[Octopus]: Meet Gus - Abdopus ?

Susan Grosskopf

GPO
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Feb 8, 2014
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Location
charlotte nc
I just bought an octopus from Live Aquaria. It is being shipped next week from California. I called them to ask for any more info but they were not very helpful just wait and see. Supposed to be from Indonesia and be a medium size which from their table is 2-3 inches total body size. I don't want to be in the same situation I was in with Bob of not having a big enough tank because I can't afford a larger tank then the 75 gallon. I will start a new message for the new octopus and get pictures. I have to find your instructions DWhatley of posting pictures. What species of octopus do you think I could expect?
@gjbarord sorry I have not message you sooner but I think I will plant Bob come spring. I miss not having him in the living room and watching him watch the dogs playing.
 
I am making sure the 75 gallon's water quality is ok and the only thing that is troubling is the salinity of 35-36/s.g. 1.026. Is this ok? I am happy with the other nitrogen parameters. I thought that unless the octopus is very little to go ahead and put it in the 75 gallon. I don't want the trauma of moving an animal again. Merry Christmas everyon .
 
Practice makes perfect :biggrin2:.

1.26 is perfect. Octopuses, like corals should be kept at full salinity and not the typically reduced salinity for a FOWLR tank. Octopuses are not prone to harboring ich or other fish parasites and the lowered salinity used for fish is to reduce parasite growth.
 
Delivery has changed to tomorrow and I am very excited!
Do you think there is a chance it could be a mimic? I am ignorant of anything about this animal I just googled Indonesian Octopus and that's what came up. They are very cool but kind of creepy that an animal could change so radically, it's like something out of science fiction watching YouTube videos.
I'll let you know tomorrow with o I pictures.
 
"Gus" is here and is in the tank for a couple hours now. He is not showing himself as much as Bob did but he is checking out his new signs. Question: There is a big brittle starfish in there and if course that is the dark place Gus was going into and there was some pushing. Gus wanted to go in there but did not like the starfish touching it and the starfish looked like it was trying to gather it like food. Should I take this big brittle out?
Gus is little, half as big as my hand. He does look like videos of Abdopus validates. I will post pics asap but should I take the starfish out?
 
Gus was delivered this am and at first I thought he had inked but then realized the bag he was in was tinted dark on the bottom.
I acclimated him about 20-30 minutes and his release went very smooth. He has been exploring around the tank and of course wanted to go into the coral crevice that the big brittle starfish was in, so I wrestled the brittle out and put it into the 30 gallon tank. I saw him hunting and trying to get a crab so I put a little bit of shrimp on a bamboo skewer and offered it to him. At first he darted away and I slowly followed him and he took shrimp and skewer. I let him have both.

He is small. His mantle is 1.5" and his arms are 4-6 inches. He has a lot of papillae and it looks like he has a horn over each eye. His mantle is long and lean with a pointy end. This is the only shape I have seen. I have seen him subtly change dark and light blotchy brown and white.

I have attached photos. I hope they look alright. They are not very clear and I don't know how to make them look better. I don't know if this will post with the thumbnail at the bottom.

So,can you tell if this is Abdopus aculeatus?

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I've never had a problem with brittles and octopus HOWEVER if it look like the brittle is stressing the octopus (or you) removing it is harmless since I believe you have another tank for it. I think they are a bit territorial as mine seem to have one or two places where they can always be found. You might temporarily remove it and then reintroduce it after the octopus has found a satisfactory den.

With it being that small, it may be one of the alternates in the Abdopus complex. Unfortunately, these have been nocturnal but we will have to wait for it to fully acclimate (about a month) to know more.
 
The "cone head" look is something most octopuses can display. We don't know if it has any meaning but it seems to be displayed primarily when they are new to a tank.

The colors and texturing are right for aculeatus but there is at least one dwarf species that looks very similar. @mucktopus or @Neogonodactylus may be able to suggest a best guess.
 
Gus is exploring and he accepted another piece of shrimp tonight. I have posted 2 videos on Facebook. The first one is when I first got him this am and he is coming out of the shipping bag. The 2nd one he is doing something weird with his body to camouflage it I guess. He looked like a dragon seahorse!!
 
I came home from a family get together tonight and Gus was on the glass. I hurried and got some shrimp and held it in my hand. In a few minutes he sent a coupe of arms over to examine my fingers. When he touched me I had to remind myself not to panic, that this is not big Bob, this is little Gus. He got spooked a few seconds later and shot away. I then offered him some shrimp on a skewer and he took that right away. He is so little I can't tell if he ate any of it though.
His eyes poking up is so cute especially when they have horns on them.
 
Tonight when I got home Gus was on the front of the tank on the glass. I thawed some shrimp and gave him a piece on a skewer and he took it right away, stick and all. Because he stayed on the glass I was able to watch him actually devour it. I was surprised at the big bites he was taking and he finished it right away. He soon let go of the skewer but he is so little he just rode the skewer as it floated to the top. Then he stretched out an arm to some coral and anchored himself. I love his head bobbing!
 
Hello all. Little Gus is very cute and eating well usually 1/2 shrimp every other night. There are small crabs in the tank if he gets hungry.

After having a large octopus like Bob I made sure the tank had a few good size dens but it is funny now with LG he does not seek any size den. Generally I can find him on the glass, close to the surface of the water. If I don't see him at first I end up finding him camouflaged very well against some rock. Well, the next one will have good dens.
 
Hi all,
Little Gus has been fine until last week. He has not eaten anything I have offered since last week. He may be eating one of the many small crabs in the tank but I would not know, there is quite a collection of empty shells in there.

He seems to be getting smaller or maybe just holding his arms in closer. I am guessing this is the beginning of the end.
 
Poor Gus died tonight. He finally found a piece of concave LR that I found when I was putting the tank together last summer. It is a great den but he always preferred every other nook and cranny he could find.
I hope to find another O. Briareus like Bob. There were a lot of octopus on eBay for a while but it seems to have dried up.
 

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