[Octopus]: Tranny - O. briareus

[DWhatley]

Zoas are often high sting where a few of the larger polyps are more benign. Watch Tranny and if you see him jerk when he touches the rock then I suggest removing it. O. briareus just won't go around things (I think it has a lot to do with their close vision and believe them to be quite far sighted) and in a small tank (vs the ocean) this is a problem. Keep in mind that when corals send out their little needles, they stay in the water. I don't know how long they are active but I do know I have felt them without touching the coral.

Oh, something I have not thought about in a while. I have seen two of my adult O. briareus try to pull up mushrooms that they decided were in their way (they were in front of a den opening). Neither succeeded and the mushroom survived the molesting but it was strange to observe.

 

[sirreal]

D I need help!!!! First off I got the message. stablelization with the camera. Will see what I can do. Tranny is mad!! I think. I put the few pieces of coral in the tank sat night. I played with him then and feed him. everything was good. monday morning I put some LEDS over one side of the tank, The other side of the tank of Trannys den. since this Tranny will not come out. I cant get him to eat. I used a white light but not pointed at him but the same as I have done many times before. when I did this today I could see he was agitated He started puffing fast and just looked mad because he was bothered. I know it sounds strange but he really looked mad that he was being bothered. I am thinking about pulling the coral out tomorrow and putting everything back the way it was. Is this something you have heard of or seen?

 

[DWhatley]

It is most fortunate that I am not a scientist so I can easily use and accept describing behaviors in terms of people thinking where our wonderful experts are limited in making such comparisons My anthropomorphic opinion is yes, they do seem to get angry when you muck with their tanks.

Odd behavior very often has to do with water quality and I make a point to do extra water changes when I see it. I am not referring to the detectable (here I go with unscientific anecdotal evidence too) chemicals like ammonia or nitrite but the unseen and untestable (as least for the hobbyist) substances that might cause irritation.

The short answer, yes I would recommend removing the corals (at least the zoas) AND doing an extra water change. If all goes back to normal, then you might add one coral at a time and observe. I don't think rearranging the tank again back to its original design will be "recognized" and it would likely be just one more disruption so minimizing current changes is likely best.

The other part of the "answer" is that octopuses seem to be temperamental and we don't know if simple biological changes (remember they live fast and die young) may impact their apparent personalities. I will never understand Octavia's inking episode but in the back of my mind, it would have been about the time she would be expected to lay eggs. She lived several months (in a different tank) beyond the episode and never did produce infertile eggs. She was also much less interactive after the incident. I don't remember having kept a female that died of old age without brooding so in my mind the two oddities seem to be related.

 

[sirreal]

Thanks D. I did A water change yesterday before I wrote that post and might do another today. I will move the coral today. I dont know if it is the coral the moving of things around or what I really think it is is the extra lights on the tank. Ether way they will all be back to the way it was. I only moved one piece of rock. I think I may have moved it in to his hunting path across the back of the tank. It seemed that when he would come out the first place he would go is to run the length of the back and now there is a rock in the way.

 

[sirreal]

Update on tranny. Everything is moved and Tranny seems happy again. Last night I stayed at the shop late and Tranny didnt just play tag he held on for about 30 seconds with just one arm. I wonder if he would grab me with more arms if he had them lol. I came in early this morning and we played for a couple min. Then about noon I step daughter was cleaning the glass and Tranny was already out and kind of hiding in a different spot. This is the first time that he has been out during the day. It was kind of exciting.

 

[DWhatley]

WHEN Tranny starts getting a little too bold (using multiple arms and trying to drag your hand to his beak), try not to jerk but resist and use your more or less free fingers (you have five and he will not likely use all eight arms) to gently stroke the top of the arm to get him to release. This can get creative and it will only work while he is still experimenting. Usually, they learn the limits and play works out for both parties when they understand that stroking the top of the arm means to stop but that you are not trying to harm them. Each animal is different though and sometimes you need to use your free hand to remove arms . IME, once they are accustomed to you touching the top of the arm, they will not automatically release but if they "play nicely", there won't pull and will let/encourage you pet them. DO be sure your hands are very wet and clean (without soap) as you do not want to remove their protective slim coat. I have found that the cold water bimac has much more of a slim coat than any of the warm water animals in that there is never anything on the fingers when touching the LIVE (dead animals are very slimy) warm water animals but there is a slight film with the bimacs.

Here is a link to one of my videos where Yeti was misbehaving. Where stroking her arms worked well when she was initially beginning to touch, at this point she was very familiar with me and wanted "something" (perhaps food) that she was not getting.

Seeing Tranny while cleaning the tank is a good sign. I understand this to be a sign that they have accepted their home and are watching to be sure you are behaving yourself not changing things.

