Meet OCTOROK!

glad to now that everyone is coming round to the octopus :smile:... dont think I'll ever get my other half to clean out the tarantula tank though LOL
 
rcl said:
My girlfriend brought over a very small rubber ducky today as a toy for Octorok, and we took turns putting it in the tank with him. She had been nervous about me getting an octopus from the start, so it was neat to see Octorok finally 'shake hands' with her. After being around a baby octopus for a few weeks it is amazing how someone's perception of them can change!!!

Glad to hear everyone has gotten more comfortable together. I have to ask, what made your girlfriend nervous? Was she worried she wouldn't like the new pet? Worried about caring for a demanding animal? Or that you'd want to spend all your time at home with the octo? That the cat or other pets would drown trying to get the octo?

Maybe I'm blinkered, having lived with other people's tarantulas and monitors and such. The only thing I don't really want in the house are rodents.

Melissa
 
Octorok Update September 30th

I have been getting my 8 legged friend to play with me lately by moving sand and especially larger pieces of shell (i have this in my tank) around with my fingers, almost 'stirring up' the sand. This almost always draws his attention and he reaches out some of his arms onto my finger right away! He'll then pull me and anchor himself with his other arms. Whenever I am in the tank he is calm and always climbing on me!

Tonight I think he tried to bite me but I am unsure. He had his head over my finger and then all of a sudden I felt a very sharp 'pinching' sensation on my hand. It happened several times, but no skin was broken.. I think either he was nibbling on my finger but couldn't/didn't break skin, or he was pulling extra hard with one of his strongest suckers (near his mouth). Any input would be appreciated.

I am kind of concerned about octorok's eating habits. He will eat frozen foods that I put in the tank for the other fish.. but he doesn' seem to get excited about any food I put in with him. This includes hermit crabs (small ones) and even clams. He will eat them but never seems very interested at first, and barely changes colors it seems... I think this happens when he is already full though maybe, as now for instance he looks to be hunting around the tank and is changing colors a lot.

He has grown some I can tell, but no measureable amount. He seems to be getting stronger and stronger though. I play with him every day still!!

As comfortable as he is with me, when I bring food into the tank it scares him a lot. The other day I was putting a clam near him and he actually jetted away squiriting ink THREE times. This is about the millionth time he has inked.. at first I thought that I was what scares him, but if I come into the tank "alone" he is completely fine and has never inked or anything, it's always when I bring food into the tank. I think maybe he thinks I am on the CLAMS' SIDE!!! At any rate I am pretty much done hand feeding him since I don't want to see him get upset and ink, but I might start it up in another month or so.

Over and out from octorok :cyclops:
 
What temperature is 'Rok sitting at? Sometimes the warmer water an make them a bit more skittish...
 
Melissa said:
rcl said:
My girlfriend brought over a very small rubber ducky today as a toy for Octorok, and we took turns putting it in the tank with him. She had been nervous about me getting an octopus from the start, so it was neat to see Octorok finally 'shake hands' with her. After being around a baby octopus for a few weeks it is amazing how someone's perception of them can change!!!

Glad to hear everyone has gotten more comfortable together. I have to ask, what made your girlfriend nervous? Was she worried she wouldn't like the new pet? Worried about caring for a demanding animal? Or that you'd want to spend all your time at home with the octo? That the cat or other pets would drown trying to get the octo?

Sorry I missed this post Melissa, for some reason forums don't always email me when I get replies to topics.. :arr:

She, and my mom who I live with, were both worried because they really didn't know anything about octopuses or how they would look or act. I was nervous at first too! I was very interested in them, but had never really seen one and definitely never seen how one acted.. so I had no way to be sure this was something I would really enjoy. Luckily I went out on a limb, and I'm very glad I did!!

Everybody has warmed up to the octopus really well. Just the other day my girlfriend, who teaches preschool, nabbed a couple of the large plastic blocks from her school for octorok! She was excited to give him toys because he is our friend :arr: I just put one of the blocks in last night, and he was happily pulling and pushing it around. Maybe he will build a crab statue out of legos for me!

Robert :cyclops:
 
I wouldn't worry about hand feeding. That's usually done to encourage interaction, but you seem to have plenty of that already. When you felt something like a pinch, that might have been Octorok rubbing his beak against your skin. He's just curious and won't do this all his life! Sometimes they can scratch a little, too. I think he could have broken the skin if he'd wanted to.

