Morpheus

[Lmecher]

We have a name:Morpheus.

Morpheus didn't take the shrimp last night. The fiddler is still alive and well.
I watched him for a couple hours last night, he seems to move clumbsily on the glass. I have read many saying that they have trouble figuring out how much suction to exert on glass, so I understand this is normal.

Moderators, please change the title of this thread to "Morpheus".
Thank You

 

[Lmecher]

Little Morpheus is up early tonight, made a appearence around 8:00 pm w/brite lights on, I was in a good way.
My daughter called her friend to come take a look at him. I think I'll wait a little bit to offer him shrimp. Hope he takes it tonight.

 

[Lmecher]

Morpheus is one crazy octopus. Yesterday when I offered him some shrimp, he backed away then crept closer, touched it then backed away again. He kept this up for a while until finally curling around it and digging in. He only ate a little bit before slithering away. Either he was scared or he thought it was a game. (I kind of enjoyed it though)
My daughter was studying the tank today and she noticed a little spot where the sand was moving up and down ever so slightly. She concluded he was sleeping under the sand. Is this possible? Would he bury himself? The lights have been off for almost 2 hours so we'll if he emerges from the sand. With all the rockwork and caves to choose from... like I said crazy.

Oh, I ordered some fiddlers and shore shrimp today, need to ready my crab tank. Should the crabs have a dish of fresh or saltwater. Seems a silly question as I'm typing it, hope you guys aren't thinking, man is she stupid. This is all new to me

 

[DWhatley]

Yes, some octopuses bury themselves and make their dens in the sand. This has been a problem with people that still use undergravel filters. I saw a note from Muctopus so she has come up for air, hopefully she will take a look at the photos and behaviors and make an ID suggestion.

There are several reported ways to keep the crabs. I keep a very thin layer of course sand on the bottom, fill it with about 2 inches of saltwater (three is fine, 1 is not enough) and put a fake rock in the middle that lets them climb out of the water. I rinse the sand with fresh water and flush with salt whenever I get a new batch (about once a month) unless it smells - then I clean immediately. I check for dead or dying (barely moving) daily and freeze of feed the ones that have newly expired or are about to. I have never been able to get the females with eggs to survive as long as the others. I have tried isolation and deeper water (it is my understanding that they lay their eggs in deeper water but I have seen some known erroneous info on them on them - like they don't shed, they do - the net so this may not be the case).

 

[Lmecher]

Morpheus came out early tonight, around 7:30. This is the first time we saw him actually swim a little, usually he just crawls on the glass. Never seen him crawl on the rockwork. He ate a small portion of the shrimp I offered him. When he was done eating he slowly moved up the feeding stick. He wrapped his arm around my finger, I was not expecting that. (I was )I feel he is still a unsure yet curious about his human keepers. My eleven year old daughter was so excited she wanted to see if he'd touch her finger. On her first attempt, he moved away. We waited a little while and tried again. he very slowly came closer and closer and reached out and coiled his arm around her finger. It gave her a real thrill. When she decided she'd had enough, he would not let go. She said "mom he's trying to pull me in" It was pretty funny because she was really serious. He let go and everything is good. She is pretty brave, at her age I would have been too scared. We will work slowly on geting him used to us and building trust. I am feeling pretty good, I made the right decision getting this octopus.
Life is good

 

[DWhatley]

I wrote a rather uhh lengthy post on my method of touch interaction in Caligula's thread (post #38 but just scroll to the tomb). You might have your daughter read it for a comfort zone on handling the pulling and reducing the fear. It is great to see the families interest. I wonder when your husband will be brave enough to put his hand in the tank

 

[Lmecher]

My daughter Sam was a real trooper, she didn't pull away, just waited for him to let go. I watched very closely as I didn't want hers to get bit. She has a good story to tell now. My husband is working nights this week so he hasn't been able to spend time with Morpheus. He is looking forward to it.
I did read your posting, I will follow your adivice. I am enjoying this all way too much. I don't get to bed until 2:00 am each night but well worth it.

 

[DWhatley]

If you do have her read the thread, I also have a picture of a young girl (my granddaughter) petting an octo posted on our picture of the month contest here. When this picture was taken, Octane was already quite tame and seemed to prefer the attention of females as he would come to me, my mother and my granddaughter without much delay but would rarel come to Neal for petting.

 

[mucktopus]

Ok- back on dry land. As with everyone else, I agree it's in Abdopus. It could be an aculeatus that's taking a while to adjust to a new time zone, or a different species. We know of a nocturnal Abdopus species from Hawaii (currently working on the description), and Mark Norman reports seeing aculeatus (or something similar) active at night in Indonesia. Closely related species often have lots of behavioral similarities, but there are always exceptions (for example, the one in hawaii is nocturnal and subtidal).

Thanks D for the pm- I was on a boat for a while and only briefly sitting at a desk for the next few days- will be in the field (mostly Raja Ampat), lot between now and the end of January, with frequent lack of internet access, but will check in when i can.

 

[DWhatley]

Mucktopus, Always cool when you surface! Wish you would mention a bit of your wet adventures though.

 

[mucktopus]

always good to feel at home at Tonmo! If internet is working at home tonight I'll try posting a thread.

 

[Lmecher]

Thank you Mucktopus, appreciate your opinion. Now if only I could pronouce Abdopus, seems so many words in this hobby are difficult to pronounce without hearing them spoke. The one problem I find with getting all my information by

Morpheus continues to reject the shrimp I offer him. I do however see more empty snail shells on the bottom of the tank. I can only see 1 live snail left in my tank. My fiddlers and shore shrimp are due to arrive today. I will throw a couple of each in the tank and hope he goes for them. I am also picking up more so he still has that option.

 

[Lmecher]

I just got my shipment from Sachs. I only lost 1 fiddler and none of the shrimp so I am very pleased. I was very shocked at how tiny the shrimp were. I knew there was no way I would be able to catch these if I were to release them into my reef tank so I just added them to Morpheus's tank. Hope that wasn't a mistake.

Stopped by LFS and picked up 20 more snails. Seems he really has aquired a taste for them as I find more empty shells daily. He has pretty much cleaned me out. Since he has not been accepting the shrimp, they suggested I try their sea food mix. Will keep trying, and hoping.

I set up my crab tank in my idle 2 1/2 gallon aquarium. I added an inch and a half of fine sand and a chunck of rock. I sunk a plastic lid into the sand for water. (salt) I moistened the sand and will monitor it to keep it moist. I threw in a little pankton krill flake food. Is there anything I have done wrong or I have forgotten

Here's a couple shots of my crab tank~

 

[DWhatley]

It is a shame you are sacraficing that LR. Any climb on/hide in rock kind of thing will do and artificial is fine. I found mine actually did better without the LR (likely it had die off that polluted the water). Be sure to post how well this set up works and how much trouble it is to clean and monitor the water in the sand. I went to submersed sand because I kept failing to notice the evaporation so this may be a better setup if watered daily.

 

[Lmecher]

The chunk of rock is actually dead and I had it so I used it. I will post my expereince with maintaining it. I am hoping it won't be to bad. The substrate is pretty wet and I have no automatic top off systems so it won't be a problem adding water daily. I am hoping it won't have an odor (do these usually get smelly?) it is on my kitchen counter, on the nonfood side.