Inkler - O'Briareus

corw314

Colossal Squid
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Day 3 - So on Saturday, on a whim, I called That Pet Place in Pa and asked if they had an octopus in stock. Answer was yes. Next question what kind? They said vulgaris, but I did not think so but since they did say is was definitely not a dwarf I asked them to put it on hold. Sunday morning a friend and I left at 8am and drove to Lancaster. Sitting in a medium pet home was an O'Briareus, about the size curled up of a silver dollar. She came home with me. I dripped her for 2 hours, upon entrance to the tank I did what I do which is let the new octopus come out on her own. Took her 5 minutes to realize she was freed. So far her home is in the front of the tank under several pieces of coral. She takes prawn from my hand and has eaten a piece last night and tonight. She is missing parts of all her legs and they look really short, but you can see the new tips starting to grow. Her mantle has some old injuries also. I have started the tapping on the glass before I offer her food. She gets really excited when she realizes I am holding food and the legs come flailing out all over the top of her hideout. My tank parameters are good except I still have a reading of nitrates but there is no trace of ammonia or nitrites. I do not think she has realized yet the extent of the size of her new home as she's been staying in her one spot. I'm very happy to have an octopus again as it's been over a year since I had the pleasure of experiencing one in my home!
 
Day 7 So far she seems to be doing ok. Very secretive, but is curious. Last night when we returned from Lancaster, I did my tapping on the tank and for the first time she came to the entrance to observe me. Very skittish. I wonder what happened to her as her legs are so short. She is eating prawn but not as much as I would think. I think she was very traumatized in her capture. I need to order some fiddler crabs. Today I will call some bait shops to see if there are any available locally. And I added a new serpent starfish!!!!
 
Congratulations on your new house mate! It's always hard to wait for new pics, but then I know how much harder it is to be waiting for an octo to pose. Good luck to you both, and I love the name!
 
Thank you Sedna!!! I'm still keeping fingers crossed.....Well....last night I had every tank owner's nightmare. Around 3am the electric started to go on and off for over 2 hours, probable every 3 minutes constantly. I ended up having to shut down the filters and lights on Inklers tank as I was more worried about blowing the 2 huge Eheims. Inkler seemed unphased by it all. She ate 5 prawn today. Still in hiding, but definitely eating. What puzzles me is I have several tiny hermits that go right to the entrance of her cave and she ignores them.
 
Lerxt lived with a peppermint shrimp for almost 2 weeks before he ate it. I've had other octos that left hermits alone for a while before eating them when other food was offered. I always wonder if the prey was able to hide that long or if the octo was just not interested.
 
Unlike Sedna and several others, I have only had ONE octo that at ANY hermits and Bel stopped eating them once she knew there was other food offerred regularly.
 
Day 11 - We are now being watched. When we come home from school and work we see an outline of eyes in the dark watching....And.....tonight for the first time she took a fiddler from me! I am feeding her by hand because I want her to associate my hand as a friendly good thing! I tap on the tank first and then offer her food. She has yet to venture out that I am aware of. I'm thinking about getting a red light for when we are home to see if she comes out. I'm very happy that so far she seems to be hanging in there and doing very well!
 
Glad to hear it! It must be a good time of year for collecting these beauties. This morning my girls were overwhelmed as Lerxst was noodling the lid of the tank. I love these gusy!
 
It is not so much that they are "collected" but that this is crab season an the crabbers have found that there is a market for their theiving interlopers. Almost all the briareus from the Keys (although I know Lynn caught one recently and that Dana sometimes catches them near shore so it is not 100% but close) collectors are crab trap animals and would have been killed if there were not a market for them.
 
2 weeks.....He ate another crab yesterday, rather good sized for a fiddler. Still do now think Inkler realizes the size of her new world. She getting more curious though as I just went out to check her and she's sitting at the entrance of her den. Unless you knew she was there, she blends very nicely! When I started tapping the glass, her eye was flashing between brown and white. So far so good!!!
 
Good news! Inkler has discovered her world. This morning she was on the opposite side of the tank looking like the red lava rock she was in. My son spotted her before I did. Her tips of her arms are growing back very nicely. Hopefully more pics later. I do not use the flash as it took her 3 weeks to emerge from her den and I do not want to startle her.
 
New game in the household is find the octopus. Since the last sighting we have not been able to pinpoint location. Many, many inspections with tiny flashlight trying to figure out the new vantage point. After a good 24 hours of false sightings, I found her!!! I can't say where cause if Jess checks in this will be a giveaway.......And wait till my son gets up......:mrgreen: He tricked me about 10 times that he had found her!!!!!
 
I went collecting yesterday. I have found that all types of octopuses over the years, love the mud flat snails. I only found one. I'm thinking in the winter they must go under. Inkler is back in her usual cave.She took a fiddler this morning. She had no interest in the mussel but held it at her door for an hour before releasing it. She's very curious when I wave anything by her door. The strength she has is amazing. So far it seems fiddlers are her choice of food. She investigates anything I offer her, so I want to start offering non food items to see what she does. So far, so good. I see she is observing us more and more and the tapping on the glass is really becoming a signal to her I am there.
 
Have you ever tried barnacles? It would seem they would be an easy snack but I have never hear them mentioned as food. I have no idea how well they would ship live but the small ones are plentiful most anywhere.

I suspect the large purple ones don't ship well as they would be an interesting aquarium animal and they are not to be found (they are not a FL creature but I have seen them being eaten in SA somewhere on TV, Chile perhaps).
 
Not sure on barnacles. I know some of the local ones often attach themselves to mussels and I have collected some but none of the octopuses I have experienced over the years have shown any interest whatsoever. Interesting observation, the new serpent starfish is now cohabitating with Inkler in her den just like the other I had for over 10 years!
 

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