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

[SabrinaR]

Me too! You come up with so many good ideas. It will be interesting to see what you come up with.

 

[DWhatley]

Cassy did some really cool things this AM around 5:00. I put new Koralias in her tank last weekend. They are stronger than the ones they replaced and generate a lot more current at the corners. I walked by the tank and noticed her hanging out against the end wall in a horizontal position, almost floating on the current with her web flapping. I got the camera out to attempt a photo and she came right up to the camera on the front wall. I don't belive I was able to capture anything clearly but I put the camera down and put my hand in the tank. She has been showing aggressive curiousity for a couple of weeks and initially her contact was owl-eyed and agressive but this AM she stayed out even after grabbing and retreating. She kept half swiming in the current and then coming to invesitgate. Eventually she moved to the front substrate and spread out on the sand, completely leaving both the glass and the live rock and sort of crawled around with her webbing extended. Very cool to see. Later she touched my hand several times but very gently and without the fast, startled withdrawl. We have not established trust or even a go away sign but I am encouraged that she has the potential.

 

[DWhatley]

Red Light District

Since my first red light video was appreciated I decided to do another .

Well, actually, I just shot this to see if anything would come out and was amazed that the focus was half decent and it gives kind of an errie appeal. I put new style Koralias in Cassy's tank and possibly should have purchased the next smaller size but they did blow out a lot of unwanted "dust" from behind the rocks and Cassy seems to like getting in the more agressive flow. I found her hanging out against the far left wall of the tank sort of half floating in the current but with a slight arm attachment to the glass.

 

[DWhatley]

Nothing really special about this video, I just liked the way Cassy's colors show at the beginning. Neal was holding a crab by the claw and it dropped that claw and escaped (for two seconds). He offered the claw as an extra prize but Cassy had more interest in his fingers.

 

[Lmecher]

She is still trying to figure out wether or not she wants to be social. She is right there and hopefully soon, she will be comming to you hand for petting There something so sweet this bashful behavior, she is such a little sweetie.

 

[corpusse]

The red video looks really cool.

 

[DWhatley]

When she is out and notices the Camera, Cassy seems to come to the front, however, the brown ring around the eyes is not a sign of a relaxed octopus. I spliced a couple of the videos I took tonight together (and they don't represent the true sequence) but we think she was particularly hungry. I hope we are not seeing preegg hunger and just a need for more food (and she did miss the first crab). The grab at Neal's hand is not the typical touch-and-go we see when she is curious. It was more of a shove to get him to take his hand out of the tank, a new behavior. Earlier, she reached up several inches out of the tank to touch Neal's hand. The photo on the right shows another new behavior. Since replacing the Koralias with slightly larger ones, she likes to sit in the current that results from indirect reflection (notice that the Koralia points down to the tank floor). It is hard to get a well focused photo because her webbing flaps in the current.

 

[SabrinaR]

Gosh shes pretty. I am trying the cuttles but octos will always have my .


I remember Isis liked the flow of the powerheads a great deal. She would swim near them and just let her mantle flap in the flow.

 

[DWhatley]

A little eye candy for briareus fans

And a half blind octo insisting food is to be served or the server will become the food.

 

[iAlex]

 

[SabrinaR]

LOL I LOVE IT! Man the whole time I was watching this I was thinking... you need to share!!! LUCKY!

Ok so I am very green with envy. I will try and control myself.

 

[DWhatley]

 

[SabrinaR]

Time and luck, time and a LOT of luck and maybe I can. Only two survived with this hatching (and I DID share some of the hatchlings locally) but I am seriously thinking about trying to mate Cassy and Tank and think I have some ideas on upping my success rate next go-round.

That would be awesome. She is just amazing.

 

[DWhatley]

I think Cassy has decided that wrapping her arms around Neal's hand (out of the water) is now protocal for feeding. Neal seems to have taken a real shine to this one and is interacting with her more than all the others combined. Tonight he let her just take his hand whereever she wanted, noting that she had a large piece of shrimp stuffed in and around her beak .

Cassy interacts (I won't quite call it play but she is inviting interaction) with me as well and will come to the front of the tank and wait for me to put my hand inside. When I do, sometimes she rushes back to the Live Rock (but does not stay there) and sometimes she starts reaching for my hand with webbing well spread. She is still aggressive and grabby but I don't get the feeling she is trying to bite. I will pet the top sides of her arms and she will try to keep me from getting doing it. This has almost become a game (still seeing the dark ring around the eye during part of the interaction but I have noticed that it is not constant now). The aggression seems to be milder and tonight she not only did not totally shy away from my attempt to pet her between the eyes but actually moved up to my finger (a first) and allowed a bare minimum of contact and light stoking.

She seems to pay attention when I am across the room playing with Monty but I don't know if she can see Monty (position of the tank as well as eyesight). She does see me there though and will come out to the front glass to invite interaction.


One other thing we have observed that needs more experimentation is the realization that both Tatanka and Cassy seem to be able to detect things at the surface much better than in the tank. This seems to go along with other octos playing with floating toys but ignoring them once they sink.

 

[DWhatley]

Cassy is making large strides this week toward becoming human interactive (she was seven months old on the 28th of December). We will see if it lasts but tonight she allowed me to pet her mantle (first time for mantle touch at all) for almost a minute out on the front sand. She extended an arm to my hand multiple times during the evening and her touch was the gentlest yet, still tentative but with little or no pulling.