[Octopus]: Tatanka - O.briareus (tank hatched)

DWhatley

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:mrgreen:I opted to start journalling Tatanka and Mama Cass (AKA Cassy) in separate threads once I could take photos. I expected this to be at about 5 months but Tatanka must have read my post :roll: and decided to show himself tonight (4.5 months)around 7:00 PM with tank and room lights on. Has he been watching me play with Monty? I noticed odd movement during supper in his tank but when I checked, I found nothing unusual (except another octopus rock I had not noticed before). Now I suspect he was watching us and I really did see him moving about. We wanted to encourage the early showing and grabbed the camera and a crab (in that order). I did not get any stills but I did get a half decent video! There is nothing more once he takes the crab to a dark cave (about half way) but I did not edit it.


His first 4.5 months are journaled in the Raising Octopus from Eggs subforum - Kooah's Hatchlings - O.briearus
 
CaptFish;164485 said:
Sweet! His colors are great.
This the FIRST time I have seen Tatanka's true colors :razz:. I am anxious to see Cassy since she always appears so dark.

What size tank is he in right now?
Tatanka has grown up in his brood tank. It is a split tank with two 6" diameter tubes connecting the two sides and in the neighborhood of 60 gallons (hard to determine because of the tubes) with a 35 gallon sump (filled with 25-30 gallons of water).

My photos certainly don't hold a candle to Thales' or Roy's but this camera has been my pride and joy because it often gets decent shots. There are still some lighting situations it won't handle well and I fiddle with it from time to time but the settings I have saved in the two custom modes do an adequate job. Unfortunately Canon no longer makes it and if it dies again, I will have them refurbish it if they can.
 
Tatanka is beautiful! Nice video!

When my little briareus was this age (she expired shortly after), her mantle was red brown but her webbing and legs were often white.

Nancy
 
Nancy, I am sort of anxious to get through this next month because yours did not make it longer. Any change in behavior (even though I am hoping for and expecting daylight showings) puts me on edge. The observation that Tatanka looks very different from Cassy is also a bit scary since I am not sure which is the better physical model.:hmm:

So far both are eating well, actively pouncing on live food and continue to grow. I hope we see Cassy in the light soon as that would suggest a maturity change and not something negative. Since Tatanka could see the crab, I think all is well.
 
LOL, whenever someone posts to the thread I go back and look at the first half of the video because this is the most we have seen of him.
 
D, I don't think that you can compare my little briareus with yours. I had her in a thirty gallon tank because I didn't know she was there. Then, when she made herself known, she was still very shy and I was afraid to capture her because I thought it would frighten her so much. I had a larger empty tank which would have made a nice home for her. But, I had been warned of briareus being frightened to death, when they are very shy.

I still don't know why she died - she was eating and seemed healthy. And how could she be afraid of us when she saw us every day?: the tank was in the kitchen and we pressed our faces up against it at least once a day.
Oh, well, I guess I'll never really know, but I think yours are taking a different path.

Nancy
 
I should have appended, "in the daylight" as we do see him or parts of him for a few minutes every night at feeding time.

Corpusse, I think you are expecting too much to soon. If you go back and look at the briareus theads you will see similar frustration with most keepers. Do a quick look at a couple and note the dates from when the octos arrived and when they started coming out to be seen. I think it is a combination of attaining an age (my guess is 5 months) and acclimation time.
 
First Noted Sucker Shed - almost 5 months

Tatanka shed suckers for the first observable time. I would expect he has shed them before but this is the first time I have seen them in the water column and it was during daylight hours. There were lots of sheds but I did not see him.

After playing with Cassy tonight I found Tank and he agreed to play a little tag with me. His interaction session did not last but for a few minutes but he repeatedly reached up the wall to investigate my fingers with quick touches. The touches last longer than Cassy's lightening tags but he still does not linger and has yet to come to where I can pet him where Cassy has allowed me to pet her behind the eyes and on the mantle and comes more to the front of the LR where Tank is staying low on the back wall when he investigates.
 
Tank played tag with my hand for about 15 minutes this morning just before sunrise. By the time he was ready to stay in the LR for the day he managed to leave his arm on my fingers for the count of 5 (he started with a count of 1/4 :biggrin2:).
 

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