New Aculeatus(?) Journal - Octopus Prime!

Mikewise

GPO
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Nov 27, 2006
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Well after five+ months of preparation, I just received (what I am told is) a tank-raised bimac from Marinedepotlive.com. It was active and curious the moment I took it out of the box for a look and was crawling around (and almost out of!) the bucket during most of the acclimation process. I had to nudge it back down the side a few times during acclimation and each time he would curl up a little and sit in one place for a few minutes, pouting. Already, it has a developing personality!

As I got a closer look at it, I noticed something of slight concern that I’m hoping you guys can alleviate. His left gill (correct term?) looks like it may be prolapsed. There is a tapered trunk-shaped tube that juts out about half an inch from the side of the gill, without anything like it on the other side. It looks as if it should be inside, maybe sucking in water. The tube is translucent and untextured and the tip opens and closes gently as it heaves in and out. Right now I have him in a critter keeper in the tank with a nice porous piece of live rock and a fiddler crab (which he has explored but not eaten). It is typical to leave an octo in the keeper for a couple days while it grows accustomed to you, yes?

Octopus Prime’s colors have varied between deep brown/patches of black and light beige/white (he is pale right now, curled against the side of the keeper). His mantle has a few horns, and there are a couple that pop up from his eyes as well every now and then. It’s very small, but larger than I expected from the pictures that were emailed to me by a lovely costumer service rep. That had been helping me for weeks; the mantle is about 1.5-2” with arms 5-6”. I don't see any false eyes, but it is clearly very young and i understand they may go unnoticed for some time.


I just hope I didn’t hurt it during one of the escape attempts. It looks more spooked now than it did during the acclimation! Let me know if you guys think I should do anything. Pics below coming in a few (uploading them now!)
 
:welcome: octopus prime!

it sounds like the thing you're concerned about is the octo's funnel (sometimes called the siphon)... it should be a stubby cylinder which it can move about. That's how it directs "exhaled" water for jet-propelled swimming and squirting at people... sorry if I'm being foolish and it's something besides the funnel, a picture would certainly help.
 
monty;109520 said:
:welcome: octopus prime!

it sounds like the thing you're concerned about is the octo's funnel (sometimes called the siphon)... it should be a stubby cylinder which it can move about. That's how it directs "exhaled" water for jet-propelled swimming and squirting at people... sorry if I'm being foolish and it's something besides the funnel, a picture would certainly help.

I think you're right. i just noticed that there is in fact one on the other side as well. it was just tucked underneath before.

He's way more active now (just 10 minutes later) and is clearly trying to get out of the critter keeper! he keeps stick an arm throw the slots and the rushing over to the other side to try again. It's very cool to watch :biggrin2: it's colors have returned to light biege/brown and occasionally flashes dark patterns that even seem to run along the suckers!

pics should be available shortly!
 
Mikewise;109522 said:
I think you're right. i just noticed that there is in fact one on the other side as well. it was just tucked underneath before.

there should only be one funnel, but the octo can move it to either side... there's a thread from a few months ago where we debated whether octos have a preference for keeping it on one side or the other, and the tentative thought was that it's usually pointed at the human watcher, possibly because that way if the octo decides there's a threat it can jet water (and maybe ink) at the human and jet away in the other direction.
 
monty;109523 said:
there should only be one funnel, but the octo can move it to either side... there's a thread from a few months ago where we debated whether octos have a preference for keeping it on one side or the other, and the tentative thought was that it's usually pointed at the human watcher, possibly because that way if the octo decides there's a threat it can jet water (and maybe ink) at the human and jet away in the other direction.

ahh i can see what you mean. when i saw the siphon on the other side i assumed that the "other" one was now tucked under on the other side. everything looks normal and healthy. he's been bouncing around the critter keeper nonstop!
 
first batch of photos is updated! there are already more on the way. He already looks more comfortable now than in these photos from the first hour. I feel like a new parent!!

unwrapping ceremony; he came packaged very nicely with a couple heat packs from marinedepotlive.com
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temp. acclimating:
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i love the eye horns
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His colors have become much more vibrant since then and he has been swimming excitedly around the critter keeper for hours now (seems to be in love with the brittle star in the tank.

He readily accepted a piece of thawed frozen shrimp and at some point must have eaten the hermit crab while i wasn't watching ^_^ looks like feeding will be a cinch. should i still order a lot of fiddlers?
 
Welcome to your new octopus. Looks and sounds like a fun one! :smile: Those are some interesting looking "horns". Love that look.

You definitely want to keep a stock of live foods on hand. Really their primary diet should be live foods that have been fed quality foods so that the octopus can get the most out of its meals.
 
some more photos:

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...Just a few more to get online and my image flood will be over for the night. Hey it's my thread and this thing is like a new child. i can't stop!

What do you guys think; is it a bimac for sure? can you make a call on the gender? i know it has something to do with the lengths of specific arms. Those horns remind me of Pai Mei, the chinese kung fu teacher from kill bill 2

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If i hadnt decided on the homage to Transformers 4 months ago, i'd be tempted to reconsider. BTW, i decided to call the 4 remaining hermits The Decepticrabs
 
it got this really bizarre split-hemisphere mantle coloration while picking apart the shrimp. anyone seen this before?

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