- Joined
- Oct 4, 2006
- Messages
- 30
Hello, I am just looking for advice on how to make sure my new pet octopus is happy. I just got her on Friday. I am satisfied that she is healthy because she's viciously eaten two crayfish already.
She is named Ineffabella after the Stanislaw Lem character. She is about 7-8 inches in diameter, and she lives in a 50-gallon tank. Her environment is very enriched, with lots of rocks, tubes, and other places to hide. There are snails around but so far she has not bothered to eat any.
She has stayed hidden to me since I introduced her to the tank on Friday, except for sticking arms out now and then, except this morning she came out and wandered back and forth, and then inked at me and went back into hiding. There was not much ink and lots of circulation in the tank, so I'm not too worried about her. However, it's clear she doesn't like me very much yet.
My goal for the next week or two is for her to understand that her food comes from me. I can see her eye peeping out from one of the rocks now, so next feeding time it shouldn't be too hard to get her to see who gave it to her. The crayfish I've been giving her are about the same length as her mantle. She is still growing now, so how often should she be fed? I've been planning on one every other day.
I think one of the things I need to do is to try and show less interest in her. It is hard to resist watching the tank and peeking in all the crannies for her. But she doesn't seem to like that, so hopefully if I let her be she'll become more relaxed.
I also need advice on sealing the tank a little better. I've been using duck tape, but that way is far from perfect! What would be ideal is something to put around the edges of the tank that would cover all the little holes between the edge and the lid, so that I could then just put something heavy on the lid to keep it shut.
Thanks for any advice offered!
She is named Ineffabella after the Stanislaw Lem character. She is about 7-8 inches in diameter, and she lives in a 50-gallon tank. Her environment is very enriched, with lots of rocks, tubes, and other places to hide. There are snails around but so far she has not bothered to eat any.
She has stayed hidden to me since I introduced her to the tank on Friday, except for sticking arms out now and then, except this morning she came out and wandered back and forth, and then inked at me and went back into hiding. There was not much ink and lots of circulation in the tank, so I'm not too worried about her. However, it's clear she doesn't like me very much yet.
My goal for the next week or two is for her to understand that her food comes from me. I can see her eye peeping out from one of the rocks now, so next feeding time it shouldn't be too hard to get her to see who gave it to her. The crayfish I've been giving her are about the same length as her mantle. She is still growing now, so how often should she be fed? I've been planning on one every other day.
I think one of the things I need to do is to try and show less interest in her. It is hard to resist watching the tank and peeking in all the crannies for her. But she doesn't seem to like that, so hopefully if I let her be she'll become more relaxed.
I also need advice on sealing the tank a little better. I've been using duck tape, but that way is far from perfect! What would be ideal is something to put around the edges of the tank that would cover all the little holes between the edge and the lid, so that I could then just put something heavy on the lid to keep it shut.
Thanks for any advice offered!