Beldar - Callistoctopus aspilosomatis ?

D- Bruce Carlson, the Chief Science Officer at the museum, is featured in Norman's book with his wife, Marj. I think at the time the book was written they were with the aquarium in Hawaii, but they are in the book as nautilus experts. I met him last year at our yearly MI conference. At the time I wasn't keeping octos yet, so I didn't talk to him about it, but I'd bet anyone as knowledgable makes sure the cephs in his aquarium are as well treated as can be. He spoke with such pride about the entire operation- not the kitchy crowd pleasers, either. Actually, I met him before going to the Georgia Aquarium, and once in there it became apparent which part is real science and what is there for show. If you get the chance, pay extra the behind the scenes tour, it's worth it. Once the tour guide realizes you know more than average, they try to get you into places off tour and hook you up with biologists if they are around!:sagrin:
 
Thales;136228 said:
I named it -

Zod. Kneel before Zod.

Sooo, does this mean Zod has the sole of a cat as well? :razz:

Bel may be showing signs of aging. She is not as active as she was (plays for shorter periods and does not dance on the glass much at all) and eats less. She wants to play at about 11:30 PM but has no interest in food until much later in the morning (oxymoron?). If I don't notice her or don't get to the tank after 11:30 she sits in the front and sulks but eventually comes for attention (still refusing food). I have tried putting food in with one hand and offering the other for play and she only chooses to play, no matter how I try coaxing with the food.

She has been very good about touching without grabbing for the last couple of weeks. Until recently, she would alternate between being well behaved and sticking to my hand and I could not trust which mood she would show (and reminds me of tickeling a cat with claws :roll:). Exposing arms that stick to my hand to air seems to have finally gotten the message across. It is interesting that food in the water does not interest her and it does not effect her interaction. An hour or two after play time she is fairly quick (she is not overly quick at anything except pouncing and only after she has examined the live food for a minute or two) about taking the same food refused earlier.

We have started not feeding both octos one day a week. This is SOP for seahorses and we have noticed with other octos that they would refuse food roughly once a week after they were older.

Bel particularly likes the underside of her mantle gently rubbed and I am thinking the petting may relax the area that is expanding if she is producing eggs. Alternately, it could help with digestion since she wants to play this way before eating.

PS Still hoping for an avitar change!
 
On March 9 (today is April 27) I posted that Bel had started to be seen between 11 and 1 Eastern Daylight time (12-1 standard). Over the last couple of weeks, I have have noticed that she come promptly at 11:30. She appears to just wake up at that time and is sluggish for a few minutes. She continues to refuse food but will play for half an hour and then shows me she does not want to play any more by going to the rocks (we have two signs for stopping interaction. If she goes to the substrate and removes her hands from the glass, I have to take my hands out of the tank but if she returns to the glass, we continue to play. If she leaves the glass and goes to the live rock, she is done playing for the night). I have been waiting an hour to feed her after play time but for the last two nights, I have offered food when she wants to stop playing and she has taken it immediately. When I try to offer food during play time, she wants nothing to do with it and would not take unless I left and returned to the tank. Offering the food right after playtime seems to be working very well as long as I don't offer it before she is ready.

She does very well with my straw contraption and the feeding stick and tonight I put the stick in the straws first and then offered the shrimp. Much better sequence. The picture is nothing new for the journal but it seems that these are the only ones I get of her since she leaves the front when I use a flash. Hopefully, Big Sister will post a couple of shots of their trip and the photos Kris took of Beldar during our living room campout.

I am experimenting with a new game at play time. She is not sure she likes it but does not leave and sulk when I try to get her to play. Basically, I am making a circle with my thumb and fingers and am trying to get her to swim mantle first through the hole. I am not sure if she gets the idea yet or if she is showing her cat personality but sometimes it appears she is not cooperating just because ... With some attempts, she will go to the bottom and give me the hands out of tank posture but then climbs back up to the play corner after I remove my hand. I play with her normally for a bit and try again and the reaction is mixed, sometimes she will swim through and other times she exits toward the glass. This has only been a two day experiment and I will continue to try it for the next week.
 

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Thales,
#10 is the one I am voting for (Glad you finally looked at Norman :wink: Lennon- Macropus complex).

