[Octopus]: Wink - Octopus Digueti

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I stuck it in a small 4 gallon tank I am using on a Platinum Snowflake Percula. That also has a Shore shrimp Escapee in it. :lol:

I had to turn the barnacle Diagonal but it did fit inside there so perfectly! I think I'm gonna order a few more pieces as these are gorgeous to me under the LED's in this little tank. I have a Black Puzzle Piece Percula that has been beating up on this poor little guy so I had to stick him in this Tank. I water change it once a week now since I stuck on a small canister filter that I also use on it.

Thanks DWhatley for the Barnacle idea!







This is a photo of the sump and Skimmer. The skimmer is sitting on top of a coarse bag of Media pieces for Biological filtration.





I normally don't like using Bio balls or anything like that, but I'm trying to get as much biological filtration as possible so I'm using large ceramic cylinder type media in plastic bags. I rinse them in fresh saltwater every other week. The only pain is taking out the pump on the left and cleaning in that chamber and the tiny one beside it that waterfalls the water to pump back into the tank. I'm short and can not reach. I'm gonna try and find some kind of arm like scrubber for it. I hate using the Brillo pad style scrubbers for fear of scratching the tank worse.
 
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Just noticed the escapee on the barnacle. Can you spot it? o_O

Gonna catch it tomorrow and maybe put it in her tank. I don't think she is going to eat them, but I'm not sure what else to do with them.

She's just sitting there watching me type with that one eye. :cyclops:

She wasn't hungry today so I'm gonna try another fiddler tonight.
 
Be VERY careful to watch your ammonia in the 4 gallon. Since you noticed an odor on the barnacles, it likely means there are dead critters = ammonia. If I am correct, the barnacles are like uncured live rock and the ammonia and nitrite that will initially be produced can kill the fish.

Rinsing the biomedia that often likely removes much of the beneficial bacteria but since you are using saltwater, it is not likely to be harmful.

Your clown may beat you to the shrimp. I am surprised it has not already eaten it. My Clarkie (we feed it table shrimp pieces) would have consumed it long before it was seen. Shrimp are scavengers so there is no harm in leaving it in the small tank and the clown will likely enjoy it.

Two fiddlers in one night are more than I have ever fed my small octopuses. Since she ate both, she may prefer an every other day feeding schedule. Roy (Neogonodactylus) has reported a feeding schedule for his coldwater animals as every three days, allowing them eat as many as they will take. The bimacs he was reporting on are much larger animals and I THINK I recall him saying that three were a typical feeding quantity (the crabs are likely bigger). If Wink continues to feed heavily (without fasting days), she may be preparing to brood.
 
I thought about that after I stuck the barnacle in there and I moved it to another tank to be safe.

The clown is still very tiny, and I love to target feed all my fish the leftover thawed shrimp she doesnt eat. So that shrimp is safe for now. lol My other clowns are huge compared to him and I just might toss those shore shrimp in there in a week or so since she refuses to eat them. I may try again, but my hopes arent up on her eating them.

I was also surprised that she ate 2 full fiddlers, but she was only eating tiny pieces of shrimp and the most was 4 pieces in one day. (pencil eraser size) She is probably still adjusting or like you say preparring to brood. I sure hope not. I have no idea how to try to raise any young. And I sure don't have enough tanks. I know only a few survive.
 
She is just hanging out at the entrance to her den. She's normally further up inside, and comes to the edge when the lights are out, but tonight she's feeling more comfortable I think. She's also not being to skittish of me sitting there with my face glued to the glass either. She normally moves up in when I get close and stop at the tank. But today she didn't.

She ate 2 fiddlers again today! (I'm thinking a big meal every other day..I'm gonna keep track)

She doesn't seem to be laying eggs. I looked inside the top of the den & there is a small hole that is connected to the larger den area below and I looked inside and nothing so far thankfully.

Moving the Barnacle in the tank that has the Shore shrimp tonight, and I'm gonna move the Shore Shrimps to the IM 38 and see if my Clowns and the Huge Goby eat them. The escapee in the RSM still strutting his stuff, and they even molted last night. I thought she ate it when i see the tail floating and then the head. But as I got closer, yet again just an empty Molt shell. lol :snorkel:
 
LOL, There is a LOT more meat in an eraser sized piece of shrimp than in the small fiddlers. I think you would enjoy trying to raise young and, well, if Wink is female you have no choice :sagrin: One thing I don't know is how cannibalistic this species is. Up until the new species identified (or reidentified) by Thales and Neogonodactylus (currently being "commonly" called the Greater Striped Pacific octopus) we have not noted a species other than the mercs that naturally live together (there is one other in Australia but only one specific incidence of community has been observed with the Gloomy). This is all part of the mystery of the hobby. You would be the first to document tank born hatchlings for this species but I know @cthulhu77 had considered trying to raise them at one time so there may be some info in the old thread I linked earlier.

(excuse the old post, stopped before finishing for something and just now found it was not posted)
 
She ate 2 Fiddlers Yesterday and I tried to give her one today to Occupy her during the water change and clean up the inside of the tank. (crab legs I did not see) She ate one, but I tossed her another one but she only killed it and did not consume it. She held onto it for a while so she might have started, and been full and spit it out. I like watching her and catching it in the net. (Swish nothing but net!)

