Help me with my New Octo Please???

[tattooed octo]

i am a new member and have recently puchased a new octo. not sure what kind. i need a some help there. He is about the size of you hand when its spread out. I ve had him for about 2 weeks now and so far so good i think. He has a really good hiding spot ( so good i cant find it). The problem is that my tank is at my buisness. so i dont see him much yet . I did sneak in the store the other night after we closed and all the lights had been out for about an hour and he was very active then. Any ways my questions are this. First what kind. His color has an irridesent green tint to him and generally brown or what ever color the rock is he happens to be on. my second question is a little harder to explain. thankfully i have a pic to help me ask it.. Last night he finnally came out and spread across a rock and made this like white canopy around him for about a 2 seconds and then went back to normal. fortunettly a happen to have my camera phone in the ready position. Well any ways im looking forward to talking to all you guys and gals in the future and any info to help this dumb tattoo artist out would be great.[/b]

 

[Cephkid]

better pic please.

 

[Nancy]

Hi and welcome to TONMO.com!

My guess is that you have O. briareus, which is found in Florida waters. They are irridescent blue green, have long arms and hunt the way you described. Yes, that's what your octo was doing by spreading its mantle over the rocks. It catches things (amphipods, small crabs) in its mantle and then eats them.

The bad news is that O. briareus is night active. That means that you'll see it come out only at night. Sometimes they will gradually come around to your hours, sometimes not. You can watch your octo without being observed by using a flashlight with a red lens (or putting red plastic film over the lens).

Have you named your octopus yet? And what are you feeding it?

Nancy

 

[tattooed octo]

thanks for the info on the red lense. I have named him and appropriatly so in a tattoo shop.. we named him tatu. I currently feed him frozen shrimp wich he seems to like alot.

 

[Cephkid]

thats a band yanow...

 

[Jean]

The white is the web between the arms. Many octopus use this like a parachute to trap prey!

Oh and to Tonmo!

J

 

[corw314]

Welcome! Not a bad shot for a camera phone! How is he doing?


Carol

 

[tattooed octo]

doing well i still havnt found his hiding spot yet . i have to say i do have a question though. everything that i have read on this sight pretty much says there shouldnt be any fish in the tank with them. Well i have to admit mine does have a few buddies with him and they all seem to get along very well. Just wondering if im gonna regret this later or not worry about it.

 

[corw314]

What kind are they? I know damsels can either be annoying, some have been known to pick at the octo's eyes, or they could become food.
If all seems well, well...time will tell!!!

Carol

 

[tattooed octo]

i have a couple small dansels, a 3 puffers and a yellow tang. im not sure if ive mentioned it but the tank is a 125 gallon. so there is lots of room

 

[corw314]

I'm not sure about those puffers. Think they could inflict some damage. I would remove them if I were you.

Carol

 

[know-it-all]

I don't have any real experience with octo's yet,
but from what I've read, they can and will eat almost anything else
in the tank with them.

much like people asking if they can keep anything with a piranha,
sure they get along at first, but someday the piranha wil get hungry
eat everything else, including other piranha.

 

[cthulhu77]

Octo=Puffer
Bush=Small Business
Yeah, pull those guys out...neat fish, but relentless as heck !
Would love to see some more pics...sounds like a nice tank...
greg

 

[sgoctopus]

Hi ... I'm also a new comer to this site and in this hobby. How is your octopus faring with your puffer? I used to have a octopus which is 3 times that of my puffer and the next day, my puffer chewed off all its tenticles!!! So beware!!!

sgoctupus

 

[Nancy]

We don't recommend keeping any fish with an octopus. The fish can harm an ocotpus, like the puffer experience or the damsels going after the octo's eyes. If that doesn't happen, when he gets bigger, the octo might eat the fish.

Nancy