Introducing Shaggy

[cmakki]

I have had Shaggy for a little over two months. He seems to be getting very comfortable with me, and will take shrimp from my hand. In the morning when I switch the lights on in the tank, he comes out and does a dance across the front of the glass. The longer I watch, the longer he dances. He has been doing this for about a week. At first I thought he was doing this to get my attention because he was hungry, but when I took the lid off the tank I saw there were still a couple of shrimp hiding behind some rocks. On Sunday morning I had a coffee and watched Shaggy dance for more then 3 hours. He seemed to be quite excited to have an audience. The tank is in an open plan room, and when I would get up and do something in another part of the room, Shaggy would stop dancing and look in the direction I'd moved to, when I came back to the tank he'd start dancing around again. I will try and attach a photo of Shaggy doing the dance of the 7 veils, or 8 arms.

 

[Nancy]

Hi,
Interesting about Shaggy's little dance. Ollie is doing the same thing, and yes, having an audience is very important!

I'd really like to see the pics that you posted, but they seem to have disappeared due to the server problems we've been experiencing. Could you possibly post them again?

Thanks,
Nancy

 

[corw314]

Same here! One message said picture didn't exist anymore and the other said unable to open.

Aren't octo's nosey? Ink does that dance too! I think he may have been watching Tv last night!

Carol

 

[Colin]

Hi Cmakki
welcome to TONMO.com

Where did you get your octo from? it looks like a long armed octopus from Bali... one of the horridus octopuses that appear quite often in the UK.

Colin

 

[cmakki]

Colin,

I bought Shaggy from my LFS in London, England. They sold him to me as a brown octopus. Thanks for identifying his species.

For those of you that didn't see the photo's. I'll try again.

 

[Nancy]

Glad I was finally able to see the pic. Shaggy is a handsome octopus. How large is he now?

Nancy

 

[cmakki]

Nancy,

Thanks, I think he is rather handsome, too. I'd say his legs are 7 inches long, but they stretch to about 12 inches. His head is a little larger then a walnut. I think he has grown in the last 2 months. It's hard to say. He has only recently become extroverted. Before it was hard to get a good look at him. Now he is all singing all dancing.

How big do horridus octopi get?

Rgds,
Claudia

 

[Colin]

Hi Claudia

horridus is a name given to a group of octopuses. it is realy hard to tell exactly what species is which without detailed examination but there is a friend of TONMO.com who is studying the group to species level and hopefully it will be easier in the future.

I have often thought these individuals look like Octopus aculeatus but we'll see

Anyway, most of them get to a mantle size of about 6cm and arms up to 30 - 35 cm so Shaggy will not get much bigger.

Also it has been quite common recently for this species to be laying eggs at this time of year, so if Shaggy is female you may expect eggs. Unfortunetly they are very hard to rear and so far no one has managed to get a single paralarvae to lie longer than a few days

Can you name the LFS in London? I am trying to get a better idea of shops in the UK that will supply octopuses to people

Cheers
Colin

 

[cmakki]

Colin,

I purchased Shaggy from T.W's World of Aquatics on Lea Bridge Road in Walthamstow, London. They don't keep octopus in stock, but they will special order them for you.

Manor Aquatics Centre on Romford Road in Stratford, London have octopus and cuttlefish more regularly, and they will order them for you if they are not in stock.

With both of these places it is hit and miss what type of octo you will get.

One more question, if Shaggy is a female and lays eggs, she'll die won't she?

 

[Colin]

Hi.. yes that will happen if she is female but to be honest the males live almost the same amount of time as well so it really doesnt make much difference...

Most octos in the UK all come through the same importer as far as i can tell and it is difficult to get the species you want... in all this time i got the species i asked for only once! And have had a total of about 8 - 10 species!!! half the fun tho

 

[Armstrong]

Colin,

I bought Shaggy from my LFS in London, England. They sold him to me as a brown octopus. Thanks for identifying his species.

For those of you that didn't see the photo's. I'll try again.

damn! Your octopus has LONG arms! It looks really cool!
How large is it? It looks pretty big. And your octopus seems to be the curious type not the shy type which is good!

 

[cmakki]

No Shaggy is not shy at all. Sometimes he even sleeps out in the open. He is about 8 or 9 inches long, but he can stretch his legs to 12 inches or more.