Maybe your hand looks different to him when you have food in it, too.

I think you'll work out a way to have him stop inking. But he's friendly and getting along OK, so that's what's important. As for the growth, if a tiny bimac grows 10%, you won't notice it much. The bigger he gets, the more you notice his additional growth.

Thanks for the update! Looking forward to the next one!

Nancy
 
Happy new year from rcl and OCTOROK! :rainbow:

A lot has gone on since then, but the major points of interest are --

The domino damsel got huge (probably 2.5" at least, and FAT) and harassed the 4 stripe damsel and OCTOROK quite a bit. I was about to sell the domino damsel when I saw that OCTOROK had 'taken a bite out of crime' so to speak! The fish was Quite Dead with a giant piece missing. OCTOROK was not very hungry afterwards. No visible marks on him, so I assume he escaped unscathed.

The chocolate chip starfish is still good. OCTOROK puts his arms around him sometimes but they are friends

I had a rock with loads of mushrooms on it in my reef tank, which were getting improper lighting and were DYING so I threw them in with OCTOROK, despite warnings. They are now flourishing in the dimmer flourescent light, and OCTOROK is nice to them. Everyone said they will be covered up by the octopus, but nothing could cover them up more than my jawfish was!!!!!

IMPORTANT NOTE --- after putting the mushroom rock in OCTOROK's tank I noticed an aiptaisia pest anenome on it, rather small. I was VERY worried that OCTOROK was going to be hurt by this, but before I could even do anything he was all over the rock -- and all over the anenome!! Since, he has touched it many times, and has never indicated that it hurts him. I know little to nothing about the stinging effects of these anenomes, and I am not one to gamble with my octopus's safety, so I am getting some 'joe's juice' from a coworker to kill this pest before something serious does happen.. but I just found this interesting because it was contradictory of things I had heard before


Today I have fed OCTOROK a gigantic electric blue hermit crab (placed it in his tank). He has 'attacked' it a few times, but has not killed it. I have a feeling that when the lights go out, it may be the end for the crab -- ONLY TIME WILL TELL.

As I have been saying in another thread, a FUTURE PLAN for OCTOROK is to introduce the saltwater shrimp from shrimpstuff.com.. I am thinking this will awake his natural instincts a bit more and give him a bit more natural life. Another future plan is to add some more mushrooms! These really brighten up the tank, and the 12 hour'ish photo-period I give them does not bother my 8 legged friend at all. He is out a lot of the time with it on or off!


Bye for now from rcl and OCTOROK :cyclops:
 
Marinerules, you're not comparing apples to apples.

You have a baby bimac, still in the "baby hiding stage".

Octorok arrived in mid August, so he's a good 4 1/2 months older than your bimac, more confident and out and about more.

Be patient and take good care of the little guy.

Nancy
 
i know im complaining alot , I STILL LOVE TEH GUY , i just want to be able to go in there and SEE amazing stuff lol
sorry for being negative.

how big is his octo , i cant find it anywhere, if its 4.5 months, must be pretty big
 
So glad to hear Octorok is doing so well! Sounds like quite the charactor! You mentioned a jawfish.What type? I've always favored the dusky jaws! Any new pics?

Carol
 
I have a yellow headed jawfish (obviously NOT in the same tank with OCTOROK) and he/she is very cool. I have a very good picture of it --

jaw1.jpg


As for pictures of OCTOROK I still have no good ones really. I need to fix this soon!!!


Lately he has been scared a lot I think. It is either because of the aiptasia, or this large crab I added to his tank, or its possible he is becoming a little too large for his den. Its also possible he is just maturing and changing.. ever since he ate the live fish he has been very reluctant to take pieces of silversides... he will still take mysis/brine shrimp no problem though luckily.

I'm thinking that maybe after experiencing his 'hunting' instincts he is going to be more picky... perhaps this is why he is hanging out in new places (like near the powerhead frequently) I am going to do a couple water changes in the near future to make sure it isn't water quality related. I really do think this may be a new behavior pattern emerging, though.

Any common experiences would be helpful :cyclops:
 
Hey with the anenome I have had experances killing them using a hypodermic neddle. Just lance the little guy with it and pull out most of his insides using the syringe. If that dosent work I think you can inject them with vinager. Not positive on this one though. Some one else might have experance with this.

Pacific Blue
 

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