[Octopus]: Meet Bob - Octopus Briareus

[sirreal]

Try some different things. Dont be afraid of trying some fresh fish clams oysters. When I had tranny I tryed lots of things. Tranny liked some and not others but I feel changing up the food is good for them. I would feed until he wont eat anymore. More the better but of course dont leave uneaten food in the tank. I know we use table shrimp for the most part but I found that I could get live bait shrimp and A LFS that sold slipper lobster. Check out and see if you have any bait shops and also what does you LFS sell.

 

[DWhatley]

Pretty much anything RAW in the seafood section (originating in saltwater) of your local supermarket or Asian market is fine to try. When I offer salmon, I DO remove the bones and I avoid oysters and mussels because they make a mess in the tank. Blue crab claws are a favorite. We scrounge the live tanks at the Asian market for lose claws and freeze them. However, frozen crab meat will be cooked and should be avoids (I am not sure why cooked is not as healthy. This is one of those "known facts" that I cannot validate but avoid cooked because I can). Freezing whole crab (other than the claws) yourself requires some reading to avoid contamination from internal organs.

 

[Susan Grosskopf]

My 75 gallon tank is about 2 months old and I think it may be starting to cycle. I will give it another month to make sure this is the case and then see about moving Bob to the new tank.
My thoughts of how to move Bob is to take about half the water out of the 30 gallon tank and take all the rocks out. I will have another person standing by to give me a large plastic bag that I can scoop him up in and my friend can secure the top so I can float it in the 75 gallon tank to acclimate him to the temperature. It sounds simple but I know it won't be. Any recommendations? How have you all done this before? I know he is fast and he could try to start crawling out of the tank but I have had to flip his tentacles back in the tank before and he has backed away. He may attach him self to the rock before I can take it out, I guess then I would have to put the rock with him on it in the bag. What ideas do you all have?

 

[DWhatley]

Here is an old thread that discusses moving an octopus (not the best discussion but the only one I could find). And here is an entry in OhToo's journal with video of the capture and transfer device I like using.

Personal experience: IF you can get your temperature, salinity and PH to match for both the new and old tanks, I would NOT acclimate. Acclimation will be more stressful than just a quick catch and release. I would even do the quick transfer method if the temps are within 2 degrees. Here is my favorite transfer device. A bag is not going to work very well and I would suggest something rigid instead. The beauty of this little "fish bong" (officially, Kordon Fish Catcher) is that there is a hole in the handle that allows air (or excess water as you move it in the aquarium) to escape where a totally solid container requires fighting the air and water pressure. It is designed for small fish but will hold a fair sized octopus. You WILL have to cover the top with your hand and move quickly to the tank or another container (I would even suggest keeping a bucket underneath). Transfer of OhToo was unbelievably easy but other transfers were more of a panic.

When we put Cassy in Tatanka's tank for a mating date, I used a plastic drink pitcher that I could comfortably place in both aquariums. Because there are not exit holes, the water pressure was somewhat problematic and we had problems covering the top with one hand while Cassy tried to clime out but would still be far easier than using a soft sided bag.

 

[Susan Grosskopf]

Bob is so big! His tentacle span is over 2 feet and his mantle is about 4-5 inches long. I will move him to the 75 gallon in a week or 2. The more I think about it the more it scares me because #1 what if it doesn't go as planned and #2 what if he does not do well in the new tank?
I have had a job transfer recently and I have been occupied with it. I am ashamed to say I have been slightly negligent on water changes and the nitrates are very high. I am going to do small water changes daily to get it back in line. I kind of figured something was off because he has not been as active as usual. Let me know if I should do anything else.
D, I was reading your blog on Shiitake and I have noticed Bob doing the upside down rock hugging thing a lot. Also, I keep looking at the ends of his tentacles and I don't see what I think would be a modified tentacle. Over and over I have looked at all of his tentacles to the very tip and I don't see anything difference. I have tried to figure out the 3rd one on the right on his mantle and again I don't see a difference so Bob might be Bobbie?
I am going to try to get another video soon.

 

[DWhatley]

Yep, there is a good chance you are housing Bobbie. I may have already mentioned this thread but linked it at the risk of being redundant and suggest you look at some of the photos of O. briareus to have a better idea of what you should see. At this age, the curled arm should be quite noticeable.

Quick lesson in octopus nomenclature. For many animals testicles and arms are used interchangeably but for cephalopods we make a distinction between arms and tentacles. Octopuses have eight arms and no tentacles (octopods). Squid and cuttlefish have eight arms and two tentacles (decapods) and nautilus have no arms and roughly 90 tentacles. The differnece is in the usage and existence/placement of suckers. Unfortunately, the distinction is not well formalized and even dictionaries will use the term tentacles.

I have never had a problem with transferring them to a new, larger tank so I suspect all will go well

 

[Susan Grosskopf]

I moved Bob to the 75 gallon tank today. I removed most of the water and 1 of the 2 large rocks. He was hiding under the other rock and I started taking it out. He was starting to come loose and go back into the water and then he inked. I knew I had to work fast but it took 2-3 minutes to get him. I used a plastic pitcher and a fish catcher but it was like trying to get a 8 legged cat into a crate! He is strong! I continue to be amazed at this animal. I had my friend Susan standing by with another bucket and my friend Gloria filming the transfer. It is not pretty. I did get him into the new tank about 12 noon today and he slowly found a dark corner. I turned the light off and covered it with a towel for a few hours. He came out about 7 PM tonight and has slowly been exploring his new diggs. He did eat a shrimp tonight when offered so that's good. He looks so small in the new tank but it's all relative.