 

[sirreal]

Well I think Tranny might be in senescence. I hope not but the signs are there. This all started last week. He was not interested in eating. He would take food but then drop it. I was getting worried so I gave him a shrimp with shell still on. he took it but droped it again. Sat I left a shrimp hanging by his feeding stick and mon morning it was still there. So I tryed a scalop which he took and I thought he eat but I found some of it later. Also When I came in monday he wasnt in his den. He was on the other side of the tank holding on to the glass in a ball. I thought he was dead. he didnt move when I opened the top and I made some noise still nothing. I Grabbed my toungs and reached in to pull his body out and when I touched him he jumped. So he was sleeping so hard that i couldnt wake him. HMMMMM thats when I got him to eat a little. monday evening I got him to take a 2 small pieces of shrimp but the next morning I found one of them. teusday about 2 pm he came out and made a couple laps around the tank. "first time for this" this morning he was in his den sleeping again and didnt want to wake up again. This time i didnt bother him. I really thought he was a young one but I am thinking I am wrong. I will keep trying. I am going to get a craw fish today and see if I can get him to hunt and eat. I will update tomorrow

 

[sirreal]

Well I am happy to say I watched him hunt and eat a crawfish. Dont know why I didnt video it. I will the next time. It was really great to see him doing what he is should. I know I wont feed a lot of crawfish but I needed to get him to eat something. I havent checked to see if he eat the hole thing but he was going at it.

 

[sirreal]

He eat it all YAAAA. I have to get to a bait shop and get fiddlers. I know I said it before but now I really have to. I set up a 5 gal bucket with an air stone to keep live food. I dont like the mess with live but I want Tranny to eat better. Does anyone feed live shrimp. Not shore shrimp but regular ones? If i am going to the bait store I am sure they will have them. Can I put a dozen in Trannys tank or would that be a problem. I guess he might kill them just for fun. Well I have more tanks that I could set up just to keep shrimp.

 

[DWhatley]

Live shrimp are fine but I would keep them in a separate tank (HOWEVER, I believe CaptFish has put half a dozen or so in with his animals and then replenished when they are gone). As I have mentioned, I don't think O. briareus sees well at short distances and uses its sight for where to go and what to avoid in the distance. Here is a video of SueNami catching a live shrimp. I have put them in with O. hummelincki and they have survived for a week or more before being eaten but O. vulgaris and O. briareus seem to favor them. I also feed crawfish as a treat on occassion and keep claws and tails in the freezer for snacks for either their fast day (one day a week) or when they seem hungry at an odd time. They don't get many but do seem to like them as something special.

I don't believe Tranny is old enough to be senescent and my guess is you should be able to keep him a full year. As I have mentioned, I do an extra water change (for lack of anything concrete to do and I know it is not harmful) when I see odd behavior. Another thing we fail to think about is the CO2/O2 exchange. Your system should have enough but checking the water flow and surface exposure never hurts.

 

[sirreal]

Well he seems to be back to his normal self. Remember i had put some coral in the tank and he did not like it what so ever. All this started about that time. I think things are back to normal today but we will see. He came out this morning and we played tag. then he eat a piece of shrimp. Do you think that if shrimp was to get frostbit that he might not like it. I have had this shrimp for a few weeks and with opening and closing the bag everyday it seems there are crystals on it. just wondering if that might have been part of the problem. As far as water quality sat I did A 30% water change just because I wanted to make sure that wasnt the problem. I also cleaned my skimmer which is working very well. As far as gas exchange The top is pretty tight but the sump is pretty big and the tank is not drilled so I use a hang over the back overflow with 2 overflow tubs going in to 1.5" down pipe. I am running a mag 12 to return the water with a 3/4 return pipe split to 2, 1/2 inch return pipes that are facing eachother. to make the flow random. I do not have any power heads in this tank for worry of Tranny getting an arm cut off. I can say that I would put coral in this tank if I didnt have an octo without putting power heads in. I get that much flow. I have NO algae in this tank and my phos .25 and my nitr is less the 5. I dont have an ammonia test. "never needed one with my reefs" but I will get one. My water is 0tds read by 2 meters. I guess maybe the top is sealed to well but I really dont think so. Its glass with plexy glass cut out for my overflow and return. As I said in one of my other posts I am a stickler for husbandry and tank maintenance. But you never know.

 

[DWhatley]

Another sensitivity to watch for is PH drops. Like a lot of corals, they are sensitive to PH stability (I have only seen write ups of actual impact of low PH problems for mollusks but expect octos to be somewhat similar) and large water changes can lower PH if the water is not already PH adjusted. With neutral PH water, it does not take long for the PH to rise when added to a higher PH volume but you can get fluctuations so multiple change rather than large ones should be better. For years I buffered my new water but the tanks seem fairly stable now (all over 5 years old) so I only add a limited buffering agent on occasion. I look more for nitrite than ammonia as the conversion is pretty fast in an established tank. It is more the things we can't easily test, including oxygen, and the end result of the nitrogen cycle (nitrate) that I worry with most of the time. After a very pleasant week of being social, Margay has gone back to being a recluse for two days . Hopefully this "hermit" phase will be short.

 

[sirreal]

Hmm I didnt think about ph. I will check my tank and my water change drum to see what I have for a difference. The oxygen in the tank I know is important. I guess we really have no way to test for that. The nitrate is below 5 so I know thats not it. I see that we all have our little problems with our octos. I dont know if I was just not that intune with my first octo 12 years ago or if time has changed my memory but all I can remember is everything everything was so smooth with him.

 

[DWhatley]

O. briareus is a more reclusive animal in general but part of the great side to keeping journals is you have documentation and timing and not just casual memory of their different behaviors. You have likely noticed that I often refer back to my own (and others' when I can remember posting on the subject) to give a "first hand" account and often find a difference in what I remember and what WHEN a behavior was actually observed.

 

[sirreal]

Well I finally took a video of Tranny