My new O. Briareus

[Squidissimo]

I read these forums out of interest to raise a cuttle and came across your post mentioning the crazy idea to put a cuttle and an octo into the same tank.

Sepia Officinalis does definitely hunt during day and night! I can tell by experience because I fish for them from dusk to dawn.

I have no clue about other cuttle species, but if I were you I would not risk and instead try getting in touch with fishermen specialized in the catching cuttles of the species in question. In preference those who fish from shore because they have no means to deploy strong artificial light sources in order to attract the cuttles.

They need to know their trade fairly well because they need to mimic the movement of prawns in order to get cuttles to strike or at least to embrace the jig.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Well first off I did not intend to use Officinalis as my test subject. They grow way too large and from what I know require a colder temperature than I can provide. I was thinking somewhere along the lines of Pfefferi, Tullbergi, Bandensis, or a dwarfed Pharaonis that I have at work. The Pharaonis is about an inch (entire lenght of animal) and is significantly smaller then the others we hatched from the same cluster of eggs. So I'm thinking that it is not going to get much larger then what it already is. The animal does appear healthy and in good contition and would be an excellent subject for this.

 

[skywindsurfer]

But I appreciate your input. As you can see by my Location post under my picture that I am kind of in a land locked area right now and I have no plans as of now to take a trip to an area where cuttlefish are present. But again I appreciate your input.

 

[skywindsurfer]

So when I got home today my octo was waiting by the side of the tank. I figured she was hungry so I fed her a piece of shrimp. Just like last time she was more interested in my fingers so I had to push the shrimp behind the rocks and take my hand out of the tank. She's almost more then doubled in size since I baught her. She also seems to be getting more used to me since she's coming out more and more and seems to stay in her peaceful color pattern more.

 

[skywindsurfer]

I've decided to start adding toys toy tank to help stimulate my octopus more. Tonight I found two bouncy balls and decided to place them in. One sank and one floated. I think this is good cause it'll give her two different stimulants. They are both brightly multi-colored so I'm hoping this will intrigue her.

 

[skywindsurfer]

So tonight I was catching the damsels out of my tnak so I could put a seahorse in there. They were extremlu easy to catch because my octo was out and they wee scared stiff. I was able to hand catch one fish but sadly the other swam between the glass and the rock my octo dens up in. The octo went to go in her den and found the fish. I don't think I have to continue with that story. She's never tried to eat my fish before. Does anyone think she would kill a seahorse now that she's tasted fish?

 

[DWhatley]

Seahorses have absolutely no defenses. Unlike fish they don't even have a fighting chance. If the octo detects it while feeling around there is little chance it will survive. Notice the way the briareus hunts. They appear to be very far-sighted and don't seem to see anything close to their mantle (SueNami was an extreme we think but it appears far-sightedness is common with the briareus). What this boils down to is anything the arms come in contact with that moves is toast.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Yes I've noticed that with what happened with the damsel fish last night. The octopus didn't even try to catch the fish until the fish was right over it and had bumped into the octopus. That's when she sprang up and snagged the fish. But I still find it odd because the other damsel I have sleeps in a hole inside the sand under a rock. I've seen the octo crawl through this same hole from time to time when the fish was out of it, and she alwas seems to shy away from the fish. Why she had a sudden change of heart I have no clue. Naturally fish are on the menue I know, but still.... Another thing I noticed was that my octo didn't eat her meal in the same location behind the rocks on the back wall where she eats EVERY meal. No matter what she catches or is given, she carries it to the same spot before eating it. This time she climbed to one of the highest rocks in the tank near the back left corner and crawled under the rock. (this rock is bowed upwards and has a semi-large chamber underneath). I checked for fish remains this morning but could not find anything. I can't tell if she killed it and ate it, or just killed it out of curriosity and then left it for the brittle stars. Hmmm...any thoughts on that?

 

[skywindsurfer]

Ok so I bought a small tank raise seahorse today. I placed a medium bushy fake plant in the center of the tank which the SH quickly took to. Now only time will tell if the octo will try to climb te fake plant or not. But I have high hopes for these two to survive.

 

[skywindsurfer]

So this is night 2 and no problems with the octo and seahorse
relationship. I honestly see no future issues with this. My fiancé has dubbed her horsee.

 

[Captainsmooth]

A huge disappointment

So this is night 2 and no problems with the octo and seahorse
relationship. I honestly see no future issues with this. My fiancé has dubbed her horsee.

I really wonder about your ability to care for the animals you keep. Not only did you put a octo in way to small of a tank you added it with a fully stocked tank with fish and crabs. I can only imagine your bio load readings now. Justifying it by saying you will get a bigger tank, yet two weeks later you add a seahorse? still no word of a new tank though...You do realize these are both very care specific animals? With very different needs. Like they couldn't be farther apart in how to care for them and the needs they have.

