[Octopus]: Taco - O. cyanea ?

Oceanic Art

Cuttlefish
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Jan 13, 2017
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DartmouthNova Scotia
got my new octopus a few days ago. As soon as I put him in the tank he cruised around for a bit and ate one hermit crab. It's been three days and he hides under a rock and hasn't touched anything else. If anyone knows the species fish store said "common octopus" not sure origin.
 

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Can you find out the ocean of origination? Is there is a definite round dark spot below each eye? It would be unusual but the white spots on the arm, what appears to be a false eyespot and the general look of vulgaris have me wondering about O. cyanea. More pictures will help since octos have numerous "looks" depending on mood and substrate.

It will need much larger food than hermit crabs. Try offering a small table shrimp (about the size of the two eyes across, you can offer a piece of a larger one, it does not need to be the whole shrimp) on the end of a feeding stick (bamboo skewers work well). You can also try live fiddler crabs (any small live crab is usually irresistible), the cracked claws of blue crabs (I find them at my local Asian market where I scrounge the already separated claws in the live crab bin - avoid giving other parts as it will foul the tank. The claws can be frozen and thawed for later use), and pieces of raw fish. Pretty much anything raw from a fish market is worth a try. If it seems disinterested, gently try to touch the suckers with the food.

@mucktopus?
 
Amazing advice!!! He's pretty much been in hiding since we've gotten him, so I will post pictures once I get some.
He seems happy, I have lots of hiding spots and he's chosen to set his den under a large rock. I can see that he is leaving his spot throughout the night because I have a best cam set up. I'm keeping the water at a 1.026 and testing for nitrates and ammonia. Any suggestion on what to do if nitrate is slightly high?
 
We don't worry much about nitrate so just regular water changes to keep it in check. Ammonia and nitrite, however, need to be 0. Even a slight elevation will cause stress or death. If you are experiencing a bit of nitrate, it sounds like your tank is well cycled and THAT is a good thing :biggrin2:

This definitely looks like a medium to large species and most will be visible during the day. Keep in mind that they do not fully acclimate for about a month and we usually see quite a behavior change after that adjustment. Sometimes they become more active and interactive and sometimes the opposite. Anecdotally it seems to depend upon the individual animal more than on the species or environment.

I think I am jealous, beautiful animal!
 
Great looking octo. Look forward to see many more pics. Congrates!!
I agree D. Body shape and eyes sure look like a vulgaris. But that color?? also the suckers are off. They are grey which i have not seen before. i will have to look up O. cyanea. Trying to learn how to tell the different species.
 
Here's a video captured this morning, the octopus seems shy although I did manage to feed him a piece of shrimp yesterday. It seems like whenever I'm not around he's cruising and happy so I'm patient and look forward to more interaction but happy to see he's healthy and going for food.
Also, I've heard different opinions on this; I live on the ocean (North Atlantic) and wondering if I can put in a small crab (once I disable its claws) or a small urchin. The shoreline I live on is used for lobster fishing etc so I assume the quality of the food found here would also be suitable for an octo? Any thoughts on this? He seems to really like the shrimp you suggested, but also know how much they like to hunt and mine seems keen on it.
 

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Ok I'm ha
We don't worry much about nitrate so just regular water changes to keep it in check. Ammonia and nitrite, however, need to be 0. Even a slight elevation will cause stress or death. If you are experiencing a bit of nitrate, it sounds like your tank is well cycled and THAT is a good thing :biggrin2:

This definitely looks like a medium to large species and most will be visible during the day. Keep in mind that they do not fully acclimate for about a month and we usually see quite a behavior change after that adjustment. Sometimes they become more active and interactive and sometimes the opposite. Anecdotally it seems to depend upon the individual animal more than on the species or environment.

I think I am jealous, beautiful animal!
I'm having a reading of 0.1ppm of nitrites. I'm stressed on this, been doing 2, 10% water changes a week and I need help trying to get these levels down. Any help would be amazing. Thank you
 
Ya no worry about such low No3. Most of us are 10ppm or more. With Casper and how much she eats I have to do 25% per week to keep it under 40ppm so your good.
I see no reason why local crabs wont be a perfect food source for your octo. I am sure He\She would love the hunt. I have posted some vid of Casper taking down 5+" blue crabs and she loves that more then anything. You will be amazed as to how big of a crab they can take. From the pics I would say you could give up to a 3" crab "with the claws gone" What I do is the claws have 2 clasps and I use a pair of pliers and pop just one of the 2 claps off by crushing it. That way the octo gets the meat in the claw. Claws are our fav part so I would think they like them 2.
 
Nitrate is not an issue but NITRITE is! The only thing that keeps it in check is your biological filtration that starts when you cycle the tank. Octos are messy and produce lots of waste so we always recommend at least three months of active cycling to build the needed bacteria.

That being said, the brief explanation does not help with your current problem of not enough bacteria to handle the waste. Right now you are in a kind of Catch 22 where you need more waste to kit off the growth of bacteria but can't afford the ammonia or nitrite for the health of the animal. You can add smallish pieces of well CYCLED live rock (uncycled will only add to the immediate problem but your current rock does not seem to have live cultures) and you can try splitting your water changes to 5%-7% two times a week to keep the ammonia/nitrite to a minimum until the bacteria multiplies to handle the waste. Also test before you feed rather than after as the actual tank readings may be better than you think.

Yes, any live crabs (or other seafood) from safe water would likely be welcomed and I recommend altering the diet during the week. Each animal is different on what it will accept but small crabs are pretty much a universal food. You can even offer small pieces of fresh fish flesh (I don't recommend offering the whole fish). However, with your current nitrite reading, I would avoid giving anything with any waste. Until your cycle catches up with the octo waste, you could give fresh claw or body meat but avoid the parts that will not get eaten and be sure to remove ANY food that is ignored.
 
Ok awesome. I'm keeping up with the changes, the local fish store suggested I do a 10 gallon water change a week (tank is 65 gallon including sump). If this is sufficient or any other advice let me know pls. Octo seems happy and swimming around constantly, I always make sure to remove any food the octo doesn't eat. The tank is at least three months cycled now with a lot of well cycled live rock in there. I will attempt to post a video of the octo not sure I know how tho.
 

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Forum hint on videos, If you download videos to the Media section you can then place a link in threads and they will play inline like the cyanea video above. Here are some additional instructions.

The fish in the tank is not a good idea. The octopus will, at some point, kill it but my main objection is that fish tend to pester (or worse) octopuses, making them shy or skittish. In the worse case, some fish will pick on them, increasing the possibility of infection or eye loss.

I am a bit worried about your "cycled" live rock. Cycled rock is not usually white. Often aquarists confuse the purpose of cycling and believe that rock only has to be placed in clean saltwater for a period of time. Cycling involves building bacteria so the tank and rock needs to be seeded and fed. Rock from the ocean will be seeded with natural bacteria and the die off from organisms living inside will begin the ammonia->nitrite->nitrate cycle but it also has to be fed to continue building the bacteria to handle waste. As this happens live rock takes on a brownish color. The white of the rock in the tank suggests that is was either bleached to eliminate undesirable critters and organisms or was left to dry out with the same effect. The lone fish would not have produced enough waste to create bacteria to handle the load of an octopus. Please monitor your water quality VERY closely for ammonia and nitrite and consider doing 2 water changes a week (try 5 gallons twice a week rather than 10 gallons once a week) until the tank adjusts to the load.
 

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