[Octopus]: Seven + - Unidentified - Newbie with Octopus meant for sushi

[DWhatley]

It looks like there is more arm regrowth, a good sign. Aging octopuses have less and less ability to repair damage.

Be sure you closely monitor the water. Nitrites (as well as ammonia) need to be 0. Change out more water if you see ANY nitrites (nitrates at not a concern at the moment and only later if they get excessively high but ammonia and nitrites are lethal).

 

[Jocco]

Welcome! However brief or long it may be.
Our first 'pus lived a few months and we barely saw her.
Misty is rounding month 6, soon 7.
We are all lucky when they live past a few weeks, let alone a few months.

Take pride that your octopus, harvested for eating, was given a good life after being pulled from the ocean

Mine didn't like scallop either. Likes small crabs. I use fiddlers, DW uses blue crab claws.
Clams gunk the water and sometimes the cephs get tired of them. Hermits and snails tend to be a harder meal to catch and pull from the shell, especially for tired/old/repairing pets. You're doing a wonderful job, working so last minute to give it a home.

Where did you get that crocodile head?! I love it!

 

[meekerz]

Thank you, Jocco!

The crocodile head was my daughter's toy that she outgrew, it was one of those things that you pull with a string and wheels. I removed the wheels and screws and metal bits We rummaged her toy bin for plastic toys we could give the octos, and she gave me that and a plastic boat (which was supposed to be Shipwreck Island, but it looked too tight, hehe)

 

[meekerz]

I bought some live shrimps today, dropped them in the tank, and waited for something/anything to happen. Nadda. I wait some more. Nadda. So I think, oh well, off to work I go.

Some hours later, hubby sends me this video and photo. I missed all the action! (Seven seems to come out for him more!) Seven is in Crocodile Cove! In a beautiful black color. And he caught and ate one of the shrimp!

We really need to learn how to take better photos. But I'm so happy he seems to have gotten better!

 

[meekerz]

So Seven was out dancing/swimming again tonight and I notice that he only has six arms left! I could have sworn there were seven just yesterday. I wasn't home during the shrimp fest, so I don't know if he lost an arm then. Do shrimps fight back? There are 5 more shrimps in the tank- should I remove them?

 

[DWhatley]

The shrimp are not a problem. This species can throw an arm if it gets caught in something. If you have a water circulating pump in the tank, be sure it has some kind of screen over the intake (I use zippered media mesh nets (like these, not recommending vendor but this one has a good rating).

With this species especially, we see them loose arms and not be sure what caused it. There is also a stress (as well as bacterial) related issue that will cause them to eat their arms but it normally starts with them eating from the tips, not near the base.

Seven has seemed to do better since the last water change so I would rerecommend larger and frequent changes.

 

[meekerz]

I put a screen mesh on the pump right after Nine got his arm stuck, so it's not that. Other than the missing arm, Seven looks better than he's been in a while. His schedule seems to have changed- he comes out later now, usually after 10pm. Oh, and he killed 4 out of the 5 shrimps. Too much nuisance, I assume.

 

[DWhatley]

Octopuses have been known to kill fish when they pester (I am strongly against fish in an octo tank, not just for the sake of the fish) so your analysis may be spot on (assuming the shrimp were not also eaten).

If you are seeing improvement in Seven's coloration, eating and activity then I suspect water quality and stress have been a problem. Senescence does not reverse. Keep up with the water changes (I know you are tired of hearing this but it is often the biggest problem, especially with your tank environment).

Under more common circumstances , we sometimes see a behavior change after about 1 month in captivity (the point I generally note as fully acclimated). Often an animal will appear to go from "friendly" to recluse. Behavior after the animal has adopted the tank as home can be anyone's guess. Some stay shy and are rarely seen, others become quite interactive. Aculeatus is typically a diurnal (daytime) hunter but we have seen a few smaller animals in the Abdopus complex that are nocturnal and have a few reports of what appear to be aculeatus preferring night activity. You might try using only ambient light (turning the lights off during the day when you are home - same time each day) to see if he will hunt when you can watch him. For night viewing, you can use fairly bright red lighting (with no other lights in the room). Red lights are miserable for photography but work very well to observe nocturnal behavior (red is close no light for their vision).

