Augustus - O. Vulgaris

[DWhatley]

Basic visible octopuses body parts for octopuses we see in the aquarium trade:

Arms (8, no tentacles or legs)
suckers (varying numbers, in single or double rows, without hooks - hooks are for squids )
gills (2 sets, ctenidium in picture)
siphon (1, also referred to as a funnel and can be moved to any position along the mantle ventral opening)
head (1, the part from the beak to just behind the eyes)
mantle (1, the sack like part behind the eyes, this is the body, not the head)
beak (1, the only hard part on most octopuses and restricts where they can go, it is about the size of the eye)
eyes (2)
hearts (3, 2 brachial and 1 systemic - visible in some of the more transparent species)

Not the best image for my list and it shows more than what I wanted but ...

Now, help me with what you are calling nostrils . I don't keep many fish so I don't know what parts might obviously resemble fish anatomy to someone accustomed to making a comparison.

 

[iAlex]

I think he is talking about the siphon, because I never knew the name of it.

 

[Jabba954]

Yeah - siphon.

Augustus has been in his den since yesterday morning - ate one hermit crab. The temps jumped big time today here (from mid 70s to high 90s - water temp went from 75 to 84), and didn't have a chiller hooked up - so had to do a water change when I got home to bring temps down fast. Back down to 80, and dropping.

 

[DWhatley]

We have had heat like that for most of the summer and are now having rapid swings. I keep a case ++ of bottled RO water in the freezer and swapped it out all day during the heat (we didn't AC this year because I am not working but have to run the heat). When the temps dropped I had to put in tank heaters immediately because it got so cold so fast at night. All three took the rapid temp swing fine but we had several day where the tanks were not stable and I was very worried.

The octos became more active when I stabalized between 75 and 76 so I am thinking this is a good temp to maintain for Caribbean species.

The Japanese images of Tako always show the siphon like a mouth so I guess nostril is not that crazy of a notion but they breath with their gills. The siphon is for propultion, direction, inking, waste removal and getting keepers very wet (as I expect you to soon experience if Augustus follows el Diablo's example).

 

[SabrinaR]

The siphon is for propultion, direction, inking, waste removal and getting keepers very wet (as I expect you to soon experience if Augustus follows el Diablo's example).

I hope so. I love reading el Diablo's journal lol.

 

[Jabba954]

Woohoo! All my hermit crabs are dead! haha... there were 20+ hermits in the tank as of last saturday. Now there's a pile of shells. Augustus is still fairly reclusive, but he was out and about in the middle of the night - I managed to snap one decent shot (and three missed shots) before he ducked into his den.

So far, he does NOT like table shrimp.

 

[DWhatley]

My O.briareus would not accept table shrimp (but had not problems with shore shrimp) until they were almost 4 months old. At about 2.5 months they would sample it but not eat it and we suspect it may be too tough for young ones. We are guessing that the O.hummelincki, Monty, is about the same age as the O.briareus sibblings and he started accepting it at about the same time. Now they are all eating it 3-5 times a week and are beginning to catch live bait shrimp with gusto. I suggest offering it about once a week or once every two weeks but have a backup.

 

[Jabba954]

Augustus likes silversides! And he's becoming a bit more social - whether that is due to just getting more comfortable, or the temps finally dropping (been a struggle to keep the tank below 81), I'm not sure. But he was out at 7 this morning, and didn't mind me looking at him for a few seconds. He also readily accepted a large silverside from a feeding skewer!

Took this photo just before feeding him. A second earlier he'd had his horns up.

 

[Jabba954]

So Augustus seems to have exhausted his love for hermits - I was gone for the wkd, and left a dozen hermits in his tank. They were untouched still today - but he anxiously grabbed a couple of silversides, and ate two (expensive) emerald crabs over the wkd. Where do you guys get cheap rock crabs?

 

[CaptFish]

http://www.ccritters.com/catalog/i203.html

Cannot connect to MySQL server

 

[Jabba954]

Cool! Thanks Cap!

 

[DWhatley]

None of my octopuses have taken more than a hermit or two UNLESS I take them out of the shell. Looking for appropriately sized food for my hatchlings, I found I could freeze the hermits and use a pair of pliers on most shells to extract the full body. The seem to like the meat just fine just not the effort of extracting them.

 

[Jabba954]

Pics from last night - he's much less perturbed by the flash these days, and more interested in playing. Going to get some small plastic baubles for him to play with today...

Sorry for the algae on the glass - I was away for the weekend, and haven't had a chance to do a detailed clean - just a water change and a quick once over with the magnet.

 

[Jabba954]

BTW - can someone change the title from Briareus to Vulgaris?

 

[DWhatley]

Done here as well as in the List of our Octopuses.