Ollie - New O. briareus

Joined
Oct 1, 2009
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My new O. briareus from Tomscaribbean just arrived. I counted 7 arms, 2 of which seem to be missing the tips otherwise seems in good shape. Mantle is appx. 1 1/2 inches. Wow this guy is much larger than my last one. I have it floating in the tank to temp acclimate. I need to do a few tests on the water it came in now, looks pretty clean. I will post photos when I can get to it. So far so good :smile:
 
PH is so low, it is off the scale, well below 7.8. I hope this isn't going to cause any major problems, is this common? Anyone ever had a similar situation? Is there anything special I should be doing here?
 
You will very often see 6-6.4 PH in shipping water, especially when it is cool/cold. The guys in FL don't need to buffer their water and that is about the only thing that would prevent the sever shipping drop. On the other hand, shipping when the weather is cool is far better on the animals than when it is hot and what you are seeing is normal and why it takes so long to acclimate them.

Good size on the octo, Tom did good :smile:. After I talked to him and mentioned the website, he did join and add us as a link for more information so hopefully he will check in on us occassionally.

One of the interesting things about missing arms is to watch them grow back. I have guestimated about an inch a month but it would be nice if others would try to estimate new growth to see if this is a good general guess. I watched a video on a GPO in an aquarium last night and the aquarium guide mentioned that the GPO had difficulty regenerating its arms in captivity. I had never heard this before and wonder if it is really the case or if they expect faster regeneration in the wild than what we see in an aquarium (or if the GPO is more sensative to a captive environment).

Anxiously awaiting pictures :wink:
 
dwhatley;146431 said:
You will very often see 6-6.4 PH in shipping water, especially when it is cool/cold. The guys in FL don't need to buffer their water and that is about the only thing that would prevent the sever shipping drop. On the other hand, shipping when the weather is cool is far better on the animals than when it is hot and what you are seeing is normal and why it takes so long to acclimate them.

Good size on the octo, Tom did good :smile:. After I talked to him and mentioned the website, he did join and add us as a link for more information so hopefully he will check in on us occassionally.

One of the interesting things about missing arms is to watch them grow back. I have guestimated about an inch a month but it would be nice if others would try to estimate new growth to see if this is a good general guess. I watched a video on a GPO in an aquarium last night and the aquarium guide mentioned that the GPO had difficulty regenerating its arms in captivity. I had never heard this before and wonder if it is really the case or if they expect faster regeneration in the wild than what we see in an aquarium (or if the GPO is more sensative to a captive environment).

Anxiously awaiting pictures :wink:

Sorry, I am feeling kind of stupid here what is GPO?
 
Ooooh, got ya.

I have pictures...

Immediately after opening bag~
1.jpg


Floating in tank~
2.jpg


3.jpg


4.jpg


5.jpg
 
Just as a fun asside. Look closely at the next to last photo and note the dark area almost to the back of the mantle. Then go to the first shot and note the same dark area on the other side. These are the locations of the two gill hearts. They are often visible in the more translucent animals (quite clear in the mercs most of the time) but often not visible in the ones that don't show the white coloration much (like hummelincki).

If he is still in the bag, you might put a ruler in the photo.
 
Don't be surprised if it does not want out of the bag. If you have a critter keeper or even a jar, I would suggest trying to encourage it into that while in the acclimation bucket (usually pretty easy, especially if you have something opaque). Bags are very difficult with pressure on the outside and my attempt to use one with SueNami was very stressful to both of us. For whatever reason, the briareus does not seem to come out of whatever it is in when you introduce it for quite some time (based on others in addition to my own). If you can face the opening toward the LR, it seems to help a little.
 
That is exactly what I did and now 2 hour later this is what I have...

6.jpg


He won't leave his container. Maybe he feels secure I don't know. I will just let him come out in his own good time. I have a chance to get a good look at him. I can see he had a leg severed at the webbing. It has begun to regrow, it is about 3/4 of an inch long.
 
I am not sure what it is about this species but not leaving the introduction bucket seems to be a standard trait. It may take several hours or it may be they wait until it is dark to move. Oddly, it only seems to be the briareus that act this way.

New growth always look strange. The first time I saw it I thought it was dead material remaining from the incident and wondered if I should remove it so that the amputation was complete. Fortunately, I got a better look at the "string" and saw the tiny suckers.
 
He finally came out of the container.
Here he is at around 6:00

8.jpg


and now

9.jpg


He is hanging onto the front glass and the plastic cintainer. I was hoping to see him stretch out as he slipped behind the roclkwork like a normal octopus. I can give him all the time he needs. :smile:
 
I think 6:00 Eastern STANDARD time must be about the time they go hunting in the wild as that is about the time SueNami and now KaySoh came/ come out from their dens.

It appears this behavior is normal for briareus. Unfortunately, once he goes into the rock it might be a month or more before you see him other than an eye or an arm fetching food.
 
This morning there was no trace of the octopus. I was sure I would not see him for some time so I didn't really look too hard for him. I was able to remove the plastic container finally. An hour after lights on, while emptying the skimmer, I found him peeking out from behind the rockwork. He didn't like the flash :shock: but I can still see an arm poking through a hole in the rock. I will let him be so he settles in nicely.
Time to work on a name. Here we go again, we just got 2 new kittens, Maverick and Peanut. I hate having to come up with a name, I find naming an octopus difficult, will work on it and come up with a fitting one soon :biggrin2:

9-1.jpg
 

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