My first octopus

Smecher

Pygmy Octopus
Registered
Joined
Jan 23, 2011
Messages
9
My octopus came today. It is O. briareus from Kara at Sea Life Inc. It got to my house at 9:20 am. The box was a little soggy, it had leaked. I was at school. My mother opened it and started acclimating it. She took notes for me.
Even though there was leakage, there was still plenty for the octopus in the bag. It was difficult to see through the layers of plastic bags and plastic container. She could not see it clearly. It was very cold, 55 degrees. Floated bag to warm it up for about 40 minutes. Opened the bag, the little octopus was not moving and barley breathing. My mom began acclimating. She did an ammmonia test it registered off the chart. She thought it was not going to make it. After a while it began breathing normally and moving
I got home at lunchtime and took over adding water to the bag. I did an ammonia test to see how far it went down, it was .25. I saw it wringing it's arms, my mom said that was a bad sign. It was breathing a little hard so we decided to released it at 1:30.
When I released it, it stayed in the container it came in. It is still there now. My mom said it is normal for O. briareus to stay in their acclimation container until night time.
I am not sure how big it is, it is in a tight ball but the mantle is about 1 inch.
It is a really cute octopus! It was a really beautiful blue color right
before we put it in the tank. :biggrin2: :smile:
I have some photos and videos my mom will post.
 
Sam is my daughter. This was a nerve racking acclimation. At times I was sure we were going to loose this little guy. I took no photos until just before we released him, was too worried.
Here are photos of acclimation, she did a good job :smile:
(she was a half hour late getting back to school but it was worth it)

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This evening, still in container.
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We thought this was kind of funny, sucker through hole.
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Videos are still down loading, will post as soon as they are finished.
 
I checked in a couple of times while at the office to see if there were any posts :biggrin2:. Fortunately this species seems to be hardy and they do occassionally (especially these last two winters) get exposed to temperatures that low. From what little you can tell in photos, it looks promising.

Kooah (I think) stayed in her cup until late at night but I kept seeing suckers and arm tips popping through the holes.

:fingerscrossed:
 
It left the acclimation container. We got some good photos. It is missing several arms. He dissapeared into the rocks. All of a sudden I looked and it is on the front glass walking around. Oh so cute :wink: :smile: :biggrin2:
 
He/she is really a cutie. Younger than Cassy and Tank (8 months on Friday) I think from the mantle. Kara mentioned an arm missing then noticed more when they did the "photo shoot". The damage I can see is very new and you (Sam :biggrin2:) will be able to see it regenerate. It will start like a little string, next you will be able to detect tiny suckers and then it will start getting fatter and longer. I have guestimated that they grow about an inch a month but others have observed growth three or four times faster. Age may be a factor and this is a young one so try to remember to post when you start seeing it and estimate how much it grows in a week.

Going back and looking at Cassy's thread, I am going to guess age at somewhere between 4 and 5 months old.
 
Things are going well. I have decided to name my new octopus!!! His/her name is Aquamarine! :wink: Aqua made a den right in the front. I took a picture this morning.

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I got a chance to feed Aqua at around 6 o'clock. We wanted to video the feeding, but Aqua grabbed it so fast that the video started after the grab. I feel very good that Aqua has eaten. :smile:
D, I am glad it is young. I have seen the regrowth on our other octopuses so i will know what to look out for.
Aqua was out between 2 and 3am. We are going to post a video. :biggrin2:




Look what else our camera captured, he's such a little devil!!

 
IMLE (limited experience) I have not seen O.briareus den like that when there is LR available for denning but Kooah had some very odd looking behaviors too and I suspect it has a lot to do with the substrate where they were hatched.
 
Not long after lights out, Aqua came out of her shell. I am not sure how long she was in there but we laughed to see the arm tips sticking out, flailing in the current. I rearranged the rock last week and am not happy with the flow. This afternoon I added the brand new koralia I purchased for this tank, never needed it until now. It is right behind this shell. She has been o the side wall for at least an hour. Sam fed Aqua a shrimp right before she headed off to bed. Aqua took it right away.
She was out roaming again last night between 2 and 3 am. I still cannot figure out how many arms are actually intace, sometimes I think 3 and others 4. I also think arm R3 is severed but still trying to get a better look to confirm this.
 

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