[Octopus]: Orion. Callistoctopus Luteus

Oddly, I don't think we have anyone who has indications of any red lights being too bright (I have one that I put on a 15 gallon that is an outdoor light with a painted lens). Just be sure he has a den that is well shaded and can be completely dark. These do look very nice. If they work out (ie the replacement does not have a problem) Please post them to this thread for others to find.
 
Well the red lights are still on the blink (pun intended), looks like it's a problem with the adaptor I am using. Still working on fixing that.

I have a few more feeding videos from this morning (3:30am, day 23)

I tried the interaction thing again wiggling my fingers near him and he appeared to be watching and curious (I think?) but wouldn't come closer or investigate. Here's a video of his reaction, my hand is just out of shot above him:


He fed well on some prawn and looked pretty excited when I was lowering it down for him! He still waits for me to nudge him with the food before taking it which makes me wonder how good his eyesight is in the dark. Perhaps if he can't see well this is why he isn't interested in coming closer to my hand? His pupils definitely dilate and squint with changes in light.


Today I dug out some shells I collected on holiday in Mauritius earlier this year, boiled them and put them in the tank to play with. I am really dubious buying larger ornamental shells to put in there in case they are painted or lacqered.. Whenever I see them in shops and ask about this the vendor never seems to be able to tell me if they are or not and I never want to take the risk. Does anybody know if there's a simple way to check if a shell is lacqered/painted and safe to put in the tank?
 
Quick update

Day 25 - 1st night with red LED's installed and working (turned out I needed a very specific plug to get them to work right). Orion was up and about at 3am sat on the glass beside where I enter the room. After I approached him he jetted off to the other side of the tank - he seems to have adopted this corner as his favourite place to feed the last few times. He definitely reacted to me a lot more under the red LEDs - like he could see me much better than before. Unfortunately he appeared more cautious than usual, trying to camouflage in his feeding spot while watching me. I slowly put my hand in to see how he would react and he watched it then slowly slinked into a cave, he didn't seem to want to investigate. I decided not to pester him and just let him feed. He reacted to being fed more actively than usual - in the past he has always waited for me to nudge a tentacle with it before readily taking the offering but this time as soon as it was lowered as far as the cave opening he pounced up and took it from the stick! He was too shy to eat out in the open, instead blowing some sand from beneath a rock and crawling underneath with it.

Last night - Day 27 - At 1:30am I came down to see if he was up and he was! This time he looked very happy and not shy at all. He was all stretched out dancing on the glass in his "feeding corner". I have kindly been allowed the use of my partner's tripod and digital camera so I quickly turned that on and pointed it in his direction, in which time he had settled nearer the bottom of the glass watching me. Sadly the video came out VERY grainy - it is obviously way too dark to get a decent video with this camera. I haven't even bothered to upload it because of the quality. Somehow my camera phone takes better pictures and videos than a proper camera under the LEDs!
Last night did however feel like a huge breakthrough. Again I put my hand in and slowly wiggled my fingers just above him. He watched them for a few seconds then slowly extended upwards and touched a finger with one tentacle for a couple of seconds before letting go. He changed colour to what looked like might have been white (hard to tell under the red LEDs) and shied away a little bit. He didn't jet off or hide, just moved a bit lower on the glass. I didn't want to push my luck (and wanted to reward him for being so brave!) so fed him straight away while he hung on the glass. He was climbing back up to me as I started lowering the stick so if he was spooked it couldn't have been too badly. He took the food very happily and wouldn't let go of the stick for a minute or so. I had heard anecdotally about the "tug of war" often experienced while stick feeding, very fun! He didn't hide when he ate, just snuggled up underneath one of my circulation fans beside a couple of floating lego bricks. He has eaten here 3 times now and it appears to be a favourite (2 of the 3 times was when the lego were there).

I am thinking of crafting a few different toys for him, I have a nice open area at the front of the tank I could utilise for a sizable toy. Will get my thinking cap on!

I would love to get some more good photos and videos of Orion but he never comes out while the regular white lights are on any more. I'm going to research and buy a decent camera for an upcoming diving holiday to Bali later this year, is there anything in particular I should look for in a camera which could help taking good pictured under red LEDs? I have read about the use of a flash/strobe for taking photos of nocturnal creatures but I don't know how you could do this without causing distress! Would a camera that allows you to adjust white balance allow good photography in such dark conditions? Any links or info would be greatly appreciated!
 
I wish I had a suggestion but don't. My Canon had a feature to adjust white balance using solid white background for adjustments. I finally acquired the perfect white backdrop (the top of a scanner) but destroyed the camera shortly thereafter and never got to try the feature under red LED's. My replacement Nikon does not have the custom white balance feature (but I have saved the white plastic :biggrin2:).

You may be able to get less grainy videos by forcing a lower ISO. My Canon allowed me to disallow the highest ISO setting and the images and videos were less grainy but dark. Some octos will tolerate a flash for a still or two but it is unlikely Orion will stay out for a video under white lighting.
 