I really stirred the substrate up really well to get all the legs and muck out of it. I also held my stongest powerhead against the rock to knock off the debris. I really cleaned the heck out of that tank before I put her in there, but I guess it wasn't as clean as I thought. I can see tiny little sucker skins floating in there now so she's been shedding them.

I did a 60% water change because I'm seeing an algae spike I think on the back glass wall. I'm doing whatever I can to keep the Ammonia and Nitrates down. Parameters looked ok, except nitrates were up a little. So to be safe I did a larger water change. I normally do a 25% with a reg reef tank every other week. What is a normal water change for a 36 gallon with an Octopus? They do Pee/Poo more then fish, so I want to make sure I'm doing enough of a water change and frequent enough to keep them down. (Ammonia/Nitrates)
 
Yes, they are very messy eaters and their food pollutes easily. The reason we recommend a minimum of 3 months for an initial cycle is to build up the bacteria that converts ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate as fast as it is produced for a heavy polluting animal. I change 5 gallons a week on my 35 and 10 on the larger tanks while I have an octopus in residence. Even though you used existing cycled substrate, you may be lacking bacteria (not too worried about the nitrate but you need to maintain 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite). If you see ANY ammonia or nitrite, go to a twice a week water change. It will slow the bacteria growth but help keep the animal alive.
 
I figured it was because of how much waste was being produced now and without having all my snails, crabs, starfish corals ect to help handle some of the Bio Load it was going to react this way. Doing twice a week water changes.

I'm about to ask something gross, but it's been really bothering me. Do Octopus Poo? I see white strings of some sort in the tank once in a while. I panicked one day thinking it was one of her tentacles being eaten, and I forced her out of the rock only to find all 8 arms intact. So I placed the rock back in and she went back inside. I probably scared her for life, but was so worried.
 
Sorry, you are not the first to ask the question :sagrin: (link is to a TONMO search on, "octo poop")
We have identified 3 versions of octo waste elimination but have no strong evidence of what each might mean in relation to health. One is the stringy white/clear filament that you are likely seeing. The second is a milky white cloud, looking much like white ink. The third is what I have referred to as octo poop (photo at link, the red color is from the Cyclop-eeze). :wink:

Here is a video (not mine) asking about the second, white cloud type:
 
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I have not seen the white milky cloud or the filament, but your photo of the red Cyclop-Eeze is exactly what I'm seeing, but mine is white. It looks exactly like an arm tip with no tentacles on it. I did panic, but feel more relieved since I forced her out and seen all 8 arms attached. (wipes brow)

I sit till wee hours of the morning just watching her, she's getting more comfortable with me I hope. She's getting so bold now, she's is constantly at the very edge of her den. She's still shy, winks at me every time I come to the tank and watch her. Her eye moves up and down it's not really a wink, but I'm calling it that cause it's so cute. She actually puts her arms out and grabs the bamboo stick with the shrimp on it. I used to put it inside the den so she could pull it off, but now I'm kind of teasing/tempting her to come out a little farther. (Not trying to torture her, but get her to feel more relaxed in taking food from me.

She sticks her arms out of the holes in the rock when she's finished with a pieces of shrimp hence I think is her "Feed me now" thing that she does. So I stick another piece on and she does that "NOM NOM NOM" face. I LOVE THAT!

I stuck my hand in the tank last night and near the rock to see if I couldn't get her arm to flick me like she does to the crabs. No arm flick, but she stayed put. She didn't go up in the rock further like she normally does being shy. Just sat there staring at me. She doesn't go up completely but one of those slowly backing up "What do you think your doing?" moves.

Doing a water change tonight and gonna try some new Jumbo fresh shrimp I found at a local store.
 
The red in my post is the Cyclop-eeze (which is red), without it white is the normal color :wink:.

As you experiment with interaction, let her come to you, don't chase. Initial contact is almost always what I call a "touch and go". She will gently touch you, not like the strangeness and quickly retract the arm. Some never get beyond this but will continue the experiment (not necessarily on the same day).
 
I've been giving her fiddlers from a Dasani water bottle. When I stick the bottle inside the tank the water fills up and starts to give that glub glub sound, she starts to come to the very edge of the den and starts watching me. But tonight I'm gonna get ballsy and actually hold it from one of its legs and feed her by hand. She's refusing shrimp on a skewer now, I even tried the tail piece again with the shell on, she just spit it out. She only wants the fiddlers and has only been eating one.
I have 2 fiddlers left, but I'm going to pick a couple up from a local pet store today to tide me over, but I just ordered another 20 from Paul Sachs. They were really great with the last order, and I'm going to keep using him. I didn't think I would go through that many so fast so this time to be safe I'm doubling up on the order. She's not eating the claws for some reason. Might be full I don't know. But I'm gonna make sure every other day I try shrimp first and then 2 fiddlers if she refuses the shrimp to make sure she's getting enough and eating.
 
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