Hey all, new member and a few questions:

[causeidm]

Well, I had an octopus many years ago and he did quite well, unfortuneatly he decide he wanted to get inside a powerhead. Currently I have a very successful reef tank and now an octopus tank as well.

I was at a local pet store when I saw my octopus in a small plastic container, inside of a larger tank. The octo had nowhere to hide at all and they had put it under full lighting. Then I noticed that two if its legs had also been damaged and were basically cut in half.

I decided to save the poor thing.

This was 2 weeks ago, he is now doing great in his own tank with plently of live rock to hide in. I have 5 questions for you guys.

1) Is it possible for its legs to grow back? or not?

2) What kind of lighting cycle does it need? Currently a moonlight comes on at 8am untill noon where a flourescent light comes on till about 4, then a moonlight till 10 then darkness.

3) The octo is currently eating ghost shrimp, I have attempted frozen twice, but no luck. Any suggestions on diet?

4) I can't tell what type of octopus it is and they didn't know at the pet store. I see no blue rings, so I don't think its a blue ring. it's body is only about half an inch and it alternates colors from light brown to redish brown.

5) I have noticed sometimes it looks like it is breathing very heavily, could this be a problem?

I was devistated when captain (my last octopus) died, so I am really hoping to do my best for this one. He is adorable and the best part is I'm pretty sure he has taken a shine to me, when I'm alone on the room he comes out of hiding and watches me, but if anyone else comes in he hides.

Thank you all for your help.

 

[cthulhu77]

the lighting should be fine...dietwise, you might want to go get some hermit crabs (small ones, of course) and see about those, ghost shrimp don't have much to them calorie-wise...how about some guppies also???
if you can, post a pic or two...'tween Colin, Dr.SOS,Nancy, Carol, and all the others, you should get a positive ID.
Oh, by the bye, Welcome to Tonmo!!!!
greg

 

[causeidm]

You know, I've tried getting a pic a few times, but I'm afraid of using the flash and he doesn't come out when the NO Light is on.

I will wait and see if he gets more comfortable, I think he is more shy then normal because of his recent injuries.

 

[causeidm]

Ok, I tempted him with a snail from my reef tank, flash didn't seem to bother him

 

[Armstrong]

Yes, the ARMS/TENTACLES do grow back. I just want to point out...I seriously am not trying to be mean, but there not called "legs" there called arms because octopuses use these tentacles to grab, hold, or feel with. There not considered legs. They do use there tentacles AS legs sometimes to bump or move across the sea bed, or any floor-related place in the water. But there considered tentacles or arms because of how there used in relating to an Octopus. I just wanted to point that out because a number of people here always call them legs.
I hope im not being too anal or mean, lol...I just wanted to say that.
But if you guys still would like to reffur to them as "legs" than you can. It's really up to you. I cant tell you guys what to do. I just wanted to explain why there arms instead of legs.

Anyways, sorry for that...yes the arms do grow back and may take a few weeks to grow back. How many arms are cut off in half or look damaged? That happens a lot to many Octopus in the wild, but soon they grow back. Just keep it from going into hazardous places were it can get damaged.

 

[Colin]

Hi and welcome to TONMO.com

well done on giving the wee octo a chance

The other points have been covered very well by other members (you are right Armstrong, arms not legs wasnt mean )

On ID that black dot and largish eye is quite familiar.. it would really help if you could ask the LFS which country it came from... I am thinking that it could be a species called Octopus bocki which has these large founder chromatophores... bocki is a dwarf from Bali.

the more pics you can post the better

I edited your post to show the pic

cheers
Colin

 

[causeidm]

To be honest with you, the pet store doesn't know, no one seems to know where they got it. One guy even told me it was a common brown octopus, I think it's a little small for that though. I am so glad to hear that the "Arms" or "Tentacles" will grow back. It is the two front arms that have been damaged. Supposedly it happend when they closed the lid on the tiny plastic case they were keeping it in and it was trying to crawl out. Poor guys been though alot. I will work on more pics, probably wont get another till late tonight or tomorrow morning though.

 

[Octomush]

Dooo hooo hooo! Dooo hooo hooo hooo! Its so cute! Hewo ya widdle guy! Giggle! Its so cool u saved it!

 

[corw314]

How cute!!! I would be careful with the flash. There was discussion whethor it contributes to eye problems. Ink, went blind toward the end and we're not sure if the flash contributed, or if it was just old age. I stopped using it with all my other octos.

Good luck with him and welcome!!!

Carol

 

[causeidm]

Thanks Everyone!

Well, here are a few more pics, to see if someone can help me ID him. I have been looking online and haven't been able to find a deffinative ID.

 

[corw314]

Reminds me of Rummler who was a dwarf!

Carol

 

[joel_ang]

Hello and to TONMO.com!!

I'm glad you decided to save the octo . Sorry I can't help much with the ID-ing but i must say it looks like its doing well and happy

Try giving it a wider variety of food, such as crabs, craw /crayfish or hermits. You might wanna clip off their pincers when doing this to be on the safe side. If you're giving it frozen food, try giving him something that looks more whole/alive if you get what i mean... using a stick or your hand to move it might help too.

 

[Nancy]

Interesting what you suggest, Joel, about making the food look alive.

Actually, I think that applies more to cuttlefish than octopuses. Neither my bimac nor my little briareus had any hesitation about taking a slice of thawed frozen shrimp, either on a stick or laid out for them.

Nancy

 

[ddarko66]

My new octo will not take any frozen food unless I put it on a dowel and wiggle it around. I have tried bits of shrimp, Ripley will take it but will drop it to a damsel in the tank. Frozen small whole shrimp is the only frozen she will eat. Any ideas?

DDarko

 

[Nancy]

Hmmmm, so maybe they just have their individual preferences! Have you tried a bit of fresh scallop? Worst case is you'll have to keep buying the smaller shrimp for a while, and then move to larger sizes as she gets bigger.

I didn't have much luck with other sorts of seafood. My bimac did not like frozen or even fresh pieces of fish. At great effort I procured fresh lobster, but my she wouldn't eat a piece of that at all. (We ate the rest!)

What she really liked was live crabs and the little live shore shrimp (both available online, but it's not cheap feeding an octo like that, so I also offered thawed frozen shimp).

Nancy