Caught either a juvenile E. Dofleini or O. Rubescens last night.

AquaticEngineer

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Never formally introduced myself, so I guess theres no time like the present.

My name is Stu, I have a 310 gallon temperate/coldwater aquarium. ( If you want more than that just ask :wink: )

I went collecting last night looking for schooling fish for the tank and caught plenty of Tubesnouts (Aulorhynchus flavidus) and a TON of Bay Pipefish (Sygnathus leptorhynchus) some other cool gunnels and stuff as well.

But the coolest thing was in about 4" of water under the edge of a rock I flipped looking for gunnels. Its gotta be either a E. Dofleini and O. Rubescens, since I'm pretty certain those are the only 2 species found in the area. I'll have to look closely again but the only info I could find about the difference between a very small E. Dofleini and an O. Rubescens is that the the latter will have 3 small flaps or "eyelashes" below its eye and that the colors vary.

Anyone here have experience with either species? My next place for advice will be the Hatfield Marine Science center and the Oregonh Coast Aquarium I guess.

Updated Video as of 11/5/11



Anyways, here's some photos:
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KMF;183578 said:
Awesome you going to keep it?
For sure :smile: He's in a tupperware for now on a cliff ledge in the 200 gallon display, but I'm setting up a small tank for him tonight and plubming it into the existing system.

neurobadger;183579 said:
Based on the sheer darkness of the color I'm inclined to think it's a rubescens, but I could be wrong. I've never seen a GPO that dark, though.
Coloration totally says rubescens. But I checked on him today and he's blended into the rocks around him and is white and gray. Looked for the tell tale 3 lower eyelashes and he doesn't have them. He definately does have an upper protrusion above both his eyes though.

I'm hoping Rubescens due to size, but I'm also hoping its Dofleini out of sheer cool factor :biggrin2: Either way, I'll have plenty of room to house him.
 
skywindsurfer;183582 said:
Sorry to burst your "cool" bubble but my money is on Rubescens as I have worked with both species and it looks most similar to Rubescens IMO.

Burst away :biggrin2:

I knew it was a 50/50 shot on species and I honestly was just beyond happy to even find one. It will be much easier of a setup for the long haul with a Rubescens.

What work have you done with them?
 
Where did you collect it? White 'eyespots' on the top of the first arm pair can be diagnostic for rubenscens. See this video for a clearish view.
 
I was pretty sure that was the one you intended because I remembered commenting on it but had a dickens of a time finding it. Google and the right word choices (rubescens ross video) came up with it pretty quickly once I eliminated PackedHead and your TONMO blog but I am not sure where you posted it when I first saw it :wink: (maybe FB?)
 
Got it out of Tillamook Bay in Garibaldi, Oregon.

On a side note, I got him into his own tank that is plumbed off the main system. All octo-proofed and sealed.

Got a handful of small live shrimp in there with him and some rocks to hide in. Also took a small shore crab and ripped off the pincers and tossed him in. Hopefully he'll take to one of those food sources since they were everywhere around where I caught him.

As of recently he has turned much lighter colored and has his legs curled up tight around him. Is there a handbook of cephalopod gestures to determine their mood I should know about?
 
I have not kept this species so can only offer a few thoughts from observations of other young Caribbean animals I have successfully kept. The translucency and thinness of the arms suggests a very young animal. Since the likely possibility is an initially palegic species that becomes benthic after a month or two, it is probably between 2 and 3 months old. Getting it eating is your primary concern at this stage. Once they start accepting food, they seem to continue but stress seems to be a major issue and can be fatal. Make sure you have enough live rock so it can completely hide from you (if you can see it, it can see you), not hiding is a sign of stress.

Curled up arms can be species specific. Throughout its life, the Caribbean, O. mercatoris is known for a defensive denning posture where the one or two arms are curled back over is its head (where the eyes are located, not the mantle), exposing the beak area. I have seen a few other species do this while young but I don't know if it is common.

If it is sitting out in the open curled up, then I would assume stress and would suggest reducing the lighting (even covering the tank) until it takes a den. If the hiding spaces are minimal add more LR or other dark places for it to hide. As much as we like to watch them, hiding seems to be essential in reducing stress. With the species I have worked with, once they find a den, you can offer pieces of crab or recently killed small shrimp (naturally small shrimp or krill, not table shrimp at this age) just outside the den then back away and watch if it takes the offering (keeping light to a minimum). You might add a red light to the tank for now so that you have viewing light but can still provide darkness.

If we assume O. rubescens for now, you can use Google (our search engine is limited) with this search term: rubescens -gallery site:www.tonmo.com to find prior discussions (for photos, remove the -gallery) on this species. Taollan and Neogonodactylus will have had the most direct experience with keeping them in captivity so adding either name to your google search may be helpful.
 
AquaticEngineer;183589 said:
Burst away :biggrin2:

I knew it was a 50/50 shot on species and I honestly was just beyond happy to even find one. It will be much easier of a setup for the long haul with a Rubescens.

What work have you done with them?

Nothing much, just took care of a few of them at my work.
 
My O. Rubescens' new home

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

I'm fairly certain he is an O. Rubescens.

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:

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