Not your ordinary Bimac????

[pirate]

Wow. This post is two-fold, so bear with us! Please read it all as there is a question at the end which pertains to all of this....
Alex and Jonathan here, and we are now settled quite nicely into our dorm with a 55 gallon and two 10 gallon tanks. We ordered our baby bimac (as of yet unnamed) from octopets.com the other day, and we received it at about 2:30 PM today (Friday.)
We are now the proud 'rents of a healthy baby bimac, albeit an unusual one....we acclimated him from 2:30 until 4:00 in near total darkness. (We left a dim red light on for his comfort while we worked.) He became very active, very fast. We frightened him on accident at one point and he quickly crumpled and flattened again. After he calmed down again, we slowly turned on the lights in the room, one by one, and left him in normal light from 4:00 to 5:00 by himself. All water levels are perfect\normal, temperature is 72 Deg. F. and the tank is fairly sterile right now, but has no shortage of pvc hiding places. There is a bubble wand on the back pane.
The unusual complication comes now. We had expected him to hide immediately and not be social or "out and about" for at least a week, because that seems to be considered the norm from what I have seen on this forum. Our octopus, however, has defied nearly every expectation I got from this site. He was very active and moving about the tank by 6:30 PM, and seemed to be enjoying poeple passing thier fingers along the front of the tank slowly.
NOW FOR THE KICKER. Just to see what would happen, I stuck my hand into the tank and stopped a half inch away from him. He reached out and made contact, then let go. No color fluctuation whatsoever. I got a feeder clam, and dropped it next to him but left my finger next to him. He ate it. I did it again. He reached out and took it from my hand. He wound up eating his 3-clam-a-day quota and then scooted around a while before appearing to settle in for the night.... right smack dab in the bottom-middle of the front pane. He is still just chillin' there.

1. Isn't this extremely abnormal behavior for being new to the tank?
2. Is it bad? Is it good?
3. Could anything in the acclimation procedure have caused this behavior?

Thanks, and hurry with your responsed as we don't know what to think

Alex Troyer

P.S. If it is bad, should we try and do something to fix it?
P.P.S. He really, REALLY likes to tinker with the bubble wand. will post pics soon.

 

[Colin]

well, they all settle in differently and sometimes they do explore for a while to find a suitable den. So it will probably settle into hiding a bit more... just keep an eye on water parameters with all the activity and feeding they can fluctuate, especially ammonia.

is the bimac in the 55?

 

[cthulhu77]

sounds somewhat normal...nice to hear you acclimated him in the dark, always a good move...these captive bred bimacs seem to adjust quite well to new tanks...
send in some pics if you get a chance!
greg

 

[Nancy]

Remember, bimacs have different personalities - you may have an outging one. And it's possible that someone played with him at Octopets!

Congrations on his arrival, and keep us posted!

Nancy

 

[NickA5582]

Good luck with the little guy, Pirate. Have you got a name picked out yet?

 

[pirate]

Thank you all for easing my fears! Well, I was gonna get a pic this afternoon, but I couldn't because the minute I picked up the camera, the little bugger discovered that pvc pipe has an inside He is currently in the ten gallon until he gets a little bigger, then he'll go to the 55 gallon.
He's been getting some well deserved rest in there for a few hours now, and when he decides to come out I'll post some pics of him. No, we haven't got a name yet. Suggestions welcome, as all the guys on the dorm floor are submitting ideas. Ammonia in the tank is rising, so we're trying to fix that now. We have a 300gph powerhead on a mechanical filter in the tank (which is overkill, but it's worth it to me.) Adding carbon to the powerhead today, which should kick the ammonia out of there.

so thanks again, love you all!
Sinc. Alex T.

 

[tjohnson]

You really need a protein skimmer also.

 

[Cephkid]

Maybe he's a SPECIAL bundle of joy from the ceph god? OR AN ANGEL! OR a reincarnation of an ARCHITEUTHIS!
I KNOW! HE IS the ceph god reincarnated!

Gabe

I'm on coffee. Could you tell? With me, thats as effective as bein' high. I miss wine (from new years). Dad says I cant drink it cause I'm young, but it makes me happy.

 

[rcl]

Without live rock and a cycled tank and a protein skimmer the bioload won't stay at acceptable parameters..... good luck though!

Robert

 

[rrtanton]

Yes...I'd highly recommend some live rock for the main tank, if it doesn't have it already.

FWIW, my octo exhibited some of this behavior at first as well. Early on he was, I think, just very unsettled about his new environment and spent a few days "hiding" in very strange and quite-visible places, like on the glass. Eventually he figured out what my live rock was for, and I could go a week without actually seeing him!

rusty