[Octopus]: New Bimac

[sedna]

A few things I forgot to include:

1. Does hunting prowess vary across individuals? I find that my wonderpus Marty is a much more patient and determined hunter than Hank. He is very deliberate and will slowly stalk 1-2” ghost shrimp and reattempts multiple times if he fails.

Hank, on the other hand, doesn’t really hunt the larger 3 inch ghost shrimp (a decent size meal I believe). He kinda half pounces or lazily throws an arm every once in a while when they come near him. Is the prey the issue? Haven’t had a chance to feed him any sort of live shore crab etc.

Just curious, because I don’t mind since he readily takes frozen foods with gusto so it’s honestly better for me cost wise.

2. Also, are larger octopuses more prone to inking? Has only happened twice and I have a big skimmer on the tank so it was no worries. But just something I have noticed. The tank is on the bottom of a rack system so I guess that could be attributing. I have been more mindful of making an effort to get low before approaching the tank so I don’t come over the top.

I’ve had a carribean dwarf species and my current wonderpus and both have never inked. My wonderpus doesn’t even get scared of me.

1. There are differences in the hunting styles between species and individuals. I’ve had great luck with frozen foods- I live in Michigan, so live just isn’t always available. I have found that as my briareus age, they seem to prefer being stick fed with “fish counter” shrimp.

2. IME- inking is an individual thing. Some octos are just more easily spooked. We have hard wood floors, and when I started keeping octopuses we had lots more inking. I think my whole family has learned how to approach the tank more quietly, as it rarely happens anymore. But every so often I’ll get one that’s easy to panic and it’s “here we go again…” . You two should be able to get used to each other and the inking will subside.

 

[Hadla]

Haha yep! I’ve only seen my merc babies ink and it was so adorable! Olive inked once and freaked me out so I did a third of the water change cause I was worried. I’m going to run a skimmer when I get another abdopus or my first bimac to be safe

 

[tonmo]

Hi @tkong, any recent pics to share of Hank? It's been a while!

 

[tkong]

Hi @tkong, any recent pics to share of Hank? It's been a while!

There’s a video in one of my last post but here are some photos from today! My apologies for the dirty glass, dealing with slight diatom outbreak from silicates from not the best rodi water from my LFS.

Pretty sure Hank is a female but she is putting on some additional size now

 

[tonmo]

wow, beautiful!

 

[tkong]

My friend wanted to play with Hank yesterday haha. He was a lot more hesitant than I thought he would be. He took a little bit to analyze if the hand was a threat before reaching out and deciding that was enough intimacy for the day

 

[tonmo]

great vid / love the ending!

 

[sedna]

What a gorgeous octopus!

 

[Nancy]

I found there was often one shrimp who managed to escape being caught. One, a little disabled shrimp, lived in the tank with the octopus for more than a year.

Your first photo of your bimac showing the yellow spots is excellent!

Nancy

 

[tkong]

Hank is doing great. Still eating frozen shrimp with gusto.

Just a quick picture update. First one is of Hank playing with a plastic bottle. Second is of him being suspicious and peeking

 

[Hadla]

Those judgy eyes always get me

 

[tkong]

Been super busy with work since it’s the last quarter, Hank has been doing well.

He’s def a bit bigger ~15%? He still eats frozen shrimp with gusto so that is convenient. Although, I would love to get some shore crabs for him for enrichment. Here is a picture of him from today.

 

[tonmo]

he looks GREAT! Super cool. Any personality traits / observations to share? Enrichment; always good to enhance.

congrats!

 

[tkong]

he looks GREAT! Super cool. Any personality traits / observations to share? Enrichment; always good to enhance.

congrats!

After a few weeks, Hank learned that the stick was not food, so he no longer fights and tug of wars me for the stick. He grabs the stick, takes the shrimp off and then let’s go

I’ll catch him, every now and then, playing the with little travel plastic bottles I bought from a local plastic store. He will tug and grab hold of them for a ride. Cool that it wasn’t a one off thing.

 

[tkong]

November I am coming up on 4 months with Marty. He was classified as “small” when I got him. How many more months should I be expecting I have left?