[Octopus]: Octane - O. Hummelincki (filosus)

[Nancy]

It's interesting how different they are! Ollie enjoyed tank mantenence (and other octo owners have reported this, too) and especially enjoyed water changes. Bill had to distract her because she wanted to participate!

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

Interesting. There is no question Octane does not like me to clean his tank but does like to play with me/my hand. When we "play", he comes up to be petted and will even come into my cupped hand (I tried to capture this in the last video sequences). He has gotten quite touchy/feely and comfortable with my hand in the tank at play time. When I am cleaning, he is now swimming over to my hand (in spite of the fact that I try to clean on the opposite side) and "shoving" it away with his arms. He is still gentle but the "shove" is quite obvious and not at all like trying to play.

When he was out of the tank, I briefly considered seeing if he would just crawl up my arm. We have intereacted so much that my concerns over a nip are minimal (I still keep my fingers clear of his beak but will let him get very close) BUT I am not sure that goes for a panic situation even though it would likely have been the best way to return him to his water environment and may have reduced the stress that followed. I was more worried about the stress than about the out of tank experience and his recovery took the better part of a day.

Interestingly, he wanted his shrimp given to him behind the rocks on a stick again tonight in stead of his normal lazy, put it in my mouth behavior (he normally comes to the front corner and exposes his beak for Neal to give him his shrimp). He did come up and play tonight but was still a little skiddish.

 

[corw314]

I'm wondering if escaping is a character trait of this type as the last 2 I got from saltwaterfish.com, as you know, Ickily made quite a journey around my room and then Oscar was out of the water in the bag trying to squeeze through the opening I had tied shut by a wire tie, but would have no part of going back into his bag. Interesting that Octane has the same behavior. We think Oscar is the same as Octane.

 

[DWhatley]

I'm wondering if escaping is a character trait of this type as the last 2 I got from saltwaterfish.com, as you know, Ickily made quite a journey around my room and then Oscar was out of the water in the bag trying to squeeze through the opening I had tied shut by a wire tie, but would have no part of going back into his bag. Interesting that Octane has the same behavior. We think Oscar is the same as Octane.

I pontificated on Oscars thread, YES, I feel quite sure Oscar is the same species as Octane and that they are Hummelincki

Oscars Journal

 

[DWhatley]

Octane continues to get more insistent about wanting out of his tank. He has seemed restless a good bit of the week and has been awake after lights out every night. He still plays with me every night but his attempts to leave the tank start almost as soon as I open the lid. Tonight he crawled up my hand with his mantle and most of his arm out of the water. He let go and went back to his tank after I submerged my hand completely and then went into his corner and sulked. I am not sure if we are starting into sesenence or if he has out grown his tank and wants more room. Unfortunatley, the larger tank has been delayed and may not be completed for him.

 

[Nancy]

I wish we knew more about this species. I found so little inforamtion and what I found was not thorough or helpful, so much so that I did not include O. hummelincki in the Species Notes of Ceph Book (but Octane's photo is included).

Maybe if we knew more about the species, it would help us understand this desire to wander. Aculeatus moves over a lot of territory, but seems to settle down in a tank quite well. Can you increase the enrichment ?- new toy, rock. (I know this is a bad time right now because of Neal's injury).

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

I had hoped to put him in a whole new tank. He had not seemed interested in any of my prior floating "toy" offerings and I added a few snails a couple of weeks ago but he ignores them as well as the resident clams now. He is such a lazy feeder. When Neal feeds him he comes up to the front corner and flops over to expose his mouth most of the time. With only the use of one hand right now, I am going to start feeding him again as it would be difficult for Neal to capture him if he did get out. I am going to change out twice the normal water today but I don't think that will make a difference.

Some ramdom thoughts about Hummelincki:

It puzzles me a bit is why the Bimac is so popular and the Hummelincki is never mentioned. I suspect that many bimacs that have survived well in warm tanks have actulally been Hummelincki as it is rarely known where the octos are caught by the time the get to their home aquarium. Every positive thing written about the Bimac (except the egg size) applies to the Hummelincki, they are an excellent size for a 55 gallon aquarium and very interactive. I have noticed that a few people have posted notes about how many octos there seem to be for sale to the aquarium trade of late and if you couple that observation with the abundance of squid (and I recently read octopus too are being caught in large numbers but fishermen), it occurs to me that all cephs may be benefiting from the warming water trends or the excess nutrients in the water (as seems to be the case with the less desireable crown of thorns). It may be that Hummelincki is one of those benefiting (especially since it is small egged) and are more plentiful. With Octane anyway (as well as the fella I watched in St Martin), it appears their lack of fear of humans make them an easy, safe catch for the home aquarist.

 

[Nancy]

Bimacs were popular until a year or two ago, when they became much harder to get. We had breeders - Octopets, a company that eventually went out of business, and then Zyan Silver. This year we have no captive bred bimacs and few are available elsewhere. It's usually known what part of the world the octopus comes from. Therefore, it would be hard to confuse a hummelincki and a bimac. They look quite different, too.

So we have to adapt to what is available. Right now we have A. aculeatus, O. hummelincki, O. briareus, O. mercatoris, and a few assorted other species and unidentified species, and some blue rings. It's a wider choice than we've ever had before.

Also, the octo trade is seasonal - something I think we should track more so we know which species are available at certain times of the year.

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

White Ink

Has anyone else noticed this behavior?

Now(as in it did not happen when Octane first arrived), everytime Octane takes his nightly shrimp he excretes a white cloud mixed with a few white strings. I have been thinking that it is waste elimination but it looks like white ink and seems to happen the minute he takes his food, sort of an out with the old and in with the new. There is no fear or color change associated with the action so I don't think it is inking but the consitency is similar.

 

[corw314]

I think it is his waste. Seems he's in the habit of excreting when you feed. Regulated octo pooping...interesting!

 

[DWhatley]

Escape from Aquatraz

Unfortunately, I was tripod shooting this and did not have the camera aimed above the water line:



The lid is hinged 2/3 of the way back and the full length of the tank. When he disappears, he is fully on the flipped back cover

... and here is yet another video of Octane coming up to be petted:

 

[Animal Mother]

Fun stuff! I wish Kalypso was that calm.

 

[DWhatley]

Fun stuff! I wish Kalypso was that calm.

Oh, Kalypso is just thowing hand grenades ...

 

[gholland]

Could we at least dub in a little yelling or screaming? You seem too calm. Just another boring escape attempt now eh? heh

 

[DWhatley]

Could we at least dub in a little yelling or screaming? You seem too calm. Just another boring escape attempt now eh? heh

Actually, all I could think of was, "I hope the camera is getting a good shot of this so I can show Nancy how much they resemble a bimac out of the water". Since I was playing directly with Octane and not doing tank mainenance with him slipping out the back door, it really was not a panic situation. The flipped up side of the cover is about 8" wide and gives me a good margin before I need to panic but he is quick once he is out of the water and it takes me a minute and two hands to try to get him to release the cover. Had I known I was missing the shot and not trying to act quickly, I might have thought to tilt it tankward just to get him in the picture.

I have been experimenting a little with his escape behavior and so far, he only seems to come out of the tank (now) when he is touching my hand or at least playing with me. If I open the lid and invite him to the opposite side, he will come to the surface but keeps his arms inside the tank until he is touching me. I have only tried hands on the opposite side observations for two days though and he may decide to bolt as I continue to experiment.