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New keeper - A few questions

Hah, I just used the straw to tap around his entrance and push the hermit near it, and he ate another one this morning. These are good signs I hope. He has not ventured out at all that I know of since he went into his den on Saturday, but has eaten two crabs. He may have been freaked by the damsels I have since gotten rid of.
 
Amygdalan;130387 said:
How do I get the crab to stick to the straw? Lol...

I disable the male fiddler claws by breaking off the point of one side. Sometimes the claw stays with the crab, sometimes it drops it. If the claw remains attached, I put one side of the claw into the straw (I actually use a very long pipette) but all imaginative ideas are welcomed. Dino appears to have used a zip tie to successfully secure a crab during a sabotaged feeding experiment.:hmm:
 
Well, I left him for two nights alone over the holidays. There is an emerald crab missing and I found its claw and a piece of its carapace at the bottom of the tank. Now unless the other emerald crab ate it, I'd say he was out hunting. I have not seen him out of his den once since he's gone in. He did take TWO hermits today that I danced in front of the opening, so I hope this is a good sign. He's been in the tank for one week now. I've also been slowly raising the salinity as it was a bit low.

Anyhow, I'd like to see him on the hunt some time, any tips for that? I see people talking about red LEDs/lights. Do these lights not bother the octopus? Also, how often should I keep the tank lit up? I keep the lights on minimally right now.

Thanks!
 
Amygdalan;130494 said:
Anyhow, I'd like to see him on the hunt some time, any tips for that? I see people talking about red LEDs/lights. Do these lights not bother the octopus? Also, how often should I keep the tank lit up? I keep the lights on minimally right now.

Thanks!

We have 6 layers of red vellum under the standard fluorescent tube "at night". This seems to work better than red LEDs. Octos don't seem to see red wavelengths well, but they do seem to notice the red LEDs if you are moving them. We keep the white fluorescent on for 6-10 hours a day for the macro algae and the rest of the time is red. Don't ever have it completely dark in the tank if you want them to come out under the reds. Keep the rest of the room dark and don't wear light-colored clothing when you approach the tank.
 

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It was just vellum paper from the craft store... comes in 12" x 12" sheets. The more you use, the better. We originally had 3 layers but noticed a marked increase in merc activity when we increased to 6 layers.

If you want to film in the dark, Sony's video cameras with the "Nightshot" feature work really well.
 
As an alternate, I have high temperture vellum in the cover of my light and never turn it off. The only daylight the tank receives is the ambient light from the room but I do not keep any light sensitive critters or algaes in the the merc tank.
 
Sorry about that Nancy... Yes, vellum comes in a bewildering variety of colors and patterns, including red. The red vellum I use actually has stars. :wink: I've edited my previous post for clarity. Previous discussions on this have compared red vellum and red acetate film, but I think D and I agree that the vellum works better.
Greg
 
Since I actually put the vellum inside the light fixture (I use an outdoor flourescent and have created a top that supports it - try finding something that fits a hex shaped tank :heee:), I use the high temperature velum - no stars :razz: or other designs - and leave the light fixture on 24/7
 
I think he's getting more used to the tank. He moved dens the other night while I was away during Christmas. Then last night when I turned all the lights off, I got up to use the restroom and noticed him for the first time out in the tank and active on the wall. Of course I scared him back behind the rocks, but it's encouraging to see him active.

I'm going to pick up some red vellum paper this week to see if I can't catch him moving around.

:smile:
 
I got the red vellum and I'm filtering the light with it. Maybe I need to add more layers, but it's pretty dark red now and he doesn't seem to want to come out in it at all. Last night after all lights were out and I was in bed, he moved dens yet again (this is because I had to move some rocks around and unfortunately disturbed him).

I got my red vellum paper from here for around $18 including shipping:

http://www.paperandmore.com/red_vellum_paper_27.html

It's very good quality and true red!
 

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