[Octopus]: Meet Owen

[Owen]

Hello World! Meet Owen. We have had him in his new house since September 6th.
He is not a very big octopus, we were told he was an O. Aegina but that was by the fish wholesaler. He seems to be diurnal, he is active throughout the day and seems to put himself to bed when you turn the lights off.
He enjoys shrimp, scallop and crabs and seems to only eat if he is hungry.
He is not very shy. He will sit on the glass when I clean the tank and climb on my hand when I reach in.

 

[DWhatley]

Owen! My guess would be closer to one of an animal in the abdopus complex and highly likely O. aculeatus. The arm to mantle ratio looks way off for O. Aegina. Here is a link to some of the Media images of aculeatus to use for comparison. Have you been observing Owen's third right arm (clockwise as you orient your eyes with the octos) for the typical protective curl of a male? In one photo all arms are fully out stretched but the last photo suggests he is keeping it curled.

 

[tonmo]

Owen! Our Journals have been a bit quiet lately; so nice to have a vibrant octopus in the house!

 

[Owen]

He definitely protects his third tentacle.

 

[DWhatley]

Great shot showing both the protective arm curl and the blue/purple sucker tips (a non-defining but notable trait of aculeatus). I added it to the thread on sexing an octopus

 

[Owen]

Not sure if this will work but here is a video of Owen catching a crab

 

[tonmo]

Great vid!!

Soon we will have a forum upgrade and embedded videos will appear much more naturally. You are also encouraged to upload any pics and vids to our Media Gallery

 

[Owen]

Owen

is ready for Halloween.

 

[DWhatley]

Cute but I would be concerned about the paint in saltwater.

 

[tonmo]

ooh - are we sure it's paint! love the pic.

 

[Owen]

Got it from the LFS. Marine safe.

 

[tonmo]

Makes sense. Love it!

 

[Owen]

I'm getting concerned with Owen. He has stopped taking frozen foods from the stick and if I had to guess his last two crab kills were just kills and not to eat them. His habits have also changed. He seems to spend more time in hiding and less time out and about. The water tests fine and I changed 50% over the weekend to be sure.
I know with female octopus, it is easy to tell when the end of life is drawing near but with males is there a key indicator I should be looking for? (Asides from lack of appetite and behavioral changes)

 

[DWhatley]

The most common observation for senescence is loss of appetite followed by fully not eating. However, you do need to (as you have done) try offering a change of diet when this is observed as we do see a reversal of the appetite problem with a change of menu sometimes.

Sometimes they will start doing very strange things near the end (wandering aimlessly around the tank, trying to leave the water, moving objects with no obvious intent). One of mine moved mounds of sand from one side of the aquarium to the other. I had to laugh (and video) in spite of knowing why I was seeing the behavior.

You might remove the pumpkin if the behavior started after it was added just to see if anything changes. I never quite trust the "aquarium safe" stuff that is painted but I cannot give you examples or written evidence to defend the concern.

 

[Owen]

We even went and bought him a shrimp for a tank mate and it hasn't gotten eaten like we hoped.
The pumpkin has been in there as long as he has. I can take it out but it has been 6 + weeks with no effect.