My first O. Hummelincki

[skywindsurfer]

When I got home tonight Bubbles was sitting at the top of the corner of the tank. I stuck my finger in the tank about an inch away from her. She instantly jumped for my hand. She vigorously grabbed my fingers. As time went by we wrestled back and forth, I trying to get away, and she trying to eat my fingers (Just a guess. I was too worried about being bitten). She kept gaining more and more ground and I was loosing the battle so I pulled my hand out of the water, and she came with, still not wanting to let go. So I use my other hand to push her off, and she grabbed that one too. Finally she let go, dropping back into the water and vanishing into the rocks in a flash. I think she's upset with me now because she came out again and was displaying the skunk coloration. When I stuck my hand in to feed her, she ran off. I'm still waiting for her to show up again. This time I'm going to feed her with the feeding rode.

 

[Lmecher]

That is why I never will hand feed mine. I never want mine to confuse my hand for food. My feeding impliment if choice these days is a rubber ball with attached ziptie that I skewer the shrimp on. He struggles to get the ball down towards his favorite eating place but cannot. We can them watch the fun.

 

[skywindsurfer]

I'm pretty sure they are smart enough not to mistaken our hands for food, but I also believe that sometimes it just takes that first curious bite for them to be sure. I would love to be able to have her crawl all over me, but I'm just too worried of being bitten.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Well the water is almost completely cleared up now. I'll start reconstruction of the rock structure probably sometime this afternoon. I'm still unsure as to what kind of design to place them. I want to create a sort of jungle gym for Bubbles and the fish, but also leave plenty space for the stingray to swim around. My fiance said she likes the look of the rocks spread out thine like a patchy reef. The picture here again is not mine just an example of what she likes.

 

[skywindsurfer]

I kind of like something more to the look of this picture.(again not mine.)

 

[skywindsurfer]

This last picture is about the thickness of my sand bed once I've smoothed out all of the sand I was using for the "island."

 

[skywindsurfer]

Ok so I rearranged some of the rock. I have sort of an idea of how to arrange the rocks to appease both my fiance, my fish, and I. At the very back right, I'm making an intricate coral reef structure with plenty of nooks, crannies, and over hangings. The middle will have a mediocre trench that I can watch fish and other things swim through it. On the very far left will be a few small - medium rock structures and mainly open sand bed. This is for fish and the stingray.

 

[skywindsurfer]

On another note, Bubbles has grown a lot since I first bought her. I wish I could have been able to get a picture of her grabbing me last night so everyone could see the size difference. I'll try to get another good clear photo of her once the water has settled again.

 

[skywindsurfer]

The tank is almost clear enough to start working on it again. I'll give it another hour or two. I'm trying to get the water level high enough so that I can use my large HOB filter instead of the whisper filter I have on it now. I still need about thirty more gallons though. That would be enough to raise my tank three more inches. Right now the tank dimensions are (L" x H" x D") 96" x 25" x 24", the actual dimensions of the water are 96" x 14" x 24", and I am trying to get it to 96" x 17" x 24". That was the original height my fiance and I planned on, and it's just conveniently high enough to use the HOB filter. So it's roughly a 250 gallon tank, but we're only using about 170 gallons of it. I know it sounds like a waste, but we're using that extra space above to water as an escape deterrent, and so far it's working. Bubbles has tried climbing out a little bit, but will never crawl the entire way out of the water, which is still a good ways away from the top of the tank. I know I'm going to have to rethink this approach when Bubbles lives out her life and we get a larger animal. This works great with O. Hummelincki because it's such a small octopus and the distance it has to traverse is multiple times it's own body length. With a larger animal this will merely be one arm up and out.

 

[DWhatley]

Octane (large O.hummelincki) would easily scale that and exited the tank multiple times (the final time was ultimately fatal, the rest occured while I was cleaning and could control the situation). An open top is not a good idea, regardless of tank size or water depth. You already lost one through an unsupervised exit.

 

[skywindsurfer]

That is true. The tank has four open areas on the top. Two of which are completely covered by glass tops. The other two came with glass tops that only cover about 4/5ths of the whole. One I keep uncovered due to the 150 Metal halide I have above it. The other I keep the glass on top, but plan on buying a top that fits completely.

 

[skywindsurfer]

I want to get some sort of wire top that I can put beneath the halide that wont be damaged by the heat. My next octopus I want to get is an O. Cyanea and I know that it would easily get out.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Tonight I tried feeding Bubbles. Everytime I feed her, she likes to play tug-of-war with the stick. This time she was on the underside of the "mushroom rock" that I showed pictures of earlier. Well this was nice and all until she tugged once too hard and the rock nearly toppled over on top of her. She's fine though. The rock landed in the sand just slightly to the left of her. Surprisingly enough it didn't scare her. She just simply crawled to the underside to eat her shrimp.

 

[skywindsurfer]

This evening the tank looked fairly clear. It should be almost crystal in the morning.

 

[skywindsurfer]

I'll be doing some finishing touches up and I should have some updated pictures of the tank, and hopefully of Bubbles as well. I'm hoping that this tank structure will help her get some space from the stingray. Even though she's not fully terrified of the stingray, she's still not all that pleased about it swimming around her.