[Octopus]: Taba - Jocco's 'Pus

Saw arms at 10am, lights off, tried shrimp on a stick.
The scarlet shrimp got it.
Ceph seems shy.
Tried again.
No arms.
10:45am
Lights are on.
Smallest of the hermits is now crawling on the octo's rock home...
 
The hermits drew straws and the littlest of the 4 must have been picked to climb Octo Rock. It creeped ever so slowly to the hole a Ceph eye can be seen peering. Like a child creeping down the squeaky basement steps, knowing something dangerous is waiting in the darkness...it pauses.
The hermit retreats to safety to tell the tale to its "friends".
 

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Bought red cellophane for the light.
Went to 3 LFS to see what they had for octo food - much misinformation. Thank Tonmo we know better than minnows and other fresh water creatures. We were told that fiddlers aren't in season right now, but we put our names on a list for small ones.
We did end up getting 8 of the smallest hermits we have ever seen, and some little neck clams (mostly for our dinner, some to stick in the tank to dissect later for octo food.

I wonder if Rocco will give the 'pus a hot name to match this red light district tank. Officially it is xmas in September, this was supposed to be an xmas gift :smile:
 
Last night the 'pus took a teeny piece of shrimp from me, and I left another teeny piece caught on a rock near a hole we have seen her use as an arm hole. This was before 10pm. No other activity, even with the red light for another 2ish hours, then I shut off the light and went to bed.

Woke up to no shrimp pieces, a darkish blob sticking out of the hole she likes to watch from, clutching to a (I thought empty) snail shell. Inspecting the space underneath the holes, there was an empty pea sized hermit shell. Did some morning routine stuff, came back to gaze at the tank, and she dropped it and retreated.

The blob, as far as I can make out, were her two eyes, and an arm or two clutching the snail shell. Most of the snails are behind the rock she is living in and up on the tank wall. I suspect she ate one that was balancing/taking a ride on another on a rock about a foot across from the den. Include 3 teeny pieces of frozen shrimp (on a feeder stick) in the course of the last 3 days on the food journal.

She has an appetite folks!

2 scarlet, 2 peppermint, 1 blood, 1 pistol (6 cleaner shrimp), 3 fish, pencil urchin are still alive...and it seems our 4 hermits are still alive too.

Sir Stewart, the pistol shrimp, LOVES the red light. He has officially moved, and has been seen moving sand and stealing shells. He even snatched one of the pea sized hermits and ran. Looks like that same hermit is still alive, haha. Jerk Face doesn't seem amused by all the hermi-babies either.
All shrimp have scattered from hanging out on the front of Octo Rock... hm... wonder why... haha.

EDITED: The snail she was clutching... still alive.
 
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I would try to establish a regular feeding time as soon as possible. This will start to get her accustomed to being fed (vs just finding something) and should allow you to see her more often (like when you are home and can watch vs going out the door for work). Keep in mind that in about 2 weeks she may become very reclusive so getting her trained to a dinner time should help to ensure she is eating.
 
We don't get in until after 8pm from work. I have tried then, no arm. I tried at 9ish if I saw arms. But 10pm or later seems the will immediately grab from the stick time.

Tonight (10:30pm) was our first tug of war with the feeding sticks! I took a pic, accidentally flash on (and still she tugged) then switched to video about 5 mins in and she was starting to let go. I tugged very slightly against her to simulate the "omg, nooo, you got me, noooo don't eat me" predator vs prey game. So small, yet surprisingly strong - and that was with 2 arms, maybe 3.
I ended up giving her two pieces of shrimp. She stole both sticks. I tried for a 3rd, but she had 0 interest. I wanted to see if she would reject it or was still hungry (or wanted to play).

Last night she had one small piece of shrimp and still went out hunting for a pea sized hermit and a snail (which didn't work out for her).

After an hour of watching the tank, I didn't see her toss out the 2nd piece of shrimp.