 

[meekerz]

Tomorrow is our 1 month mark! So perhaps he's finally acclimated

 

[meekerz]

My chocolate chip starfish is evil!

I was given a new octopus by my seafood supplier yesterday (again, it was meant to be food. It was a freebie since it was an extra from an order another customer had made). It looked slightly bigger than Seven and seemed responsive and had beautiful color changes, so I wanted to try and save it too. It would have ended up in my supplier's freezer if I didn't get it so it was worth a shot.

I placed him in a holding tank with some of the extra rocks and the starfish (who had been living peacefully with Seven for over three weeks now) and some snails. I figured I'll see if he survives the first couple of days first before deciding if I will seriously pursue keeping him. He declined to eat this morning and just stayed hidden under a rock. "He's probably just stressed", I thought. He remained there all day until I left for dinner.

When I came back home some 4 hours later, my holding tank had all sorts of bubbles. I tested the water and the nitrite and nitrate levels were crazy high. I knew something was wrong but I couldn't figure out what. Until I realized that the starfish was missing. Searched the rocks, and there I saw it. The starfish had the Octo's arms pinned . I got it off. Four arms were dead/unresponsive, one tore off when we were moving the rocks (or was it the starfish). Two were okay. Two had bite marks all over them, one really weak.

I separated them already but I highly doubt the new octopus will survive.

I'm gonna have to get rid of the starfish. Wish I searched the forums before I got him (he was free too, ugh). I guess I've been lucky that Seven and the starfish has peacefully coexisted all this while. Or then again, perhaps that's how Seven's other arm disappeared.

 

[Nancy]

Starfish can trap and kill octopuses, and we've had this reported before on Tonmo. Sorry you had to learn the hard way.
Hoping that your octopus recovers.

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

In general, most starfish and almost all brittle stars (greens are notorious for attacking fish and I recommend against them) can live peacefully with octopuses but, as Nancy mentioned we have had a report of a Bahama star trapping and killing (assumed) a small hummelincki. Chocolate chips are kind of a bad news animal all the way around though. It may be that the octo was stressed enough to invite the clean up crew (this happens in senescence, probably odor, and I place my dying animals in a suspended net to allow them to die in peace). Your case, however, does make me wonder about the starfish attacking the animal without provocation (other than hunger - chocolate chips often die of starvation).

 

[meekerz]

I feed the choco chip starfish regularly and actually had a piece of mussel out for it at that time, so it's weird that it went after the octo. But yeah, maybe it was the stress from the transport and it gave out bad/weak vibes. The octo died sometime that night, by the way.

Also, I disposed of the starfish. I was hoping my LFS would trade a snail or a hermit crab for it, but they wouldn't. The LFS guy pointed out that the starfish had 2 "bites" or wounds on it (and thus making the starfish only good enough as feeder for their Harlequin shrimps). I had not noticed if the marks were there before, but I'm leaning towards them being new. So now I'm thinking if the octo had tried to fight back somehow.

I have a photo of the octo when we separated them, it shows a mangled arm and bites on the other arms. Not sure it it's okay to post this sortof pic here.

 

[DWhatley]

Not only is it OK to post damage, but encouraged to record and document as much as you can about both positive and negative events. Ceph keeping is not a well-defined hobby so all experiences help us understand our critters better.

If the starfish thought the octo was weak, it would most likely be from smell so a damaged arm or deteriorating skin would be the likely bad vibes.

@sedna came up with posting dead animals next to a ruler some years ago and I try to remember to document the final size in a photo with each animal's passing. It is a painful undertaking but it begins to give sizing reference for adults of different species.

 

[meekerz]

Here's the poor guy.

The three arms on the left were all unresponsive and were just dragging. There was another unresponsive arm that I accidentally cut off or was shed while moving rocks and the starfish. The two on the right have what I assume to be bite marks (white recessed parts with missing flesh).

He was a pale gray whitish color when the starfish had him pinned. He only flashed colors when we caught and moved him.

I can not say for certain if he had any wounds or damages when I got him. But I'm sure all 8 arms were intact and moving and he had pretty colors. No inking either.