[Octopus]: Meet King Solomon - O. Briareus

Joined
Jan 27, 2017
Messages
11
Location
West Chester, Pennsylvania
Hey tonmo! I've only made one post here and that was to introduce Irkalla another O. Briareus, unfortunately she was at the end of her days when I purchased her and I actually got incredibly lucky and she died the night before I went to pick her up. (I'm a first time ceph owner so I would have certain thought it was my fault). Last week my LFS got a replacement in and he is visibly much smaller than the last. I just dropped him in the tank with his little PVC pipe moments ago so I figured I'd start his journal while I'm waiting for him to show his face in his forever home. Welcome home King Soloman!
 

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:welcome: Aidan
For whatever reason, only admins can change the title of a thread so I made the name correction for you. King Solomon is a Beautiful O. briareus and I would expect that he is a teen vs an adult.
 
THANK YOU! caught the first glimpse of a tentacle last night, once i figured out where he was hiding (he's in a 125 with a decent amount of rock) I figured I would offer him a fiddler crab, he was eating at the store after a few days so i figured id try it before lights went on around noon. Dropped two crabs in, no sign of the smaller one but the larger of the two was found empty and the smaller one walked right in the assumed den :smile: still cant wait until he shows his face for the first time but i figure it will be a while in a larger tank with plenty of 3D hiding places. seems he's happy though as my main concern was escape. curious how long they usually wait until they scan the entire tank for an escape plan?
 
curious how long they usually wait until they scan the entire tank for an escape plan?
Interesting thought. I have had some octopuses who never seemed to try to find an alternate home, some that clearly observed where the top opened and would investigate the possibility of escape during feeding or cleaning and one that opened a closed (but not weighted down) top and escaped when no one was home causing its death. Unfortunately, I can't suggest a why or when to the actions.
 
totally understood. these things may as well be aliens to me. Were the octopi that never searched for a new home very shy or would they just always retreat to the same place when they wanted to hide? naturally i would presume 50/50, just anxious to see my little buddy out and about!
 
LOL, shyness is a different topic and I would not equate activity or interaction to escape curiosity. The one one thing I would attribute to escape attempts that is not curiosity related is poor water quality. That being said, @Jean has mentioned that their aquarium has had to release animals that never acclimated to aquarium life.

My best suggestion for hoping to see the most of your ward is to be in front of the tank as often as possible in a non-threatening manner (our tanks are in our eating area where we sit quietly on a regular basis). I suggest feeding at the same time each day in the early evening or early morning. O. briareus are nocturnal but will often come out in the early evening for an hour or so if food is provided. Minimizing the ambient lighting may also help encourage early evening activity.

I also recommend using a red light all night on the tank. Red is an acceptable night light color as the red is less likely to be noticed than white or blue. I suggest leaving it on all night so that the tank is never totally dark but still provides a nighttime lighting.
 
i feel like a sponge soaking up info, you are a miracle for what i assume is a lot of frustration compared to what I will experience. thank you for the info already provided and in advance a million times over for the questions to come.ill respond here to the coral post, i assume your advice would be to keep any stinging coral out of the tank? besides my 5 headed torch i only have zoas/palys, a few small sps (1 acro, 1 millie, and a few small monti's) and two small trumpets. id say my coral takes up a total of 5% of my tank
 
Some types of zoas and polyps can be a real problem (I've only found one group of unknown polyps that I have propagated in all my tanks but can't suggest how to id them). If you can't rehouse them, then attempt to put anything with any sting out of a pathway (observation and a little guessing needed to translate that). Mostly, observe as the animal crosses its path. If you see it withdrawing its arm rather than just continuing over it, I suggest finding the coral another home while you have an octo in residence.

As a rule of thumb, gorgonians, leathers, mushrooms (not ricordia), Xenia and Kenya seem to be octo safe. The Tankmates - What Works and What Doesn't sticky at the top of the Octopus Care forum provides a nice list of critters that have been observed.
 

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