likely that just letting it heal naturally is best unless I see local swelling.

 

[DWhatley]

... and one more video A nice webover and view of her sitting in front of the sump return.

 

[sedna]

She's way too cute, D. I hope you feel proud every time you play with her!

 

[Lmecher]

Miss. Cassy has really grown. She is th flashiest (color changing) octopus I have ever seen. How excited you must be making contact with her.
Watching your videos has me even more convinced that I do not have O. briareus. Arms and webbing are all wrong.

 

[Hajar]

Looking great!

 

[Green_Tree]

The flashes of color are really nice on her and she really is a beautiful animal. You are very lucky to have her. Hope she does well.

 

[DWhatley]

I am almost convinced that the tank setup is responsible for the color displays (which never stop getting appreciated). Both Cassy and Maya (who lived in the tank prior to Cassy, it was Puddles tank too but he was fully nocturnal) exhibited much more passing cloud than any others I have kept. I may try to set something up in Monty's tank to keep a ripple effect across the top of the water to see if he starts showing the same attributes.

Green_Tree, lucky is an understatement since she is one of only two hatchlings from Kooah's brood that survived. I am still debating on trying a mating with Tatanka in another four months. I know she will lay eggs about that time and I will lose her anyway but I don't know if I am willing to risk shortening possibly her and Tank's life by trying it. On the other hand I don't know if I can resists the temptation.

 

[Lmecher]

It would most interesting to see this interaction. How amazing would it be to raise a 3rd generation? I would also hesitate considering the risk but has it been documented that they are cannibalistic? It would be very hard to resist giving it a shot.

 

[DWhatley]

Unfortunately, cannibalism is the risk to Tatanka. If you remember Tank's tank it is essentially two aquariums with two connecting tubes. When Kooah first came, KaySoh was in the last stages of senescence and Kooah was small enough not to be crowded in half the tank for a couple of weeks so we came up with a way to block the tubes but allow water to flow between the tanks. For that we used two opaque panels and zip ties. What we are considering is a single clear panel with holes large enough for an arm but hopefully too small for the whole animal. If successful, tank might lose an arm but might be relatively safe. I am going to ask Roy about the feasibility of this kind of setup when the time gets closer. He may have better suggestions.

 

[Lmecher]

You have a little McGyver in you, very clever idea. Now I am getting excited.