My first O. Hummelincki

[skywindsurfer]

Well I think that since I have yet to find a male for Bubbles, with my growing family and their needs, I'm not going to press the matter of breeding her. I'll just have to try to get a pair early on next time when I'm more prepared financially. Bubbles is still doing well. She's still eating and interaction normally. The flow through the sump was pretty limited and causing issues, so I had to rearrange her home. This put a little bit of stress on her this morning when I was doing it. This evening though when I was feeding her she seeemed right at home again. I think she's enjoying the increase in flow as well. She was sitting next to the larger power head I placed in there close to where the water was most turbulent.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Bubbles is still going strong. Tonight she even hunted down the piece of shrimp I tried offering her when the current took it off the feeding stick and sent it tumbling in the opposite direction. This was exciting to see.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Now that Nereus has passed, I will be returning Bubbles to the 250 gallon main exhibit. It will be interesting to see how she takes to a larger home at this stage in her life.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Bubbles made her first escape attempt let night. She was near the top and I decided to persuade her down by gently nudging her with my finger tip. After a few pokes she reached up, grabbed my hand and hauled herself almost completely out of the tank. Trying to get her back in and off of my hand was a sight to see. The first time she grabbed me, she had nearly bitten my finger. Before I knew it she had my finger all the way beneath her. I figured she was trying tell me that she was hungry. I thawed a piece of shrimp and gave it to her. It took her a few mins, but after chewing on it for a bit she settled down and went to the bottom. Funny thing is that during our struggle ay the surface, she managed to squirt me three or four times with her siphon.

 

[skywindsurfer]

I had to remove the stingray from the main tank and put him in the sump because last night Bubbles kept trying to attack him, even after I gave her two whole table shrimp. I am also going to redo the entire system this afternoon to better suit each animal in their new habitat as well as switching the pumps around to provide better flow and filtration.

 

[Nancy]

I'm not surprised that you finally had to separate the two. Sooner or later, an octopus needs a species tank, a tank to itself. But fortunately, you were able to intervene before you lost anyone.

So Bubbles actually bit you?

Nancy

 

[skywindsurfer]

Ya I assumed as she grew larger, out growning the stringray, it would become an issue. The stingray just couldn't keep pace with her lol. When he was larger, and even when they were the same size, they left each other alone completely. Like you said, it was a good thing I noticed her hostility before something terrible happened, and even better that I had a place to put the stingray. Right now he's still quite small and is doing just fine in my 55 gallon sump/refugium. I think he enjoys the muddy sand. I removed all but one small rock that is holding the sump pump up out of the substrate and the macro algae bush, she he has plenty of swimming space. The moray stays under the wet/dry biotower most of the time so he basically has the sump/refugium all to hisself.

No Bubbles has yet to actually bite me, though she came really close. Not even my E. Dofleini can move as fast as she did. Maybe it was a mix of my being tired and her being slightly hungry and adventurous.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Several amazing things happened during feeding tonight. First things it that Bubbles now comes to me and eats out of my hand every single time now. She tries to grab my hand/fingers and eat them first if she can, but settles for the shrimp when I pull away. It doesn't matter where I am at the tank in relation to where she is. She will always come over to me. She's taken to climbing up and out of the tank half way and attempting to bite me. During her journey towards my hand this evening, she FULLY stretched out, and she currently measures roughly 21" arm tip to arm tip. This is a rough measurment. She reaced the full height of the tank from substrate to surface which is about 21", but she was still not 100% straight. After she took both pieces of shrimp, I had to not only wrestle her off of my hands, as she took both shrimp and still tried to pull my hand beneath her, but wrestle her back into the tank as well. Second, while I was feeding my stingray and moray eel, I found the eel inside the biotower. This was a complete shock to me as there is no way that the eel could squeeze into the box. So after about 15 mins, I managed to wrestle him out and fish all of the bioballs back into the filter. All and all it was an eventfull feeding session.

 

[Nancy]

Skywindsurfer, thanks for giving us such a detailed account of your interactions with Bubbles. I always look forward to reading about her. She's getting big!

Nancy

 

[skywindsurfer]

Thanks for all of the great feed back. I know what I do is not always favored by the people here but I do my best to ensure that all of my animals stay safe. Is this normal size and life expectancy for a female O. Hummelincki? From what I've read they generally stay smaller and don't live past 12 months right?

 

[skywindsurfer]

Bubbles is taking to her new home and new rock arrangement quite well. I still have to arrange the power heads and get them situated but other than that everything is fine and all the animals seem happy.

 

[JMP]

I loved reading through your posts and it's made me more comfotable with a few things he's doing. Knowing he isn't "abnormal". One post you had a video of putting in the pvc pipe, how do you know she was upset. Just do to puffing up for a second? Or was it the color change?

 

[skywindsurfer]

It was a mix of both. She puffed up, changed colors, and started jerking and twitching. Hard to explain, I could just tell it upset her.

 

[JMP]

Okay! He changes colors a lot and has done that color, so I didn't know if that was a common color meaning angry!! :P I know when we get to know him a little better, I will know!!

 

[skywindsurfer]

So Bubbles is eating two shrimp at a time and asking for more. I'm not sure if I want to increase her diet and shorten her life expectancy. She's still showing no signs of brooding since I placed her in the larger tank. Tonight I was using a flashlight to search for all of the tiny life that comes out after the lights go off, and she came out to inspect me. I think she was still out and about because she looked like she was foraging while keeping an eye on me. She likes to come out when the actinic moonlighting is on. After a few minutes she went back into the rocks, but continued to forage. My daughter started to stir in her crib so I decided to call it quits and left.