Well after five+ months of preparation, I just received (what I am told is) a tank-raised bimac from Marinedepotlive.com. It was active and curious the moment I took it out of the box for a look and was crawling around (and almost out of!) the bucket during most of the acclimation process. I had to nudge it back down the side a few times during acclimation and each time he would curl up a little and sit in one place for a few minutes, pouting. Already, it has a developing personality!
As I got a closer look at it, I noticed something of slight concern that I’m hoping you guys can alleviate. His left gill (correct term?) looks like it may be prolapsed. There is a tapered trunk-shaped tube that juts out about half an inch from the side of the gill, without anything like it on the other side. It looks as if it should be inside, maybe sucking in water. The tube is translucent and untextured and the tip opens and closes gently as it heaves in and out. Right now I have him in a critter keeper in the tank with a nice porous piece of live rock and a fiddler crab (which he has explored but not eaten). It is typical to leave an octo in the keeper for a couple days while it grows accustomed to you, yes?
Octopus Prime’s colors have varied between deep brown/patches of black and light beige/white (he is pale right now, curled against the side of the keeper). His mantle has a few horns, and there are a couple that pop up from his eyes as well every now and then. It’s very small, but larger than I expected from the pictures that were emailed to me by a lovely costumer service rep. That had been helping me for weeks; the mantle is about 1.5-2” with arms 5-6”. I don't see any false eyes, but it is clearly very young and i understand they may go unnoticed for some time.
I just hope I didn’t hurt it during one of the escape attempts. It looks more spooked now than it did during the acclimation! Let me know if you guys think I should do anything. Pics below coming in a few (uploading them now!)
As I got a closer look at it, I noticed something of slight concern that I’m hoping you guys can alleviate. His left gill (correct term?) looks like it may be prolapsed. There is a tapered trunk-shaped tube that juts out about half an inch from the side of the gill, without anything like it on the other side. It looks as if it should be inside, maybe sucking in water. The tube is translucent and untextured and the tip opens and closes gently as it heaves in and out. Right now I have him in a critter keeper in the tank with a nice porous piece of live rock and a fiddler crab (which he has explored but not eaten). It is typical to leave an octo in the keeper for a couple days while it grows accustomed to you, yes?
Octopus Prime’s colors have varied between deep brown/patches of black and light beige/white (he is pale right now, curled against the side of the keeper). His mantle has a few horns, and there are a couple that pop up from his eyes as well every now and then. It’s very small, but larger than I expected from the pictures that were emailed to me by a lovely costumer service rep. That had been helping me for weeks; the mantle is about 1.5-2” with arms 5-6”. I don't see any false eyes, but it is clearly very young and i understand they may go unnoticed for some time.
I just hope I didn’t hurt it during one of the escape attempts. It looks more spooked now than it did during the acclimation! Let me know if you guys think I should do anything. Pics below coming in a few (uploading them now!)