I removed all the water from the 30 gallon because of the inking and am starting new with that one. I found a really great piece of LR that is like a dome/den and put that in there. I'll get that cycling over the winter and hopefully find a pygmy next spring. That little blue and yellow damsel is still in there. It survives everything.

 

[DWhatley]

With the exception of a major, continuous inking event (I know of one and have had one - and only one having kept over 20 animals) a water change, good flow and a decent skimmer (high end not needed) the occasional inking is a relatively mild event. It IS the primary reason I always list a skimmer as a requirement for an octopus tank and IS lethal during shipping because of the limited volume of water.

A major inking event (where the animal continues to ink continuously for up to a minute) is another story and requires emptying as much of the water as possible and placing the animal in new water (may be required twice). I don't know what causes them. El Diablo (vulgaris) died after his but Margay (hummelincki) was fine. With Margay, I had an open tank suitable for her and once she stopped inking, she was placed into the tank without further issues. El Diablo had to remain in his tank as there was no other place for him. The ink likely coated his gills.

 

[Susan Grosskopf]

Bob was in an open corner of the tank at 6 AM this morning and white as a ghost. I reached in and touched an arm and he flashed and moved the arm away so I think he is alright. He may have been hunting during the night because a couple of pieces of LR were disturbed and the poor little serpent star fish I bought yesterday had an arm stuck in a crevice of the rock. I got him unstuck and he is alive as well so he scooted under the closest rock.

 

[DWhatley]

It is odd for a serpent to "get stuck" in the rock. I am not saying it doesn't happen with a rock shift but they can get into very small places and I would expect the arm to be severed if it was actually pinned. It didn't hurt to "free" it but I suspect it was hunting.

White is a normal, at rest color. As they age and near senescence the white becomes kind of a gray, they can't color strongly and the muscle flabby.If you go to www.octopusid.com , click on the splash page then on V. Lifespan under the picture and then on the camera next to B. Spotting Senescence there are a few images of senescent O. briareus.

 

[Susan Grosskopf]

All looked good tonight when I got home. Bob found one of the dens and was curled up inside. Later in the night, I was playing with the dogs and he came out and was really stretching out full length. He often will be out when I play with the dogs and they are barking. He watches them. I stopped to watch him stretch out and all of a sudden he charged the front glass and rams it and inks. He kept swimming and inked a few more times. A few minutes later he dove down into the sand, in the corner I found him in this morning, and inked again. He did that a few times. I put my hand up to the glass and he seemed to calm down a little and stayed right by my hand.
He is now at the front of the tank, on the bottom and has been there motionless for about 45 minutes. Any ideas about what he is doing? Could it be the new position of the tank, the vibration of the plumbing below? Maybe some damage during the move?

I checked the skimmer and it is working good so hopefully the inking won't be an issue but I did a water change anyway.

 

[DWhatley]

Definitely check you water parameters (ammonia, nitrite and salt level). The actions are odd and I would suspect water problems. I did have one octopus that was especially sensitive to the dryer running at night (laundry is behind the tank wall) but daytime (this was a diurnal animal) drying did not bother it. I don't think plumbing would give enough vibration to be disturbing and the change of scenery should not upset him/her. The behavior is not typical of senescence but I have seen some very notablye odd behaviors (like KaySoh moving large quantities of sand from one side of the tank to the other).

 

[Susan Grosskopf]

Water looks good pH 8, ammonia 0, nitrite 0, nitrate 10, salinity 35 and sg 1.026. He accepted a couple of shrimp and stole the skewer like always. A few minutes later he again dove into the sand in the corner but did not ink. Then he shot for the top and stayed there. If the ink is on his gills would he try to breath the air? That maY be a stupid question but if they can travel out of the water between tanks can they go that long without breathing? That is stupid, they have gills. Sorry, just thinking out loud.

 

[DWhatley]

They can live for varying amounts of time out of the water as long as the gills stay wet. I have read as long as an hour in the right conditions but I would not count on it being anywhere near this long. A few minutes, however, is not uncommon in labs and in animals that forage between tidal pools (or tank cleaning escapes).

PH is a little low but if it is comparable with his old tank, not a worry (8.2 - 8.4 should be target but it changes with temp and a number of other things). How are you exchanging CO2 and Air in the tank? I have forgotten if you have posted the configuration but if you have a sump, try adding an air stone attached to a pump to release CO2. If your sump is covered, uncover it. You can do this in the main tank but large bubbles can be a problem if they get under the mantle and it is hard to escape proof the tubing if it does not run through a hole in the top. If you are using a canister without sump, I suspect oxygen may well be the issue and would add an air stone immediately to see if this changes his/her behavior.

 

[Susan Grosskopf]

I have a sump under the tank display. I just added an air stone in the last compartment, by the pump that carries water back up to the tank. The sump is not covered. I hope this helps him. Once again, thanks D.