Can you help me id my new octopus please!!!

[John Reichard]

Can you help me id my new octopus please!!!
today I have received my new octopus from Octopus - Pacific
He is pretty small and adorable. Here are some pics. I don't think he a bimac because he dose not have any rings.

 

[John Reichard]

here is another pic

 

[John Reichard]

is it a Octopus filosus?

 

[sirreal]

When they are that young its hard to tell. D might know. I am sure she will be on today.
Welcome to Tonmo. Congrats on getting a cute octo.

 

[tonmo]

Cool!! Hmm, hard to know, I bet some of our experts (including @sirreal above) would like another pic or 2 ... O. filosus would seem to be a good guess, but not sure about the location of those dots... let's see what any others think. Agree w/ @sirreal, interested in what @DWhatley has to say.

TONMO!

 

[John Reichard]

thank you all so much for your help

 

[John Reichard]

also whats your opinion on a cuttlefish thats less than an inch in a reef tank? or with my octopus?

 

[John Reichard]

Cool!! Hmm, hard to know, I bet some of our experts (including @sirreal above) would like another pic or 2 ... O. filosus would seem to be a good guess, but not sure about the location of those dots... let's see what any others think. Agree w/ @sirreal, interested in what @DWhatley has to say.

TONMO!

thanks

 

[John Reichard]

here is more pics since he was more visable

 

[John Reichard]

@sirreal @tonmo @DWhatley

 

[DWhatley]

As noted, small octos are especially tricky to ID. Since it looks a lot like O. mercatoris (coloring, arm to mantle ratio, lack of skin texture and consistency of color) but is labeled as from the Pacific, I'll guess O. bocki. There have been quite a few of these to show up in recent months. One distinguishing factor would be eyes that look sort of like fat ovals (vs round - I call them tractor trailer eyes) but I can see that in the pictures.

It is very unlikely to be O. hummelincki (filosus). This species was often sold by SaltwaterFish.com in the years before the 2010 earthquake (imported from Haiti) and found in the Caribbean. It has eye spots like a bimac but is a warm water species that frequently exhibits papillae with a different (more purple) red.

 

[DWhatley]

Also note that you cannot put a cuttlefish and an octopus in the same tank. The cuttlefish will become octo food.

If you are interested in keeping cuttles, Sepia bandensis is the most commonly kept in home aquariums. They are usually purchased as eggs and hatched in the tank then fed live mysis for a month or two until they can eat larger prey. They can usually be converted to eating frozen mysis but the initial live food expenses are heavy unless you have a local source.

 

[John Reichard]

ok thanks so much @DWhatley

 

[John Reichard]

What do you think the life span might be considering its size its like the size of my finger nail.
@DWhatley

 

[John Reichard]

also can you put a male and female octopus together (ones that brood loarge eggs?)