New Octo!!! (again) ID Help!

[jelliott91]

So i got another Octo today, this one is about 2" mantle sie, they say he's a caribbean Octo, and that they got him off the coast of florida. He looks very good, and this time i made some improvements to the tank that may have been my problem last time. (added some more toys, pvc, raised my salinity (1.026 now) and lowered my temp. 73F) He was very good during acclimation, hid right away when put in the tank, and within an hout and a half he was back out and has been in and out for hours now. Hes very active and was shooting some wild colors at me when i tried feeding him. He didnt take the food, but it was just mysis shrimp and a froen silverback for now. Dont have any crabs yet, but theres tons of hermits in ther with him. heres some pics if anyone can give me and accurate ID on species or gender? (theyre bad pics, taken with my iphone, sorry. more to come.

 

[DWhatley]

It looks like they have the original location correct. I would be comfortable with saying O. briareus and male (note 3rd right arm - R3 - in lower left photo, not only is it curled but it looks like you can see the spermatophore channel just above where arm R1 crossed in front of it).

Do you have another tank for the candy coral? If not can you put it in an out of the way place that is not likely to get octo traffic? I don't think the candy's have much sting but the octo will trample it where it is. This species in particular will disrupt anything no secured as it seed no need to go around anything it can go over.

Big question though, how big is your tank (I don't remember you saying last time )? This species (the same as your original) is the largest we typically keep and an absolute minimum of 55 gallons (others will say 65 or 75 and I would not argue) is needed for the adult.