Grover

[cuttlechris]

yeah i could use some pics because i want to ensure that my landscaping for the most part won't be tempting to rearrange. I like having lots of archs and i've constructed a den but i don't think it's octopus worthy. thanks

 

[Animal Mother]

It won't matter how you arrange it. If it's not glued together chances are it will change over time. And the octopus will be the judge of the den location no matter how much effort you put into making one yourself.

 

[sedna]

AM, as I watch Al I notice more of that behavior you mentioned- it's that hovering movement that reminds my husband of the "Navigator" characters from the book/ movie Dune. He'll hover across the ground and then act as if he is snagged on something- but now that I think about it he always "snags" in front of a rock- maybe he is mimicing...

Al hasn't spent a lot of time rearranging the rocks in the tank, he seems only to need his one toy in a specific place. Maybe more easily moveable objects are enough. Before he moved in I arranged a den for him, a rather heavy clam shell in front of a curved piece of live rock. He seemed to get the idea immediately that it was his den. Do you think it helps to use some heavier pieces, or is Al just lazy compared to the rest of the octos out there?

 

[Animal Mother]

AM, as I watch Al I notice more of that behavior you mentioned- it's that hovering movement that reminds my husband of the "Navigator" characters from the book/ movie Dune. He'll hover across the ground and then act as if he is snagged on something- but now that I think about it he always "snags" in front of a rock- maybe he is mimicing...

Al hasn't spent a lot of time rearranging the rocks in the tank, he seems only to need his one toy in a specific place. Maybe more easily moveable objects are enough. Before he moved in I arranged a den for him, a rather heavy clam shell in front of a curved piece of live rock. He seemed to get the idea immediately that it was his den. Do you think it helps to use some heavier pieces, or is Al just lazy compared to the rest of the octos out there?

I think it is rock mimicry. I remember one of the TED talks showing a behavior with a larger species of octopus (O. cyanea I think) where it was moving with the reflection of the light through the waves on the ocean floor. I haven't seen this behavior much since I got that footage (which was poor).

Haven't seen Grover in 2 days.

 

[Animal Mother]

3 days, and I have seen no more than an arm rearranging a shell from inside a hole.

I guess he's a she and is preparing for eggs. *sigh*

 

[Animal Mother]

4 days and no Grover sightings. When I got home from work however I did notice a rock had been wedged in a different spot and there is a lot of sand scattered over some of the live rock so apparently there was some sort of activity while I was gone. I'm having dejavu. I still drop in a piece of shrimp and hope to see an arm reach out and wrestle it away from a serpent star.

 

[Animal Mother]

Well, a week and no Grover. I'll try to get video and pics of the babies whenever they hatch, if there are any. The base rock Grover took up residence in is about 30lbs and there's no way I'll be able to find out for sure, but I've seen this scenario before and I know how it plays out.

Too bad it's so soon. In about 3 months I should have an operational aquaculture facility set up in a spare bedroom, part of it specifically for cephs.

 

[DWhatley]

AM,
Would you consider journaling your design and setup of the aquaculture facility? We get a lot of questions about raising little ones and making food so this could be useful. Expecting seahorses soon too?

 

[Animal Mother]

AM,
Would you consider journaling your design and setup of the aquaculture facility? We get a lot of questions about raising little ones and making food so this could be useful. Expecting seahorses soon too?

I will make a journal for building the setup perhaps in Tank Talk. It's not going to be anything too fancy at first. Planning on having 6-55 gallon tanks and I might go with a large rubbermaid tub for a central sump. I don't really like the idea of exposing all the tanks to each other and I'm not the most handy DIY'er but the overall water volume would be a big plus. It's mostly going to be corals but I want to diversify and include some cephs so I'll probably dedicate 2 of the tanks strictly to that. I'm thinking about trying to get Diver Tom to find me a brooding female briareus when the system is ready. Should be about that time of year for babies again.

 

[esquid]

Are you going to have a head tank? Had you considered putting a UV sterilizer in the return water line?

erin

 

[Animal Mother]

Are you going to have a head tank? Had you considered putting a UV sterilizer in the return water line?

erin

UV sterilizers have proven to be a problem with ceph breeding. I might utilize one on my sps tank though.

 

[monty]

free association thought:

bobtails deliberately culture symbiotic Vibrio bacteria for their photophores, and blue-rings culture another Vibrio species for their venom. Is it possible that UV sterilizers cause problems because other ceph species need other symbiotic bacteria for some less obvious purpose (like digestion? Mice, and likely people, that are carefully blocked from getting bacteria in their intestines don't actually develop their digestive systems properly...)

 

[Lime]

Welcome to Grover!

 

[esquid]

What happened when UV sterilizers were used? Was it conformation/behavior abnormalities or general die outs?

 

[Animal Mother]

We have baby octos this morning. They look like transparent gnats floating about the tank. I'm going to stock up on planktonic foods after I drop Alayna off at the airport... she's headed out to San Francisco this morning, with the camera too so I got a tiny video clip in the dark to show the "snow" of babies.