Well, I got this little guy on Saturday (1-17-09) from my favorite LFS- "The Pet Connection" here in Livonia. They had been getting a steady stream of aculeatus this summer, and when I walked in last week they were excited to have 2 different types of octopuses. I could ID the merc right away- they were really cool about letting me photo the animals so I could post the pics for IDs. BTW, if your LFS won't let you do that, walk away! If they can't ID for you, they should be happy if you can for them!
After the last go 'round with aculeatus eggs, D. Whatley suggested I try mercs in addition to a different something in the 55 gal., so I was already in the process of changing my 20 gal. fish only so it could house some mercs. I was so happy to happen upon this guy! It was in a critter keeper holding itself to the bottom while holding a small piece of live rock over it. The LFS guy turned the keeper upside- down and the little guy was not going to let go of anything.
I brought the critter keeper home to acclimate in, they were NOT going to wrestle him at the store. I started by floating the box inside the tank, as the room temp is lower than the tank's. Slowly I'd add H2O from the tank, after an hour I'd parked the box at the bottom of the tank with the top off and weighed it down with a cluster of barnacles. I turned my head for only a second and it had moved into a barnacle apartment, never letting go of his live rock chunk!
We were out all Sunday and I was worried that it hadn't eaten at the store or at home yet. When we got home in the evening- an hour after sundown, he was eating a hermit crab. I stick fed him a ghost shrimp last night, but he wouldn't give up the stick. I left it in all night and this morning, he STILL fought me for it. I think he only gave in because he also eating yet another hermit. In the photo, you can see him in his den looking out at me, holding on to his hermit crab shells.
Even if he is nocturnal, he's still fun because you can always see him looking out. I'm guessing if he can make regular meals out of hermit crabs that he is on the older side? I didn't get measurements while he was in the critter keeper, and being my first I can't tell by size how old he might be. Also, I'm not 100% sure it's a "he," the way it keeps its arms curled up around the mantle looking out of the den I never really see all of the arm, but it looks like that 3rd arms is kept curled up tighter...
After the last go 'round with aculeatus eggs, D. Whatley suggested I try mercs in addition to a different something in the 55 gal., so I was already in the process of changing my 20 gal. fish only so it could house some mercs. I was so happy to happen upon this guy! It was in a critter keeper holding itself to the bottom while holding a small piece of live rock over it. The LFS guy turned the keeper upside- down and the little guy was not going to let go of anything.
I brought the critter keeper home to acclimate in, they were NOT going to wrestle him at the store. I started by floating the box inside the tank, as the room temp is lower than the tank's. Slowly I'd add H2O from the tank, after an hour I'd parked the box at the bottom of the tank with the top off and weighed it down with a cluster of barnacles. I turned my head for only a second and it had moved into a barnacle apartment, never letting go of his live rock chunk!
We were out all Sunday and I was worried that it hadn't eaten at the store or at home yet. When we got home in the evening- an hour after sundown, he was eating a hermit crab. I stick fed him a ghost shrimp last night, but he wouldn't give up the stick. I left it in all night and this morning, he STILL fought me for it. I think he only gave in because he also eating yet another hermit. In the photo, you can see him in his den looking out at me, holding on to his hermit crab shells.
Even if he is nocturnal, he's still fun because you can always see him looking out. I'm guessing if he can make regular meals out of hermit crabs that he is on the older side? I didn't get measurements while he was in the critter keeper, and being my first I can't tell by size how old he might be. Also, I'm not 100% sure it's a "he," the way it keeps its arms curled up around the mantle looking out of the den I never really see all of the arm, but it looks like that 3rd arms is kept curled up tighter...