Since it has been 5 days since your last post I am assuming you had a tragic out come with one if not both of those animals. No surprise here.

You should really of done some research and gained some experience before doing what you did. Not just going to the LFS and saying ooh thats pretty I will take that and that. Then coming on here and spouting off like you know what you were doing. Did you not notice even the people on here being nice to you by trying to offer you advice and help you, cringing at your every word?

Not only did I read this post but I checked your profile and read every thread you posted in. You obviously are a beginner to the hobby of even keeping a reef tank, so why in the world would you think you can jump into something like this? If you had some experience in keeping reef tanks you would not have asked the questions you did through out your time here.

In further I signed up here just to speak my mind to you because it seems the people here won't flame you for being a complete fool in doing what you did. You should be ashamed of yourself

 

[skywindsurfer]

Just a little FYI yes I know all about the specific needs of octopus and seahorses. I had already removed all fish before adding the seahorse. My bio load is not that high. I have a few corals, several cleaning inverts and one octo. I read on a post somewhere that a person had successfully kept a seahorse with a briareus and wanted to see if I could do the same. And no it didn't work. I hadn't seen my octo out in a few days and had no chance to feed her. By the time I saw her out and about again she had killed the seahorse but not eaten it. So I fed her a shrimp which she took extremely quickly. As for the reason why I have not posted anything in a while is because I just had a baby with my fiance. And if you know anything about babies you'll know that with a baby barely a week old, I have had no time to jump on my computer and start posting things. Yes I have not posted anything about a larger tank, but that doesn't mean I don't have one. On the contrary I have a 40 gallon right now going and I'm waiting until we move into our house in a few months so I can get a larger aquarium. I do know how to care for my animals and just because I care to venture outside of the mainstream way of doing things does not make me an idiot. Yes I am new to keeping corals and have very little idea of all the needs and different care these inverts need but I am responsible enough to ask for advice from the people I work with that are very knowledgeable in coral care. I am not blind. I can tell that the people who have been on this site for years must look at my posts and think that I am some retarded little kid that probably couldn't keep a gold fish alive if his life counted on it. But I appreciate their patience with me. Thank you for checking out my other post. I'm sure it must have given you a good laugh, but if you have nothing more then to grip then I kindly ask you to stay off my threads. Just a bit of advice. Instead of throwing insults and blind accusations why don't you just simply state that you don't think I know what I am doing and should give my animals to someone who knows better. Because I know that is what you are thinking.

 

[DWhatley]

There are no postings of a briareus and seahorse being successful together. The only species that might have been a viable mix was aculeatus and we don't know the fate of the seahorse with that attempt. As I mentioned, the hunting behavior of the briareus precludes any success with any animal that is defenseless and slow.

 

[Captainsmooth]

Ok then

The next day I found her crawling in between the rocks. She started eating all my crustaceans instantly. I had to rescue my horse shoe crab and place it in my tank at work.

So tonight I was catching the damsels out of my tnak so I could put a seahorse in there. They were extremlu easy to catch because my octo was out and they wee scared stiff. I was able to hand catch one fish but sadly the other swam between the glass and the rock my octo dens up in. The octo went to go in her den and found the fish. I don't think I have to continue with that story. She's never tried to eat my fish before. Does anyone think she would kill a seahorse now that she's tasted fish?

Sounds like you removed them all?????




I simply state that I don't think you know what you are doing and you should give your animals to someone who knows better.

My point of the post in case you missed it, because I am pretty sure you did just like you missed the half dozen times people on here told you your nano cube is to small for a octo.

Is they have bent over backwards trying to explain the proper way to care for these animals yet you still feel obligated to experiment on them or as you say" stray from the mainstream" with them....lol

It is comparable to keeping a lion with a chicken sooner or later the lion will eat that chicken, its not mainstream it is common sense to you right?

Just like its common sense to the people here trying to help you by telling you, you cant keep a seahorse and a octo together, but you choose not to listen to them.

From what I gather you work at some sort of aquarium right?

I can only imagine what these people must think when you came into work spouting off about adding a seahorse with your octo. God you must of been the talk of the place all day, of course behind your back because they were probably sick of you not listing as well to the things they told you to be helpful to you that you blatantly ignored.

So please make a posting offering your octo to someone who can care for it. If it even is still alive which I highly doubt it is. If so I would love to see some dated photos or video of it from today. But I am guessing that won't happen.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Sorry I'm not a better photographer

This is my octopus. Roughly three months old, alive and well. This is her normal spot where she eats and I had to lure her out of her den with a shrimp so I could get this picture.