Pics are this morning's eyes, arms, and snail. And tonight's tug of war.
 

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I would try to establish a regular feeding time as soon as possible. This will start to get her accustomed to being fed (vs just finding something) and should allow you to see her more often (like when you are home and can watch vs going out the door for work). Keep in mind that in about 2 weeks she may become very reclusive so getting her trained to a dinner time should help to ensure she is eating.

More reclusive than now? Geeze louise. Remind me, why do people do this? :roflmao::heart:
 
There once was a Blood Shrimp named Whiskers.

He was a reclusive single shrimp who lived in a cave on the far right side of the tank. He was largest shrimp in all of Joccotankville. His BFF was a Blue Chromis named Dart. This morning, Whiskers was found dead, half buried in the sand, the other half eaten... near Sir Stewart's new den. This fact begs me to think, the octopus didn't kill Whiskers. Or Sir Stewart held down the blood shrimp! Or at least found the body and buried it for a later meal.
I found the peppermint shrimp deep in hiding, and the scarlet shrimp on the back of Octo Rock. The snails, fish, and hermits seem to be accounted for too.

The carnage happened quicker than we thought...and after a decent bit of frozen/thawed shrimp was fed to her only hours before. Looks like I will have to start checking for drops under her den and near Sir Stewart.
He had the piece of shrimp sticking out of the sand posted up as if it was a severed head on a pike.

First dead body pic. RIP Whiskers.
 

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10pm-ish, she took 3 good sized pieces of frozen shrimp from the feeder stick and hung onto it longer this time. She held an empty feeder stick near her den and flicked her arms out every time a scarlet shrimp was close enough. Stupid shrimp has a death wish.

We wonder if it was a food competition flick or she was hanging onto the stick as bait to get the scarlet shrimp closer. Clever girl.

We didn't wake up to carnage. The shrimp of the tank were deep in hiding and most of the hermits were in a pile. Is this split and zig zag for the shrimp and safety in numbers for the hermits? lol

Pic is ceph holding the stick, and the scarlet shrimp thrill seeking.
 

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ooh good thinking... brb.

Rocco tested with our API Saltwater Master Test Kit, and says things are looking fine.

I can imagine Whiskers being ambushed, I rarely see more than a flash of red from the back corner of the tank where he lived. We also had no idea she would take bigger pieces of frozen shrimp.

To be 100% sure...
When you all say frozen shrimp - you mean fresh frozen shrimp that humans can consume from a bag sold at Costco - right?
After visiting other pet shops I realized there are other creatures sold frozen for food. I'll cruise the 'what do you feed your ceph' thread later to see if anyone has had luck with anything else frozen and easy (we know salmon, sporadically, is OK.)

Today we picked up 6 fiddlers from LFS. Who told me they are fresh water critters. Shouldn't we not be feeding fresh water creatures to an octopus? I saw them all over the threads here. Those of you trying crawfish - how's that going?

LFS also told me that our ceph is from the Philippines!
 
Yes on the shrimp question, regular old frozen table shrimp (unless you can get cheap bait shrimp). I shop our Korean market for things to feed the octos and almost never offer any kind of pet store food.

Fiddlers are brackish water animals (but I have read - not sure about the reality - that they go out to sea to lay eggs) and can survive in fresh or saltwater (or out of the water as long as they have a place to keep their gills wet). Some people keep them in a sandbox with a water dish but I have found they do just fine if they have rocks (real or artificial) to climb on in a plastic box with my water change water (high sides on the container and climbing rocks to center or you will find them wandering the house). Most crustaceans - fresh or salt - seem to be acceptable and are close in the needed fats. The biggest problem is smell and keeping their container clean. They die off easily if their container fouls.

I suspect the shrimp was not a victim of the octo since it was not eaten. We have seen octos kill fish and only eat the stomachs as well as killing animals that pester it but shrimp would be consumed.
 

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