• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Jake - Wunderpus photogenicus

If the arms (squid and cuttlefish have 8 arms and two tentacles, octopuses have 8 arms. The distinction is not always made in other animals but with cephs there is a physical and functional difference) are cleanly severed at the base, I suspect she threw them rather than ate them. My one experience with definite eating left very ragged edges and from others, the gnawing starts at the tips. We have seen aculeatus do throw arms for no known reason in aquariums and continue to survive but this is a much more delicate and lesser known animal.

I would recommend that you slowly bring your salt to 1.026 SG at 77 degrees (I assume you mean 1.024 SG as the other measurement, PPT should read 35 for seawater). Often the recommendation for fish is as low as 1.022 to help with parasites but inverts need full ocean salt. The slight difference may not cause her skin to be "itchy" but I do notice a difference in my octos if the salt content gets low. Since it appear she has thrown the arms and not chewed them this is not likely to be a factor.

Since she went directly for the power head, I wonder if flow is an issue. Often we see octopuses hang out around areas of higher flow and I have noted it most often when they are approaching senescence. I have never heard a definitive reason for this but think it may have something to do with their skin (at least two of my larger animals have used the Koralias to aid in sucker shedding) or breathing (strictly conjecture and may be way off base). What kind of power heads do you have? Can you distribute the "suck" and still allow them to push water? I keep Koralia's in with my animals and put a fairly large holed zippered mesh media bag over the whole affair. This is not particularly good for the Koralias (one more thing that has to be cleaned) but keeps small arms out of harms way. With larger animals I have not found the filter bags necessary but have been in the habit of keeping them in place anyway. This would be much harder to accomplish for a more traditional power head but a sponge around the intake might do the same thing (it will also likely wear out the unit faster if it is not designed to be restricted).

Checking your PH is also recommended, even if all you do initially is test it with a strip (I know, I know strips are not very accurate but will at least tell you if PH is way off AND they are good for matching during acclimation :biggrin2:).
 
Unfortunatly Ursula died this morning... I'm personally thinking scenescence, they say a full adult thaumoctopus reaches 24" in length with a mantle being 2".. Her mantle is just over 1.5" and her Arm length is about 24" from tip to tip ( if that's how they measure size in arms). Ever since I got back from Ohio she has rarely been in her den and was always staying towards the top.

Very Sad day...
Thanks a lot dwhatley for all the help and suggestions throughout...I will be returning soon, any ideas for my next octo?

Thanks,
jake
 
Depending upon tank availability there are a few animals that we frequently see. A 40 gallon tank (especially without additional water of a sump) is limiting. A. aculeatus or a dwarf species (O. mercatoris being the most common) or the small Mactopus we see from Live Aquaria are the only commonly found animals that work in something this small (and the water volume is pushing it for anything but the merc).

If you have a larger set-up available or that can be made available (55+sump or an equivalent larger tank), O. hummelincki is a great, usually social animal to keep. These are almost never labeled properly and are usually called bimacs. A little investigation for almost any "bimac" for sale will reveal that is it from the Caribbean, is a warm water animal and is O. hummelincki (also called O. filosus). Up until the earthquake, many were imported to the trade from Haiti but they are also found in the FL Keys and we have finally seen some again this year,my Octavia being one and Carol's Bittner being the other currently kept animals.

Going larger still to something 65+ sump, O. briareus is a terrific display animal, is ecologically plentiful and local to the US so the transport is often less stressful (both in distance and number of times the animal is transported). We often find these from collectors in FL but availability varies. If you look at the top of the Photos and Journals sub-forum, there are stickies labeled List of Our Octopuses 20xx. The species (when known) is listed and the animal name links back to the journal.
 
Definitely a Wunderpus. When you say 'filter intake' and 'power head' I have to wonder do you have octopus protection over them? If not, what kind of filter and what kind of power head?

Thanks and sorry.
 
Thales;192518 said:
Definitely a Wunderpus. When you say 'filter intake' and 'power head' I have to wonder do you have octopus protection over them? If not, what kind of filter and what kind of power head?

Thanks and sorry.

It's a marine land canister filter that sits in the take stand, and a maxi jet Power head with swimming trunk lining over the intake. The power head was in there for two months up until I took it out when I put in a protein skimmer a couple weeks ago. Before, her arms would get pulled into the intake tube from the canister filter but she was always able to pull it right out quickly without any trouble, until a few days ago when I had to help her, it was like it was sucking her arm off. There was nothing in the tank at the time that could have severed them....

It was just such a drastic change so quick it seemed. Weird thing was she did wrap her arms around my fingers when her first arm was gone, she would usually just touch my finger then pull away quickly, not actually grab it with two arms...

Jake
 
DWhatley;192517 said:
Depending upon tank availability there are a few animals that we frequently see. A 40 gallon tank (especially without additional water of a sump) is limiting. A. aculeatus or a dwarf species (O. mercatoris being the most common) or the small Mactopus we see from Live Aquaria are the only commonly found animals that work in something this small (and the water volume is pushing it for anything but the merc).

If you have a larger set-up available or that can be made available (55+sump or an equivalent larger tank), O. hummelincki is a great, usually social animal to keep. These are almost never labeled properly and are usually called bimacs. A little investigation for almost any "bimac" for sale will reveal that is it from the Caribbean, is a warm water animal and is O. hummelincki (also called O. filosus). Up until the earthquake, many were imported to the trade from Haiti but they are also found in the FL Keys and we have finally seen some again this year,my Octavia being one and Carol's Bittner being the other currently kept animals.

Going larger still to something 65+ sump, O. briareus is a terrific display animal, is ecologically plentiful and local to the US so the transport is often less stressful (both in distance and number of times the animal is transported). We often find these from collectors in FL but availability varies. If you look at the top of the
Photos and Journals sub-forum, there are stickies labeled List of Our Octopuses 20xx. The species (when known) is listed and the animal name links back to the journal.

Ok thanks a lot. I was thinking about picking up a 75gal for a larger species and also keeping the tall 40gal for a smaller species as well. I will do some more research on the species you listed off and let you guys know what I come up with.

Again I appreciate it guys! If you ever need any fine diamond jewelry let me know! Haha (not trying to spam, it's a habit)

Talk to ya soon!
Jake
 
Jake,
I just got a note from K&P aquatics and they have a couple of O. briareus available. I am not sure of the size yet and they grow fast so a 40 would not hold it for long. I should know more by the end of the weekend and post photos in the availability section.
 
Thales;192518 said:
Definitely a Wunderpus. When you say 'filter intake' and 'power head' I have to wonder do you have octopus protection over them? If not, what kind of filter and what kind of power head?

Thanks and sorry.

Thanks for changing it to the correct species. There was swimsuit lining over anything that could have sucked her arms up.
Marine land canister filter, maxi jet power heads and a cyclone protein skimmer (not the best but it gets the job done)
Jake
 
DWhatley;192527 said:
Jake,
I just got a note from K&P aquatics and they have a couple of O. briareus available. I am not sure of the size yet and they grow fast so a 40 would not hold it for long. I should know more by the end of the weekend and post photos in the availability section.
That would be Awsome I'll keep my eyes open, thanks!

jake
 

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