Squid - O.Briareus...

[DWhatley]

You are just afraid I will get ahead of you in the total count

We just give them the whole claw (and when they start wanting more we leave the arm attached as well). I have never had an octopus leave even a tiny bit of meat. Octavia separates the smaller claw and the arm so I have to hunt for three pieces . She has drilled two of the arms but usually I don't find holes, just empty shells.

 

[DWhatley]

I'm betting O. hummelincki on this one. The arms seem to have their peculiar shape, the coloration and spikes are right and you noted eyespots. For sure not O. mercatoris but the hummelinckis come in a wide variety of sizes. I had one that was a dwarf sized animal (I was so bummed out when she brooded because I was sure she was young) and then I have had two medium sized males and Octavia who is still growing and getting close to Octane's largish size (for a medium octopus). One of their common (but rarely used) names is bumble bee octopus so I suspect the small size is common. I read somewhere and cannot find the reference not for the life of me that they were once classified as dwarfs and then changed to medium. The one paper I read that gave sized and weights had them all over the chart. Sex was not a size factor.

 

[corw314]

Went collecting last night and this morning. Returned with snails, shrimp, hermit crabs and regular crabs. "The new one" is holding hermits hostage in his barnacle hole. Every now and again you see a shell with a hermit trying to crawl out of the den but "the new one" is holding him back and finally lugs him back to whatever stash he has in his den. Very strange....

Squid is dining on snails....Everytime I look in his tank he is in a different spot with a snail.

 

[DWhatley]

I am not sure how much snail they really eat but they do seem to enjoy trying.

When she was little, LittleBit would use live shells for her doorway sometimes and insist that they stay put. It was sometimes a contest on who would give up first, the hermit or LB Eventually, she just at the contents

 

[corw314]

Squid has quite the pile of shells outside his den so I'm sure he is eating them! Bittner is the new ones name and I guess I should think about starting a new thread for him! Isn't he cute? I love the pink look to his suckers! Quick post this morning as daughter overslept....

 

[DWhatley]

I'm till thinking O. hummelincki for Bittner. Yes, adorable. I love octopus eyes, they just seem to want to communicate

 

[corw314]

So we will give this thread back to Squid now that I have started one for Bittner. Tonight was the first time I let Squid touch me when he attempted to take over the feeding stick. He touched my finger several times but I guess did not like the way I feel, so kept his legs away from my touch and finally retreated. I think his growth rate has slowed down, thank goodness. He's still eating every other day, 2 3 to 4 inch shrimp. He stalks me when he is hungry. We are starting our 7th month! No new pics right now as you can see my focus has been the new one as the new tank takes really nice pics without a flash.

 

[DWhatley]

Wow, he is eating like Legs (CaptFish's first O. briareus) who way out ate any of mine.

 

[corw314]

He's quite the "FEED ME" creature!! Interacting more and more as these pics depict from this morning at 5:00am before work. Took a 4" shrimp and had a snail he was dining on! He watches the "dog that's not mine". His eyes jerked in the direction of the dog walking by the tank as I was fooling with him. Good size reference is the 3" Cleaner magnet!

 

[corw314]

So I noticed the last 2 days or so Squid kept hanging in the back corner by the top of tank. Still eating on a daily basis with gusto. He had his first 1/2 of a blue claw crab last night. What a mess. So my plan was today to do a water change because of the mess. What I discovered was one of the hoses on the large Eheim was almost completely kinked. There was still waterflow but very diminished. I ended up taking the filter down and rinsing out the pads, added more charcoal not only to the Eheim but changed it in the bubble filter as well. Tank is so much better and Spuid is still in his corner in the back but still eating with gusto and sometimes I think it's because he can keep an eye on us better this way. His legs are now bigger than my fingers. Curled up, he's the size of a cantaloupe.

 

[DWhatley]

I found a crimped hose on one of my non-ceph tanks the other day. We got this particular hose because it was black and would always be exposed but I won't buy it again as it is not rigid enough for the canister. Now I spot check it daily. I never feed whole blue crab, just the arms and claws (I will feed whole fiddlers without a problem). I notice you tried that with Bitner. We go to the Asian market and collect all the loose ones in the live crab bins and then freeze them. Freezing whole raw crabs, crayfish and lobster seems to have a contamination problem with the innards but removing the claws (and tails on crayfish - lobster is reserved for human consumption) and freezing them without the body works very well for octo food (and I suspect would be fine for humans as well but I have not tried it).

 

[corw314]

I'm hoping Squid is still full from his crab meal and shrimp. This morning is the first time he has ever refused food. He made a good show of catching the feeding stick but released both stick and shrimp. That is definitely a first for him. It's been 7 months since he came to live with us. Will give it a day or so and hopefully he will eat.

 

[DWhatley]

He might be spoiled IME they really like crab over anything else (have not tried fresh fish) and will sometimes try to get you to give them their favorite (anthropomorphic concept intended ) if they are not overly hungry. We have seen this even in little Yeti but the next day, the shrimp is taken where it was only octo-handled the night before. Officially, I suspect he is full and may be starting to eat a little less with age. IME briareus show their a couple of weeks before the serious decline and Squid still looks vibrant.

 

[corw314]

I think Squid is entering another stage. Maybe teenage stage. He was full of mischief last night when I got home from work. He was playing with the green mega block. Took a crab claw and then proceeded to climb all over the inside of the top of the tank while squirting water at the top. I was so thankful the tank was sealed. I did reseal the top to make sure it's secure as he had his legs everywhere. I think this stemmed from the other day, I was messing with him. Touching him very lightly. He tried to grab my fingers and discovered the outside of his tank. His new spot to sleep is in the front corner of the tank by the water line. I always thought if an octopus did this there was a problem starting with the water. And there could have been as one of my Eheim hoses was kinked. But he continues to do this and now when I have the top open, will stick his legs out feeling around.

 

[corw314]

So...Bill and I are in Moncks Corner, SC at the house....get a frantic call from my daughter who stayed home with her older brother Kevin. Kevin asked her to feed the animals. She put a shrimp on the piece of fishing pole for Squid who ended up with not only the shrimp, but the piece of fishingpole and my daughters hand. She managed to get her hand away, but after an hour he got tired of the pole and she was able to retrieve it back. She said, "Mom. Your octopus is a beast!!!" (How I wish I had a video of this)