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Innovative Marine Aquariums

Coldwater Octopus Biotope


AquaticEngineer

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AquaticEngineer

Couldn't keep my little guy in a tupperware his whole life, lol.

 

I set up a small acrylic tank as a flow through system off of my main display and octo-proofed it last night. Currently has a very thin natural sand layer and a good pile of boulders in the middle made of 4-5 nice sized rocks sparsely covered with corynactis. This will be temporary until I get my 30 gallon 1" thick arcylic tank octo-proofed and setup inside the house. When thats up and running I'm going to go and take lots of pictures of the area I collected this guy from and duplicate that in his tank environment.

 

I tossed a handful of small live shrimp and a small shore crab in for him. He's still spooked and huddled in a corner but his color is back and he's breathing normally now that he's out of the tupperware prison, :lol:

 

Much better quality video as of 11/5/11

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LINK TO VIDEO, OR CLICK ON PICTURE BELOW

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that's a perfect set up for a little octopus. Has he eaten yet?

 

The rule of thumb is that an octopus can get through any opening that is larger than its eyeball, so he could probably get through any hole/crack that is 3/16" or larger, so keep that lid on straight.

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AquaticEngineer
that's a perfect set up for a little octopus. Has he eaten yet?

 

The rule of thumb is that an octopus can get through any opening that is larger than its eyeball, so he could probably get through any hole/crack that is 3/16" or larger, so keep that lid on straight.

 

Haven't seen him eat yet, but his tank is literally crawling with food collected right where I found him.

 

The current lid was just a quick fix. I'm getting a piece of acrylic cut and making some lock down screws for it like what a lot of companys use to hold protein skimmer collection cups onto the body.

 

I even put plastic mesh over the return that goes into the tank since I figured if he really wanted to he could climb up that even with the water pressure.

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AquaticEngineer

Well the little guy is going to do just fine I think, I caught him munching on a small shore crab last night so he is for sure eating :) Good thing shore crabs aren't hard to find ;)

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AquaticEngineer
I'd bet good money it is O. rubescens.

 

I'm hoping for that.

 

Still cant tell if the chromatifors are linear or in a more ciruclar pattern and I dont see any "eyelashes" on the underside of the eyes.

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AquaticEngineer
Charge an extra $10 for the special exhibit. :lol:

 

That is too cool.

 

Or I could charge them for a special VIP pass for the "Octopus Experience" like a lot of public aquariums do, lol.

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Or I could charge them for a special VIP pass for the "Octopus Experience" like a lot of public aquariums do, lol.

 

Octopus Encounter has a better ring to it. :)

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AquaticEngineer

Update on the octopus (currently a septopus, :lol: )

 

His missing arm is growing back nicely, you can see an 1/8 of an inch of growth at the tip that is all clear.

 

I minimalized his tank environment to just one large rock propped up by another large rock so he owns his den now. I removed the 2 small gunnels that had been stealing his food, and I started punching a hole with a small screwdriver in the heads of the crabs I feed him directly so there is no chance of a fatal wound to the octopus but the still struggle a bit.

 

Since implementing these changes he's started eating like a hog and has a nice little pile in the back corner of the tank that he places the remains of his crab dinners. He likes to keep his burrow nice and tidy ;)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Does he come out much, or does he hide most of the time? Very your bimacs (all octopus I think) will hide a lot, but they soon associate you with food and come out to beg when there's activity in the room. How does yours act? Would you say it's nocturnal? There's some debate about O. Rubescens.

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AquaticEngineer
Does he come out much, or does he hide most of the time? Very your bimacs (all octopus I think) will hide a lot, but they soon associate you with food and come out to beg when there's activity in the room. How does yours act? Would you say it's nocturnal? There's some debate about O. Rubescens.

 

He definately seems more active at night from what I have observed. I caught him at night while tidepool and the only time I've seem him out of his burrow eating was at night.

 

He did finally choose a burrow that looks directly out of the front of the tank, so he can see all the motion that goes on whenever I am out there. I have been keeping at least 4-5 shore crabs in his tank at all times to make sure he has plenty of food, but I will probably change that slowly and start offering foods directly to him.

 

I'm sure that over time he will associate me with his meals. My Sarcastic Fringehead finally does and will swim out of his burrow and into the water column to beg for scallops, which is pretty awesome considering I didnt see him for the first 4 months I had him.

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AquaticEngineer

So the little guy is definitely getting used to me.

 

I was trying to get him to take a piece of scallop since thats what I feed the rest of my larger tank inhabitants and I spooked a live crab into his burrow. Without hesitation he reached out snatched it up and started chomping away. It was pretty cool to see him attack and eat his prey.

 

I took count of the crabs left in his tank, and of the 12 I put in there last week there is now 1 left. Since he is obviously eating well, I decided to challeng him a bit mentally and put the last crab in a small clear thumb tack container. I guess we'll see if he's entertained tomorrow.

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