Sedona - O.mycropyrus

YAY!!! Shes eating! I clean out the carrier everyday and dump out all the poo and sand and food thats left... Well today I went and looked. The 2 shrimp I had put in there were dead, but one of them had been ripped apart and parts were missing! I am VERY happy about this. Thank you for the link... I will read up.
 
sk252006;164283 said:
I clean out the carrier everyday and dump out all the poo and sand and food thats left...
Wait... What is happening to Sedona during this daily procedure? I would think that the daily trauma of being caught, or being in the keeper while it's being dumped out, would make it hard for her to conclude that her world is a safe stable place, and that she should start coming out more.

Can you find a less disruptive way to clean the enclosure, like using a net and/or a siphon to suck out the junk?
 
What normally happens is she is hiding on the underside of her rock. I take out the shrimp left overs and then rock (she stays on the rock the whole time and is then placed on the sand bottom of the main tank) and then I dump the empty carrier. I never handle her just the rock nor do I try to catch her. Do you think this is bad? Today the carrier wasn't very dirty so I just took out the shrimp and left everything as it was. Maybe a hose would be a better idea though.
 
AH! I came up with a better way... at least I think so. I can put a hermit crab in the carrier. That way if she wants to eat it she can and either way it cleans up the poo. Let me know what you think of this idea. I have never had such a small octo before and I dont normally use the carrier. First time user here. Thank you for your suggestion Joe-Ceph I would have just kept doing it and then wondered why she wasn't coming out.
 
Your plan certainly won't hurt, and will probably help, but you don't want hermit crab poo building up any more than you want octop poo to. What about letting water flow do most of the work? What if you fed a hose into the carrier, through a tight fitting hole, and continuously ran a small powerhead outside the carrier, connected to the hose,? The idea is to continuously blow "clean" tank water into the carrier at a rate that is just fast enough to pickup and keep particles of poo and small food scraps suspended in the water, where they will eventually flow out of the carrier. Any pieces that are too big and heavy can be eaten by either your octopus or hermit crab, and the hermit crab poo should be small enough to blow away and not collect in the carrier. The environment and water chemistry in the carrier would be as clean and stable as in the big tank, and your little octo wouldn't have to endure daily alien abduction or the subsequent PTSD. If the smallest powerhead you can find creates too much flow, you can drill small holes in the tubing, before it enters the carrier, which will let some of the water, and pressure, escape before it goes into the carrier. Drill as many as you need to knock the flow down below gale force, but still fast enough to kick up all the poo so nothing can settle on the bottom.

If you decide to drill a hole in the carrier, or its lid, to get the hose in, be sure to back up the thin plastic with a flat piece of junk wood when you drill, so that the drill bit pushes through the plastic and immediately into the wood. Press the wood and plastic tightly together so neither one can shift or spin during the drilling. If you don't, the plastic is much more likely to crack, or chip during drilling. I suspect that sandwiching the plastic wall of the carrier, or lid, tightly between two pieces of wood would be even better, especially for thin plastic. This trick has worked very well for me when drilling 1/8" - 3/16" acrylic.
 
I would worry about the little octopus either being sucked up or getting curious tentacles chopped up in the impeller. Also, I don't think that the intake of a powerhead will pull any particles into it that are more than an inch or two from its intake. The output flow will cause all the junk that is slightly heavier than water (poo, food particles) to be blown up into the water, and eventually flow out, and it will keep the entire floor of the keeper swept clean, not just a couple inches around the hose.
 
Take a good look at the tank first though. The little ones are much more likely to be in trouble with power heads and you may want to put netting around any in the tank.
 
I octobaby proofed the tank this morning before putting Sedona into the main tank. I used a combo of netting and sponges. It isn't pretty but while shes young it will keep her safe.

I ran out of sponges and used netting for the rest. I have far more faith in the sponges than I do the netting so I will be going out to the pet store here in a bit to pick up a few more sponges.
 
She was a little unsure. She jumped off the rock I used to pull her out and got on top of the keeper. After a little while she darted off into the rock work. I havent seen her since.

I did put a fiddler crab in with her. Paul sent the smallest ones he had which works out great. From here I just wait.
 
So I have a question... I was thinking about ordering some pods or mysid shrimp or maybe even shore shrimp from Paul. Sedona is about 3 inches long. What do you think would be better for free swimming food for Sedona? The ghost shrimp I get are fresh water so I dont think that would be a good long term feeder.
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top