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help please

kjlittle0

Cuttlefish
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Jan 26, 2009
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17
as some of you may know i attempted to keep a merc. not too long ago but the little buy did not work out too good. i ordered another merc at work about 2 weeks ago and he finally came im today.i brought the box home about an hour ago to start acclimating him but im thinking this is not a merc. and if it is it looks nothing like my first one.

here are some pics and if someone could ID it for me could they please include some info on it. all my research was done on mercs only. thank you.

by the way. when stretched out he is probably 16-19 inches across.
 

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Good Call, definitely NOT a merc and I would say not even from the Caribbean. It looks a lot like a young acuelatus or one of the smaller octos of adopus complex. Cute fella and likely to be diurnal and more personable than a merc but what size is your aquaraium? Food requirements will be about the same but you will need more octoproofing than a mercatoris requires.
 
i have a 15g hex, prolly going to upgrade if you think this species is young. im also going to test out my octo proof tank a little, i silyconed the lid down to the top of the tank, do you think that would work? also, is this guy venomous or anything i should be carefull of. my tank is 76 degrees right now should i drop it a cuople?

thanks
 
No problem with venom. This is one of the high desireablity species but a much larger tank is in order. They have not been a problem with tank lids closed (most problems come into play with tank lids open and back turned or worse, left open - as with Octane). If you are going to build out a larger tank (I hope), then you might take a look at the tank forums for some ease of maintenance ideas but the siliconed lid should be fine just be sure that your mainenance lid is also secured. If it is a young aculeatus (there is a smaller one in this group so there is a chance it is adult), a 45 will work and you can go slightly smaller with a sump to make up the volume. If my diagnosis is correct (it is not likely to be a Pacific, cold water species in any case) 76 is good but watch the temp with the lid closed as 78 should be top end.

Nice ooops if you can manage it needs!
 
ya im going to go larger. would some non-photo corals be ok to add to the tank becaus im actually setting up a 45g for them cuz there taking up too much space in my reef tank. also, i paid 24 bucks for him, what price would these guys usually be roughly
 
Hello, fellow Detroiter! I haven't made it into the store yet to say hi. Anyway, your new friend does look a lot like the 3 different aculeatus (or abdopus complex, anyway) I had last year. If you got a young one, you are a lucky guy!! Diurnal, active, friendly, large range of color and texture displays... everything an octo keeper could hope for except that they are a small egged species. Look up "Al," "the Oncel- ler" and "Aku" in the journals and compare the posted photos to your friend.

My aculeatus lived happily in my 55 gal. tank. When I started with my first, Al, he was in a 20 gal. tank and it was just livable. I saw much more swimming and rock mimicking behavior in the larger tank. I was successful stick feeding "grocery counter" shrimp (Westborn or that butcher shop on 7 mi and Farmington have the nicest looking selection) occasionally a soft shell crab. I combined stick feeding with "free feeding" live hermits, just always having a few roaming around.

GOOD LUCK! If you've got a young aculeatus, I'm jealous! I need more tanks!!
 
At $24, you are doing very well for ANY live octopus :cool2: but that is about half of what you would expect for an Indonesian octo and about right for a local merc.

Corals are often a subject of subjective choice. Octos will learn to avoid stinging ones BUT they do get stung and it limits their mobility in a tank. When I have seen reaction (quick arm withdrawl) I have removed the corals. Octorials seem to be no problem and some polyps. I will not try anemones of any kind because of their sting, mobile ability and holding power. Serpents and brittles (excluding greens - my green did not show agression for 4 years and then had to be removed) are not a problem, some starfish should be avoided. Fish can be a problem and I avoid them entirely but very docile ones have been either successful or eaten.
 
ok cool, ive just got some red chili righ now and several sponges coming in when i get my non-photo tank done. i might look into doing a larger aquarium.

sedna, i actually have a few customers that get som food there i might look into it. right now ive got a small tank with about 25 ghost shrimp and 3 fiddler crabs in it. i get everything wholesale so i have to buy them by the lot but they live a long time. im going to check out those journals right away, how long did yours live.

also, alot of people talk about interaction with octos, what are good ways to "interact" with this species?
 
Check out my last 2 entries on "Artemis' Journal," for a quick summary of my experiences of warming up to new octos. 2 of my 3 aculeatus were very friendly, but I didn't have them long, as they were very mature when I got them. I'm wondering if the time of year of their capture relates to their age? Since their natural life cycle is 12- 18 mos, you'd think there might be a correlation?
 
bluespotocto;132758 said:
Wait quick question, what is the difference from small egg or large egg?

Small egged octos produce LOTS of tiny, pelagic (free swimming) babies who are pretty much impossible to raise in a tank. Large egged are like it sounds, fewer, bigger eggs with a longer brooding time that hatch out babies that are more like tiny adults and are easier to raise in captivity. Captive breeding is my ultimate aim, but aculeatus are so perfectly sized and have such a great temperment that it's a shame they have, as of yet :sly:, been abel to be tank raised. Check out the treads in "raising octopuses from eggs" here in the "care" section...
 
hey just id let you know that this octo is doing pretty good. he comes out alot watch everything in my living room and has no fear of me coming right up to the tank but if other people do he will take off and hide. im thinking he reconizes the one that feeds him. he will only eat fiddler crabs though, he has not interest in ghost shrimp and thawed shrimp so it will be a little expensive to feed him but i think its worth it.

should i feed him daily? right now he will take a crab whenever i put it in there. also, i would like to start playing with or interacting with him, any suggestions?

another thing, he has one arm that is always curled up and never uses it, does this mean he is acutally a male?
 
I fed my aculeatus every other day. If it's his 3rd right arm, it's a boy. Will he play "follow the hand" with your hand on the outside of the glass? If you are past that, try tug of war with a feeding stick. Eventually let more of your hand get pulled into the tank with the stick. After that, try dangling your fingers at the top of the tank- you'll have to wait forever- and eventually he'll noodle you fingers with his arms. This process can take days or weeks, depending on the octo's personality and how much time you spend doing it. I found just reading or having my laptop near the tank helped get them used to me, and sometimes they like to watch the screen!
 

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