[Octopus]: Houdini - O. Briareus Baby

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The tank she is in has 1 pump pushing water back into the tank. It has decent flow but not too much that it will toss little ones around the tank. If you look close at the photos you can see I position the pet carrier in front of it so that when the head of the Spin Stream Nozzles spins it pushes fresh oxygenated water back in the pet carrier. I made sure of the Position of the rocks and the Pet carrier for that exact purpose. I moved the Pet Carrier last night for a few minutes to open up and feed them both. I had to put the lid back on pretty fast because.... Look what I found!

Notice the shells in the first couple of photos? The one inside the tank is eating them for sure.

Yesterday




Lastnight




Girls must have been chatting last night



Getting a Diatom bloom again on the sand. I'm constantly stirring the sand up with a long fiberglass rod to get rid of it. Driving me nuts. I'm guessing its because of the lighting times or lack there of. 8-12 a day of light depending if I'm watching them or cleaning the tank up. Neither of them are caring about the lights now. They come out whether their on or off.

Really mad that the silicone is turning Yellowish/green on my tank. (right side bottom) This tank is not that old, and It should not be turning green. I contacted them, and I'm waiting for a response from them. I love the tank but this is a defect in my eyes.
 
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Both the Baby Briareus here are getting used to the lights. Houdini used to jet inside her rock in the pet carrier when the lights came on (I think I was just startling her), but as I sit and research or walk through the room she has been getting bolder and coming out lights on or off, and watching us, or starts dancing along the tank. The one that is loose in that tank was out for quite some time today. I was putting a new rubber seal on the top of the tank for a cushion to the plexiglas and she was out watching me and exploring. I love the curiosity, the coloring, the eyes carefully watching what your doing. I'm starting to like the hide and seek now that I'm getting better at finding them.







It's gonna be sad to let go of these 2, but I know their going to a good home.
 
My Octopus Digueti passed away this morning, so I'm gonna do a good water change on the RSM 130 check all my parameters and place the other Octopus Briareus baby in there until Inkman is ready for her. I can then pull Houdini out of the pet carrier and hope that I sealed every crack and crevice in that IM 38. I will then feel more at ease with them both having their own sealed up tank, feeding will be much easier, and I hope it helps heal my heavy heart.
 
Something to note: the one that is loose in the IM (38) has eaten every single blue leg hermit in the aquarium.(15-20) Even though I feed her twice a day. (Is this normal?)

Also their not minding the lights being on. (normal behavior?)
 
@QueenB, No to both.

Eating hermits may have to do with where it was first hatched. I have never had an acclimated briareus take an interest in hermits (but I don't keep blue legs). The only octo I have had that would eat hermits after fully being acclimated (first month is likely eating anything that moves because of the unfamiliar environment) was LittleBit (O. vulgaris) and she at anything that moved all her life.

Coming out with the lights on is most likely an acclimation issue. We have many reports of overly "friendly" animals for the first month of aquarium life but they revert to seclusion once they are comfortable in their new home. However, being out with the lights on is still very odd for a very young animal.
 
Do you think they have already associated the lights being on as feeding time? I know their incredibly smart and very curious, but I didn't think they would be this active or curious for a while. Both my dwarfs were active for the first few days. I don't want to chance fiddlers yet, because of how small they still are. The little fiddlers I was getting are almost 2 x's as big as their mantle is now.

I'm doing a 50% water change, good substrate stir, and clean up any debris and lice blue legs on the RSM130 (36g) before I acclimate one of the baby Briareus and put her in there. My Nitrates were up to 20 today. :shock: Wondering if it was because of Wink. They don't nuke the tank like an Anemone can do they?

Just an FYI... I have an abundance of Blue legs... I love em, and they love eating in my tanks...lol
 
I have probably kept more briareus than other members but it is still too small a number to generalize too finely. To be honest, I worry about not enough dark hiding places but each animal is different. IME, octopuses even at a very young age (maybe 2 weeks) will learn feeding time but voluntary daylight exposure is not something I have seen in young animals of any species.

