Inklet Update

corw314

Colossal Squid
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July 24 will be 5 months for Inklet. He has stopped living in the shell and now resides behind my bubble filter in the corner. He actually hangs on the side of it. Jess and I went collecting yesterday and caught one of those large bait crabs which he attacked with a vengeance. Was quite a fight till his poisen took affect. I snipped the top claws as I'm a little leery again after noticing the white spot on Rummler. I think Inklet got mad at me. I only took 1 shot with the flash, but check out the coloring afterwards!

Not so sure Rummler is doing ok. He continues to hide in his barnicle and after observing that spot makes me wonder how healthy he is. I am also wondering if my 29 is just not a good idea for octos. I have had so much success with my 44 gal Pentagon, that I am starting to believe the smaller tank limits not only the growth but thriving. I could be wrong but Lil P didn't grow much and now Rummler seems to be off. :frown:

Inklet is thriving! He constantly is showing different behaviors and colorings. He sometimes acts like hes' scared of me with the conehead behavior and black/white coloring!

How are all the other bimacs????

Carol
 
Hi Carol,

Inklet is looking good! A very handsome little octopus.

I don't think we have any evidence that tank size limits growth Ollie was certainly getting bigger and bigger in her 45 gallon tank. But we still don't have enough examples to be able to say. So it's a possibility.

I'm beginning to suspect that with the octos being sold at such a young age and tank bred, there may be more with "weaknesses" than we found with the older wild caught octos. After all, the wild caught octos had strugged to survive and managed to live before being caught. This year we've had younger octos simply die, such as Lil Pumpkin and Truffles. Last year, among the wild caught bimacs, cause of early death was climbing out of the tank and tank failure.

But there may be other factors with the smaller tank, such as the water conditions and oxygen level.

Just a few thoughts,

Nancy
 
I think that you are right Nancy...

The wild caught bimacs are survivors from the wild and by default are hardier than the ones being CB. It could be a fact that the CB babies are at different levels of fitness/health/likelyhood of survival and may get to be different sizes. It's possible to say that most of the CBs wouldnt survive this long in the wild before being food for something.

But then, whose to say that in the wild the octopuses dont get to be different maximum sizes too? Perhaps they can take advantage of different habitats? It may be a strategy. It may be that in some cases a shoal of octopus predators swim through and devour all of the bold large octopuses and the only ones that survive are the small recluses? Leaving them to spawn and keep the population going.

When you think about it, if an animal only lives for approx 12 - 18 months, relistically you could wipe out an entire population within only 2 or 3 bad seasons/ dissasters... makes ense to have a backup plan.
 
Well...looks like my theory on Rummler was shot to you know what with the hatchlings!!! Good to know that tanks healthy and its just Rummler reaching the end.....

Very interesting though. I do believe you two have something there.

I finally got a magnet for cleaning the glass today and Inklet pounced on it! He managed to get it off the other magnet. Had quite a tug of war, but the end result was he got one of his suckers caught between the two and I had to rescue him. Once he was loose he seemed to be sulking and even rejected a nice size crab I gave him as a truce! He would only come out after I removed the magnet and right now is dining on the crab.

Carol
 
Poor Inklet, a bad magnet experience.

Several of our bimacs really got into the magnet thing. Ollie first pulled it off and hid it, then dangled it out of her den to tease us (when we tried to get it, she pulled it back in her den again!). Later she used it to summon us, since outer part made a big noise when it fell and we came running.

Looks like Inklet may never appreciate the magnet cleaner now!

Nancy
 

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