[Octopus]: Odo

[sedna]

Odo is tiny. SUPER tiny. We’ve had it for almost a month now, and it’s still just sooooo teensy tiny!!! I was ordering corals from KP Aquatics, and in emailing Philip mentioned that he had a few really small octopuses that were collected in live rock. Smaller than I usually like to keep- but my 20gal long was easily emptied for a grow out, so I decided it was worth a try! These pictures were taken when it got here on April 22.

 

[sedna]

Up until this weekend, this tank was in the laundry room- don’t ask, that’s just where it fit when we got it. . Odo is still very nocturnal, so to catch a glimpse of it we’d have to keep the basement dark and sneak down after 11pm or so. We were only seeing it a couple times a week, under the red lights, usually with the help of a flashlight. Here are some not great shots from May 10th, Odo next to a snail shell. From behind it’s eyes to the tip of its mantle is about one cm, according to John.

 

[tonmo]

wow! Cool little guy! What species, any ideas yet?

 

[sedna]

So yesterday, we brought the tank upstairs into our bedroom. I decided that Odo would not become socialized with the low foot traffic in the laundry room, and it’s not the best place for tank watching! . Now it’s on my dresser next to a paludarium where I have a barking tree frog in an endless supply of Endler’s live bearers, and an anemone and clownfish tank.

One end of the tank is full of Ulva that I got from Sach’s, filled with pods to hunt. We have seen Odo hunting in that patch! We’ve supplemented the algae with some groovy stuff growing in the other tanks. It’s a super simple set up, with an Oase canister filter which is AWESOME- the heater is contained IN the filter, a small internal UV filter and Fluval Aqua Sky marine lights.

The tank was initially bought last minute when we received a much larger mantis shrimp than we ordered. We then used it for curing live rock, and we loved it so much we just kept rock in it. We added a fish or two, but they went into the bio cube when Odo came. Eventually, will get different lighting when Odo moves into a larger tank, as our initial plan was to make this a nano reef with a mated pair of jaw fish.

 

[sedna]

A quick video of the tank- but no Odo...

 

[sedna]

wow! Cool little guy! What species, any ideas yet?

He was sold to me as a briareus, And that’s what he’s looking like so far…

 

[sedna]

It was totally worth moving the tank upstairs into our bedroom! She’s only been in that spot for two days, but we know where its regular hideout is! It’s very close to the front, she can probably see everything that’s going on in the room from where she is- we just can’t see her.

 

[tonmo]

 

[MightyMolusk]

WOW. WHAT A CUTIE!!!!

Do you know how old they are???

 

[DWhatley]

Definitely O. briareus.

 

[sedna]

WOW. WHAT A CUTIE!!!!

Do you know how old they are???

Not at all sure, just young! I’m just doing my best to grow them up safely!

 

[sedna]

This morning when I got up I was surprised to find Odo on the glass at the waterline. I’m a bit concerned, because it’s skin just looked odd to me. I was able to put my finger tip in the water and he did grab out and touch me, but stayed put. It makes me very nervous to find my nocturnal octopus is out in full daylight, but the lights at all going on suddenly only 10 minutes before – so maybe it was just startled and holding very still because we were in the room. I went out of the room to get my water testing equipment, and by the time I came back less than five minutes later it had gone off into the rocks. I’m sure I am just being overly dramatic, but I wish I saw some more color from this little one! I don’t have a lot of experience with such a tiny octopus- maybe D can chime in here...

 

[sedna]

Here’s a quick clip of Odo from this morning- you can see the darker skin that almost looks like it’s peeling off- but it’s not. It’s just so odd looking to me!

 

[DWhatley]

Not crazy about the waterline hang out but DON'T change a bunch of water. I don't have a formula for best practice when they are this small, it is still kind of hit or miss. It is anecdotal but both Steve O'Shea (squid not octos) and I both noticed that hatchlings and juveniles did better in older, less pristine water. I would even suggest using the water you take off from the other octo tank to do water changes in this one if you need to change out water because of waste. Wish I could be of more help.

 

[sedna]

Not crazy about the waterline hang out but DON'T change a bunch of water. I don't have a formula for best practice when they are this small, it is still kind of hit or miss. It is anecdotal but both Steve O'Shea (squid not octos) and I both noticed that hatchlings and juveniles did better in older, less pristine water. I would even suggest using the water you take off from the other octo tank to do water changes in this one if you need to change out water because of waste. Wish I could be of more help.

That is helpful! We are planning a water change later- and we can absolutely use water from other tanks. At the moment, the tank I’d usually keep Kestra in is going through “upgrades” so only live rock, corals and clean up crew are in that one. The plan was to move them both (Odo and Kestra) into larger tanks when they get big enough.