[Octopus]: Tranny - O. briareus

Discussion in 'Cephalopod Journals' started by sirreal, Mar 3, 2013.

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  1. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    Some pics of Tranny
     
    sirreal, Mar 3, 2013
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  2. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    Tranny O Briareus

    I got Tranny yesterday. I am really happy with him/her. I know it takes time to get used to his new home but he seems to be very happy allready. He came out this morning and was showing off in front of some customers. I guess I should give a little history. 4 months I set up a 90g tank In my waiting room at my transmission shop. About jan 12 I got an octo named octoguard. This was not my first octo. about 12 years ago I had a O vulgaris for about 14 months. He was so much fun. we played everyday. So I wanted to give that experince to my customers knowing that most people have never seen an octo in a tank up close and personal. I ordered a baby vulgaris and when he came on jan 12 it was tiny. I saw him for 3 days then didnt see him for more then a month. I thought I lost him and ordered another. well 2 days before I got tranny I found octoguard. He had not grown at all. I was confused because I know vulgaris grow very fast. So after a lot of reading and posting on this site we found out that octoguard was a merc and not going to grow or be out during the day. So I set up a 30 tall and cycled it to put octoguard in.

    Well I got Tranny yesterday and he is allready out and dancing for my customers for about 2 hours this morning. I will get more pics of him as soon as I can. He is not the octo I wanted but I think I will be very happy with him. I know o Briareus can be nocternal but I am hoping he will not be to much. I also know it takes some time for him to be comfertable but he allready waves at me when I come up to the tank and get close to him. We will see and I will post every day or 2 about whats going on.
     
    sirreal, Mar 4, 2013
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  3. DWhatley

    DWhatley Cthulhu Staff Member Moderator

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    You said Tranny was large but your new little boy looks like a juvenile to me (this may well be the lack of perspective). I can't get a good size reference but the arms are still very thin (they get quite muscular if they don't become someone's supper). The skin looks pretty translucent and I don't see the typical adult "dent" that should be about 2/3 of the way toward the back of the mantle. Using a fruit as comparison, guestimate the mantle size from behind the eyes to the tip and include the girth when you guess. Missing arms have nothing to do with age. They grow back (more quickly in younger animals) but you can usually get an idea of age by the thickness of some of the arms at the base.

    I made a definitive statement above and will lead you to water here. Tell me if you miss it or can't find the clue when you do see it.

    Also, here is a link to Tatanka's journal. He was 4.5 months old in the photo (known age as he was tank hatched) and I would say they look about the same age (again, photos are hard to judge but this one looks quite young). This would be an excellent age of aquisition IMO as they are typically very, very shy up to about this age (my guess is sexual maturity starts the change from prey to predator).
     
    DWhatley, Mar 4, 2013
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  4. tickandbone

    tickandbone Larval Mass Registered

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    That's awesome! I'd love to see some pics. O.Briareus is the species I want to get. I've set up my tank and its been maturing for 5 months now. Just about ready for an octo. I currently have a flame scallop, two harlequin stars, a brittle star, a lettuce nudibranch, turbo snail, two ricordeas, a rock anemone and a condy anemone, (which I think may have to go, but cool to look at for now.) Any idea where I can get one? They seem to be pretty hard to come by.
     
    tickandbone, Mar 4, 2013
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  5. DWhatley

    DWhatley Cthulhu Staff Member Moderator

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    tickandbone,
    you might start a, preparing to get an octo, thread in Octopus care for some suggestions on your tank occupants. As a quick note, the nudi and scallop will become octo food (maybe the snail but often not and you can add snails after the octo acclimates to food with general success with most of the common octos except O. vlugaris). Brittle and serpent stars are fine and make good clean-up crews. The rics and all anemone should be removed. In the wild, these are avoidable but not in a tank. O. briareus is especially notorious for not going around things and appears to be quite far sighted (I have several videos suggesting that they do not see well close up). In addition to direct touch stings, the disturbed animals will release stinging cells into the tank which can lead to infection as well as a less active animal. If it survives, the condy will get huge (love mine of several years but it is not in with the octos).
     
    DWhatley, Mar 4, 2013
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  6. tickandbone

    tickandbone Larval Mass Registered

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    Dwhately
    Thanks for the info again. Sorry for posting in the wrong section again, haven't quite figured out this site yet. What would you recommend as other tank mates? Surprised about the ricordeas; they seem pretty dormant.

    edit: Discussion continued here.
     
    tickandbone, Mar 4, 2013
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  7. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    Some where on this site there is a list of tank mates. If I remember right it was soft corals like zenias and leathers. If I am right I think it was by captn. and mushrooms were ok. Maybe there is something wrong with ricordeas
    As far as getting one, I got mine from a lfs but they might be able to ship. I was talking with Dwhatley about the posibility of shipping them. I have friends that are crabers and they get them all the time. I didnt get tranny from them but I was working on getting some and maybe shiping them with no money exchanged. you would pay shipping on your side. If I get enuf people intrested I will try.
     
    sirreal, Mar 5, 2013
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  8. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    Well I saw Tranny this morning. but not as much as yesterday. He does cruse around the back of the tank quit a bit. but mostly behind the rocks. It does seem that if there are people standing in front of the tank he pocks his head out to see are at least a couple arms. Seems he knows we are talking about him.
     