If I remember correctly, #11 showed up in an old post and Roy tentatively IDed it as the same as one he had found in the plankton. I had the impression at the time that it grew to more of a briareus size and I feel confident in my thinking that Bel will never get anywhere near that large (another reason I don't think it is luteus). If you look at #10 and other photos that are labeled luteus, you will notice an indent at the back of the mantle. Bel's is now very pronounced and is lighter in color on the top side (this is apparent even in the red lights). I am sadly thinking that the lighter area (and perhaps her eagerness to have her mantle petted every night) may be developing eggs. The one time curled arm has never displayed special attention again and I feel pretty certain Bel is female and try not to think about it :sad:

Bel has taught me a new code (I think)! She has become quite consistent with coming out at 11:30, just as the reef lights go out. If she wakes up before the lights turn off she waits in the LR until the timer shuts them off then sashays to the front of the tank (we are setting them back a half hour to see if she will come out sooner). She plays with me for almost exactly half an hour and then goes to the top of the LR. For two days, I have offered her supper when she climbs to the top of the rock and she has taken the food immediately. Normally, she has to examine her food for awhile before eating but feeding on this signal eliminates the required observation time. We will see if the behavior continues.

I am not yet successful with our new game. I think she knows what I am trying to get her to do because of the way she chooses NOT to go through my looped fingers but she is not overly annoyed with me for trying so I will continue with trying to teach her the circus ring of fire trick.
 
I shut down the skimmer on Bel's tank (relatively new skimmer with, unfortunately, hotter pump) and opened the cabinet doors in addition to leaving the outside doors open to the cooler weather and Bel has returned to her 11:30 time for coming out of her den. She is much more active but not as playful (but still plays more than when the temperature rose). Unfortunately, her mantle is thickening and feels much firmer when she comes for petting (she likes to be tickled on the underside of her mantle and will place it in my cupped hand for attention). I still think she is creating eggs but I would like to know if Lennon or Zod show a similar change (they are both thought to be males of the same or a similar species).
 
Hey D, sorry it took me forever to read this...I haven't really been on lately. Lennon seems to be going through some of the same things. His color changing abilities seem to be pretty much down to nothing now, and he won't accept any food. He'll come out for attention every now and then, but it's been very minimal.
 
Thankfully, Bel is still eating, albeit less and is picky. Last night Neal picked up some live clams and she readily came over to me to take two of them (already opened) and eats her live crabs but is more and more picky about taking the frozen shrimp. I often see a splotchy look to her coloring but she was fully dark colored (likely red but in the red light I can only tell dark from light) last night. Her mantle continues to "thicken" and I feel fairly comfortable (but sad) with my diagnosis of eggs being produced.

She almost never comes to be petted now and the few times she does she only wants to be touched between the eyes and not on the mantle (before she would come and place her mantle in my hand for a light tickling on the underside every night). If I see her active on the glass she will often go to her live rock but not disappear when I approach.
 
hello , you have a very Beautiful octo.
Can you answer my questions?
·Is this octo a tropical octo or freshwater one?
·What's the species name?(i ask it because if i put "macropus complex" in google, it appears kangaroos?¿?)
thank you
 
There are no freshwater octopuses but there are warm and cold water species. Beldar is a warm water species. As with most scientific names you will need to further qualify your Google search (I have no idea why so many phyla have the same name for unrelated life). For any octopus, use the word octopus along with the scientific part of the name. Bel MAY be luteus (again include the word octopus if you look up luteus) but I have my doubts since she is far smaller than the sizing given in Norman's Cephalopodsa, A World Guide. There is discussion above about other possibilities.
 
Bel is acting a bit strangely. Last night she came and almost played for about half an hour (after not wanting much to do with me for several weeks). She came to the play corner and stayed out of petting range but reached up and gently touched my fingers several times. Tonight when I approached the tank (I am sure she could not tell I had a fresh clam in my hand as I had to crack the shell and she could not possibly see the meat) she litterly flew to the front of the tank in greeting. I had no good place to put the clam so I offered it on her stick and there was no time wasted accepting it but she finished it quickly (I snuck a live crab in while she was eating) and came out to play. This time she did want to be petted and would have played for longer but the unfortunate crab made an appearance and the additional supper was too tempting. It is almost as if she forgot she liked to play and suddenly remembered :confused:
 
We are back to minimum petting but still interacting. She may not play tomorrow though since I decided to take a few pictures with the flash. She hates light and made her way to the back and behind the rocks after a couple of shots.

I am not sure why the water looks murky. I did not see her ink so it may be the acrylic on this very old tank (I am the third owner - my son being the second).
 

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