Okay a lot has happened this last week, the general gist of it is that Orion has become a lot more interactive! He i still shy at times - especially at the start of interaction - but he seems to have been enjoying it, and especially seems to enjoy head rubs! He has his little routine where he will pick a side of the tank and go around and around it in a circuit, touching my hand as he passes, sometimes going back and forth like he is playing a game of tag with my fingers.

Last Friday my partner took a few videos with his camera phone (strange it gets better video than a dedicated camera!) and caught some nice interaction. Although whenever Orion looked over and noticed him he started doing the old cone head with skunk stripe and staring him down through the glass! I don't think he knows what to make of having 2 people present yet.

Here are a few vids:

Cautious first touch (sorry poor quality):


Little head rub (poor quality again sorry)


General interacting:


Another little head rub is on this one:


All these videos are from a 45 minute session last Friday, Day 28.

I think I messed up a little last night - he got a little close with his beak and I instinctively flinched which seemed to displease him. He went off to do his circuits on the back of the tank where I couldn't reach instead. He did later on jet to the front of the tank and land right in front of me though, so he couldn't have been too mad at me! Fingers crossed tonight I'll get some good quality time :smile:

EDIT: Thank you very much for the cam advice DWhatley. I think it is something that will require a fair bit of research!
 
There a couple of cameras (or were, mostly Nikon I think) that had night vision. You may not find that feature now but you may want to look at reviews for cameras that perform better in low light. This should be helpful with your dive trip as well, diving light bars are VERY expensive. You might want to look into the cost of a dive flashlight. It is nowhere near like having the luxury of a synchronized light but it will give you colors you won't get without an external light source.

The videos could easily have been of either Beldar or Puddles so it is nice to see my understanding of this species seems to hold. Not jumping when they start getting too familiar is hard to control, especially since you have been nipped by this one. With animals that are easier to see, you can watch for the beak to protrude but I doubt you can see it in a red light tank.
 
Just a quick update -

Orion has become quite a lot more friendly over the weeks and actively comes up to the top for head rubs now each night. I'm trying to feed him once every 2 days and cycle different things- he is mainly on shrimp, though. I buy big ones with she shell on and cut them up into smaller pieces to freeze and thaw out each time. He seems to enjoy feeding this way and enjoys manipulating the shells (although I can't always find where he has left them once he's done feeding!). He particularly enjoyed a langoustine tail piece with the shell on it. Best news though is he is now in a solid routine where he gets up at about 10pm each night!

I ended up going for a Sony RX100 (I didn't want to go the full SLR route and the RX100 has full manual settings if I wanted them, and is nifty in an underwater housing for diving photography from what I have read) and I am very happy with the videos it takes in low light. Here are a couple of new ones:



As you can see in the second vid he has got very into his tug o war with the feeding stick, and reaches up to the offering hand as well when he plays.

The last couple of weeks he has become quite a lot more bold and several times has held on to my hand and appeared to try and maneuver himself to "sit" on it. I have been shying away from this as I am wary of him going "beak first" towards my hand and latching on - when I gently pull away he tries me pull me back and has tried more than once to get into the position over several days. He always gets the idea in the end but he seems very eager and persistent. Has anybody else seen this behaviour or know what he is likely trying to do? I don't think he is trying to bite - he doesn't appear aggressive and isn't displaying any different colours - but I am wary of how strong he is once he has a hold of something.

My partner has fed Orion a few times when I have been working nights or been ill and has complained he seems fairly hostile towards him - displaying some extreme colours and changing his shape (flattening out his tentacles and puffing his body - I have never seen Orion do either of these!). Last time he tried to feed he reported that Orion ignored the stick and food all together and went straight to his hand and tried to latch on which I think freaked him out quite a bit. Whenever Orion has tried to do the "sitting/grabbing" thing with me it has been fairly slowly and delicately, not how he described.
 
There is strong anecdotal evidence that octopuses can tell the difference in at least some people. There are suggestions that it is visual but their suckers are also chemoreceptors. Both of my son's have reported being "attacked" while feeding one or another of our animals while we have been on vacation. It was never clear if they simply interpreted behavior differently or if the animals were actually aggressive. Neal and I see a difference in how the animals react with us. He feeds them most days but they are typically (but not always) more interactive with me. I suspect it has more to do with the fact that I spend more time with them and/or that I am the one that cleans their tanks.
 
Thanks @Taollan, I remembered a less formal experiment but could not find the reference :oops: (also with GPO I think) where the animal reacted positively to a keeper so they attempted to fool the octopus by substituting a "look a like" . I added this reference to the list in the External Articles on Behavior and Intelligence Experiments for easier future reference. I think all sample sizes for behavior will be small for octopuses, it is just not feasible to have a large, live collection (imagining such a lab starts me thinking about reading Lovecraft).

It was a bit sad to see Roland Anderson as the lead author. If you come across an open source with this paper, I would love to read it.

Edit: I found an editorial that summarizes this experiment from the Scorpion and the Frog
 
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