    sirreal, Mar 5, 2013
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  9. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    as far as size. me and my step daughter are disagreeing she says take 3 grapes and put them togather. I say about the size of a medium egg. I will pay close attention next time I see his hole body. If he is still a juvenile that would be fantastic. Its funny I was so happy about the merc"and still am" but a lot of my focus is on tranny now. All because he comes out and interacts
     
    sirreal, Mar 5, 2013
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  10. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    one more thing I noticed today is Tranny has a blue spakeling on his face and the begining of his legs. its very spotty and it is seen when he is hiding with a flashlight.
     
    sirreal, Mar 5, 2013
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  11. DWhatley

    DWhatley Cthulhu Staff Member Moderator

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    Yep, other than I would call it green and not blue :roll: (the skin around the eyes of very young O. briareus is very blue and definitely a different color from the "sparkles") that is a trade mark of this species (seen on some others from Indonesia but not as strikingly). Supposedly, divers often find O. briareus at night using a flashlight because the "blue-green" dots are iridescent. If you Google Common Caribbean Octopus iridescent or blue-green you will see many references, unfortunately, I did not see many good pictures and several that were way over photo corrected. I do have a photo of Kooah after death that shows the iridescence well. While taking her final picture, I noticed an outer skin layer that contained the iridescent markings. This is the only animal where the additional skin layer was so clearly present and recently I read that most octopuses have this layering (with O. bimaculoides and O. mercatoris noted as exceptions. I think O. hummelincki is also an exception but that was not documented.).
     
    DWhatley, Mar 5, 2013
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  12. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    Update on Tranny. Hes been hiding for 2 days now. I have a big conch shell in the tank and he has picked that as his hidding spot. I dont like that because I cant see him at all but i know things will change with time and I was lucky to see him as much as I did for the first few days. Once again I really wanted an outgoing octo like the vulgaris I had. I dont expect Tranny to be the same as what I had. I know everyone has there own personality and trannys will change as he is happy with his tank.
     
    sirreal, Mar 7, 2013
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  13. DWhatley

    DWhatley Cthulhu Staff Member Moderator

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    I tend to avoid shell where they can completely hide inside (except for when they are babies and need the security). When you are not busy, watch for eyes peeking out though. I would also get into the habit of offering food every day at the same time. I've never tried midday with O. briareus but they respond well to early morning or early evening even if they later go back into their dens until dark. They have very good internal clocks so it is likely you might teach Tranny to at least come out for food a noon or 2:00 IF you will feed consistently (I know that is not easy in a shop).
     
    DWhatley, Mar 7, 2013
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  14. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    It would be pretty easy to do to feed between 12 and 2. I was going to ask about taking that shell out because of the fact he can hide so much. I am going to pull it out tomorrow. I am really happy that you said you avoid them. I really wanted to make sure he had good hiding spots but I really hate that shell. Its too good of a hiding spot. I dont mind him hiding but I want to at least be able to see some part of him. Its really sad when a customer says there is nothing in the tank. I want to at least say look here and see some part of him. Its funny to watch 70 year old woman bending down to look in the tank just to catch a glimpse of an octo. I have had several people come in with nothing wrong with there car just because they heard I had an octo.
     
    sirreal, Mar 7, 2013
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  15. DWhatley

    DWhatley Cthulhu Staff Member Moderator

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    :thumbsup:
    I hope it is not TOO funny :old:. Not there yet but I do a lot of bending to look for octos ...

    Don't take out the shell until he abandons it or at least is out of it on his own accord. Make sure there are still plenty of dark places he can hide. Has he grows he will be more visible just because of his size but stress can be a killer so the though about removing the shell is more for "next time" or when he has outgrown it.
     
    DWhatley, Mar 7, 2013
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  16. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    Ok but I dont think he could out grow this shell. Its over a foot long and almost a foot wide prob 10" tall. ITS BIG lol
     
    sirreal, Mar 8, 2013
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  17. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    Ok I got him out of the shell today. I didnt feed him yesterday so he was hungry. I put a shrimp on a feed stick and let him touch it then pulled it away. he came out for it and I grabbed the shell. he took the shrimp and went to the back and eat his shrimp. the shrimp looked as big as him lol.

     

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    sirreal, Mar 8, 2013
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  18. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    On a side note I am no spring chicken. What I meant by the comment is that the older people that have a hard time even getting around will get up to look. lol
     
    sirreal, Mar 8, 2013
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  19. DWhatley

    DWhatley Cthulhu Staff Member Moderator

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    Just be sure he CAN hide. Getting him to be social should never be because there is no place to go. It depends on you and the octopus as personalities for the rest but no place to hide will not make him social and could shorten his life and willingness to explore. On the other hand, making him come out for easy food (a nice junk of shrimp on a stick vs having to catch a small live meal) seems to have a positive effect as long as nothing threatens them in the process. I read of one study that tried to prove that octopuses will expend the least amount of energy for the greatest food value (unfortunately, I don't remember if I posted it or not). As I recall they examined what seemed to be signs of the foods eaten at varying depths. Much supported there theory but there were anomalies that they could not explain.
     
    DWhatley, Mar 8, 2013
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  20. sirreal

    sirreal Vampyroteuthis Registered

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    there are plenty of places to hide. no worries there. on the other thing it only makes sense, we are no different we want to expend as little for the biggest payoff. so why would we think any creature would be different. I know it might not be the healthiest way. I would rather make him work at least some. I dont know if octos work out the same but in all the years I have been keeping fish I have found that hungry fish are healthy fish. I dont mean starving but not overfeeding. I would like your thoughts on this. I have read on this site that some feed everyday and some every other. I guess it would help if we knew what happend in the wild. then again we are trying to take the wild out of them and make them social. I am just thinking out load lol
     
    sirreal, Mar 8, 2013
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