New Octopus owner

[Shea]

Hello everyone I'm new to owning an octopus so naturally I have a few dumb questions. I bought a two spot octo yesterday from my LFS that they have had for nearly a month. When I got her into her new home, she hid for nearly three hours them came out to explore and get some krill from me. She hides at night and is active for the majority of the day. In the tank with her is three damsels that will hopefully become a snack. One of them is pretty good sized and I am kinda worried that it will beat up or scare my my octo. Has this happened to anyone or am I just paranoid? She is great she spends alot of time on the front glass of the tank staring at me. I swear she also likes looking at tv

 

[monty]

to you and your octo.

That all sounds pretty normal, but the damsels should go ASAP. We've had a number of reports that damsels will harass octos, and can bite at their eyes and blind them. It's possible the octo could kill them, but it's very likely that they'll harm or stress the octo.

 

[DWhatley]

It has been awhile but several people have reported that it appeared their octos watched either TV or the computer.

Remove the fish if you can, you are not being paranoid and they are likely to hassle the octo. Stress is a major negative and Damsels can be very agressive.

 

[Animal Mother]

Congrats and welcome. Sounds like you made a great find for your first octopus.

 

[gholland]

and congrats!

Is it a Caribbean two-spot (O. hummelincki)?

 

[Shea]

I will remove the damsels as soon as I can catch them. As for being a O. Hummelincki I'm not quite sure. When in her neutral color mode she is dark brown and her false eye spots are purple with a small blue ring in the center.

 

[DWhatley]

If you think she might be Hummelincki, look through my pictures and videos of Octane. The larger photo of my avitar as well as several other photos showing makings is on page 4 (all are not always visible). They have a very wide range of coloration (including just brown) but in some modes you should see a yellow ring around the blue eyespot, a brown stripe that runs from the head (below the eyes), through the eye and just behind the eye, blue tips on the suckers, a "pig tail" when not showing cripsis and arms only about twice the mantle and head size.

From the little I can see of your avitar, the eyespot looks quite different but a larger picture would be helpful.

 

[Shea]

I was thinking/hoping that she was a bimac because I heard that they are much easier to care for.But after looking at the pictures of Octane, I'm positive that she is a hummelincki. Should she have "toys" in her tank to play with? If so what kind?

 

[gholland]

From the little I can see of your avitar, the eyespot looks quite different but a larger picture would be helpful.

Is your avatar a picture of the octopus in question?

 

[Nancy]

The main difference between keeping a bimac and a hummelincki is the water temperature. Bimacs often require a chiller and their temperature should be in the low 70s or even in the sixties. Hummelincki live in tropical waters and 78 degrees would be a good tank temperature.

Hummelinckis are often a bit smaller than bimacs, too.

Nancy