There are no poison issues with a dead ceph. Occasionally octopuses will ink excessively but rarely at death. The ink is not poisonous but can cause damage to corals if not removed (sort of a suffocation). Nitrates at 20 are not a problem but if your reading has consistently been lower then the ammonia->nitrite->nitrate cycle will have taken place. Any nitrites and/or ammonia, are another story. The later two may detectably spike if your bacteria cannot handle the load of the decomposing animal. The size of the animal, the tank size and the amount of nitrifying bacteria all play a part on how the tank will react when a death occurs. Octopuses decompose very quickly (you probably noticed the smell even though it only very recently expired) but we don't tend to see major spikes. I will often recommend monitoring for ammonia when an octopus "disappears" and is thought to be dead.
 
She wasn't gone long before I found her. Between 4-6 hours maybe? I didn't notice a smell. And you know I have a sensitive nose. :nyah:

I used the red flashlight to find them before feeding. Hoping to get them to come out with the light, and keep a same time feeding schedule. I'm also gonna put some LR back in the IM (38g) to fill it out more, and give Houdini more hiding spots. There are tons inside the LR, but I had to pull some out when I had to seperate them because the Pet carrier wouldnt fit with the Large pieces of LR I had in there.

I'm gonna toss in some rings and a zip tied ice cubes to see what interaction I can get from them. I may even skewer the food like I did with Wink.
 
Do you think their big enough to try fiddlers? I bought some baby fiddlers, clams, and silversides today. Trying to increase the food selections for them.
 
Yes, my little guy loves them (and is still iffy with the table shrimp) and took on one as big as his mantle last night but start about half that size and disable the male claws. Let me know if he eats the clam. Mine seems to have figured out how to open them -- I think -- as the two that have been in the tank for a long time were opened and cleaned out. These could have died naturally and I would not have thought him strong enough but need to get more and see if the result is repeated. If you feed fish, keep to salmon or tuna for the fatty content, silversides won't have the best mix but can be a treat.
 
Update on one of the Baby Briareus:

One happy Baby Briareus heading home now with InkMan! :boat: We noticed she was missing 1 arm and it was fresh when we captured her and placed her in a bag. I don't see it anywhere in the tank. And the she did had all 8 this morning when I was feeding it shrimp on a stick. Might have pinched on the rock when I moved it. :frown:

Enjoy your new Condo Baby Briareus!

It was a great visit with Lance and the boys today. My Husband enjoyed it as well. We'll have to make a day of it for You, the Wife, and Bryson, when you come down for Houdini.

Lance is such a sweetheart he agreed to letting me hold onto Houdini because of how active she still is. When I clean or do anything in the room she is in she's all over watching me touching with such curiosity. And I really wanted a little more time with her while he sets up the other tank. I'm extremely happy with the interaction I'm getting with her. Lights on or off she is out and about and curious what I'm doing or my husband is doing. (cleaning bird cages or lizard cages, vacuuming dusting, ect)


(posting this in InkMan's journal as well for record purposes)
 
She is still eating but she doesn't come out much anymore. I've widened her food choices with Salmon, Tuna, and small clams. Going to try a clam tonight.
 
I have not seen raw frozen clams but will look next time I am in the grocery. Make sure they are raw though, often seafood is steamed to make it easier to get out of the shell (or to avoid organ contamination as with crabs and lobster). It won't hurt to offer as a treat but is thought not to be appropriate as main food. I have never found the reason for this and may one day experiment but I have not because their lives are so short and I have a hard time justifying the potential of starving them and not knowing it.
 
She hasn't come out to eat in the past 5-6 days. I know she's still alive because I see arms once in a while, but she doesn't come out and hasn't eaten anything.

Today I drove an hour and a half to try to find tiny fiddlers for her, 30 more hermits in case she actually eats them like her sister did, & a peppermint shrimp because I can't find any local shore shrimp to hold me over till my order is in from Sachs. One of the 2 tiny female fiddlers I got died on the way home, so I'm hoping she will still try to eat it, and not stress her out with it being alive.

I put all my corals back in Wink's empty tank. But I bought a baby yellow tiled starfish for $5 from the fish store we went to today. It's about the size of a quarter. I read they were reef safe and I got rid of the HUGE Green Brittle starfish I had in there was very aggressive when I would feed the tank and my clowns were in there. But I found him a new home a few months ago.

No new photos of Houdini yet, but here is one of the cute little starfish.

 
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