Just got my octopus

[ant]

I think hes a bocki. Havent been able to get pictures because my mom put him in while i was at school. Temperature is 71 degrees on the dot. It always stays there for some reason. Hes currently hiding but i turned off the lights in case hes nocturnal so i might be able to see him. Hes got little "hairs" all over his head. ( i moved the rock to peek at him)

 

[Nancy]

Welome to your new octopus!

Ant, where did you order your octopus from and why do you think it's an O. bocki?

Nancy

 

[ant]

From fishsupply.com. My reasons- He fits roughly in the description of a bocki and the guy said he was just from bali. I am probably wrong. Hes not comming out any but ive heard of others who took a week or so for theirs to come out a lot so i wont push it. Hes moving his arms but i tapped him when i moved the rock and he didnt move or anything. My mom said he appeared to be breathing hard. She called our lsf (whos had some octos) and the guy there said they had a couple like that and they were fine. Any more advice would be much apprechiated

 

[corw314]

Hey Ant!!! Congrats! Best Advise is leave him alone! No more moving the rocks. Sometimes they can be traumatized just from the trip to your house. He could be a little shocky still. I had one that took 24 hours to come off the plastic of the bag he arrived in.

Keep us updated, but please don't spook him anymore by trying to check up on him. Keeping fingers crossed!!!

Carol

 

[ant]

Yeah ill leave him alone. Mom said she had to cut away the plastic too but it only took an hour for the whole thing. I wish it would have taken longer. The lights for the timer just clicked so they wont come back on till 6am tomorrow. Ill get pictures as soon as he comes out on his own. Thanks again.

 

[mucktopus]

O. bocki is a very small nocturnal octopus that lives in rubble. I've only heard a few reports of anyone ever seeing one out in the open, and basically- there are two ways to collect them- 1) by bringing live rock to the surface and letting them crawl out, then collecting them at the bottom of the bucket (possible if the supplier is also collecting/selling live rock) or 2) by flushing them from their rock using cyanide/other chemical. As you've heard, shipping is a shock to most octos, so it's stress isn't necessarily from cyanide poisoning. If it dies in a few days and this isn't because it was fully mature, then it could have been from cyanide poisoning. Take it back to your LFS and ask what their DOA and DAA stats are from this supplier. If they're pretty high then cyanide is probably involved and ask for your money back.

BUT I think none of this is really relevant. O. bocki has very little in the way of skin texture. Check out Roy's pic of this species on my webpage to confirm. The little "hairs" (called papillae) just don't occur in this species. You could have an aculeatus (often imported from Bali) that hasn't yet gotten over its jet lag.

http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~chuffard/index_files/Cast.htm

 

[ant]

UPDATE: He is moving his arms around a lot and my worst fear that he would just die because of my tank is over. I think by next week he be very active. And from what you said, i dont think hes a bocki because hes not too small. A little more than 1" mantle from what i saw but i didnt look closely. Pictures soon

 

[hectocotyls_arm]

Aw, that is so cute! I can't wait to see the pictures.

 

[ant]

I got home today and he was moving his arms a lot more. I raised the temperature to 75 f like nancy said i might have to do. I dipped my finger in and it felt really cold so i put the heater on. I think hes comming along very nicly. Note: The papillae are down now (papillae?) I noticed he moved a few rocks for his den. What would he do if say a rock fell on one of his arms? Update- He is getting to be very active.

 

[ant]

Uhh.. Hes comming out more and more each day but he wont eat any shrimp i offer him. He just feels a arm around it and lets it go.

 

[Nancy]

Ant, is he eating anything? Amphipods, hermit crabs, thawed frozen shrimp?

Nancy

 

[ant]

Just lost my octopus. Due to Nitrates? 20 Parts per. That very high? I am getting new filter media and possibly building a new protein skimmer because the one i got is kinda small.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Ant,
So sorry about your little guy. It may not have been your fault. He/she never ate and may not have recovered from the shock of shipping. There is always the possibility of cyanide poisoning or that the LFS water did the little guy in. Don't be too hard on yourself, they are very delicate creatures.

 

[William Tyson]

Ditto

 

[ant]

Ok thanks a lot guys. I still feel kinda bad about it. I also have another problem. I just realized that my sand bed is about half-inch thick so ill be moving that up an inch. Im getting some carbon and going to replace my old media. I am changing my water habits to 20% a week. That should keep the parameters right eh? (or is to too much)