New bimac

abdopus147

Blue Ring
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Feb 26, 2012
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Hey, TONMO I know I haven't been posting lately, but I've still been keeping up to date. Recently I have obtained a new Bimac, I have officially named him Nemo :smile:. I've had him for three months, he's in my new tank and so far everything has been great. He loves clams and likes crabs. I'll post pictures soon, he's about 10-12 inches.
 
Hey tonmo I haven't got to post yet because I was gone for the weekend. Anyway, Nemo's been camera shy lately and has been eating when I am not home or not watching. Whenever I check up on his tank I find dead crab skeletons and empty clam shells. When I read about bimacs on tonmo for the first time they were listed as diurnal but mine is nocturnal. How could I change this? I feed him in the day time but he waits until night when I am too busy to watch him eat. I just want to see him eat, and that would mean in the day. He still comes out for hours exploring his tank at night but does not eat in front of me. He seems to shrink away whenever I see him. What could it be? There still isn't enough red light to take a good picture, I guess I will have to be patient until he makes a day exploration.
Thanks,
Cameron
 
I self-caught him in a local lagoon, don't worry it isn't preserved or against any laws. I have caught one previously, you can probably look him up, Hachi. He was confirmed by, well... by me, but no one on Tonmo had any objections that it isn't a bimac. I am positive this one is a Bimac. He's just a little shy.
 
We have had a couple of people mention nocturnal behavior the bimacs and Diego was out more at night than during the day. The more I keep the more I am not sure we know very much about octopus behavior :roll:
 
Ya, I feel the same. From what I noticed from Hachi and what I now see from Nemo the more I realize their habits vary greatly. Hachi was nocturnal too. Hhhhhmmm, my, octopus are just a mystery:smile:. I'm still trying for the pictures.
 
Finally, caught him, very unsocial.He's on a strict, no day time schedule for some reason.
 

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I've kept three wild caught bimacs. They were all shy at first, hiding and not accepting food offered on a stick. In the wild it doesn't pay to walk around in bright sunlight, so if your lights are bright, maybe you can try keeping them off all the time, with just ambient light during the day, until your bimac learns new habits. I think the best way to get diurnal behavior is to train your octopus to associate you with food, and to feed on a regular schedule, at about the same time of day (every 2nd, 3rd, or 4th day). If you only offer food on a stick, your bimac will quickly learn that it pays to get your attention, not to hide from you. Just leaving food in the tank allows them to rely on the rules they learned in the wild: stay in the shadows, and hide from anything bigger than themselves. If the new rules are: Dance on the glass when my human is in the room (and I might get fed), then they'll quickly learn to live by the new rules.

I think they are diurnal in the same way that humans are. If the pay is good, many people are willing to work at night and sleep during the day. If the day job pays more (or is safer, or more convenient), then they'll take the day job.
 
Thanks for the tips. Well I've had him for 3-4 months now and he comes out at night A LOT. I feed him live food only, though I've tried frozen. He comes out when I put the frozen food in the water, but doesn't react when he touches the shrimp shell. Every night he comes out for a couple hours, to walk around and maybe catches something, problem is I can't take a decent picture with the dim red lights. This is because I am using my mom's camera that she doesn't fully know how to use:tongue:! I keep him with snails and some red rock shrimp that help as a clean up crew, the shrimp was "supposed" to be food, but he never seemed to be interested or able to catch them. I feed him purple shore crabs and clams, but he mostly eats the snails, I can't say I am surprised or sad about that. I will have to remove the snails then, right?
From,
Cameron
 
abdopus147;193279 said:
I keep him with snails and some red rock shrimp that help as a clean up crew, the shrimp was "supposed" to be food, but he never seemed to be interested or able to catch them.
When I catch bimacs I find the red rock shrimp living in the same habitat. I kept one with my octopus for many months (maybe a year) before the bimac was able to catch it. I think the shrimp have evolved alongside the bimac, and are very good at not becoming food. If you have a lot of rocks in your tank, the shore crab might be able to hide also, but not nearly as well as the shrimp.
 

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