[Octopus]: Oscar the ornery octopus (O. briareus)

[Jean_R]

It was a quiet week. We cut some slivers of shrimp and offered them on the stick with mostly success. We also pulled the claws off some small local crabs and placed them at the entrance to Oscar's den. It took a few hours to overnight, but Oscar ate both crabs. Nothing photo-wise to share as there is really nothing to see, the den appears to be deep within a single piece of rock. I am thinking about abandoning the reverse light cycle lighting as, ultimately, it is never really dark in the room and so may only be discouraging Oscar from any exploration (but who knows).

 

[Jean_R]

Things are still good here. I went away for 4-5 days and left a handful of live crabs/shrimp in the tank, when I returned there were mostly crab carcasses spread all over the tank. We feed Oscar pieces of raw shrimp from the feeding stick every night, which he mostly pulls off the stick within a minute. Hard to get photos as he hides from the light and mostly stays deep in the rock work.

I was up at 4am the other morning and decided to have look with the red light. Sure enough he was out and exploring the aquarium, looking like he is getting bigger.

Not really interactive other than pulling shrimp off the line, but hopefully that will change as he gets older/bigger and becomes more confident.

I'd be keen to get some thoughts on where to keep the aquarium temperature. On the one hand it is a Caribbean octopus and used to warmer waters, on the other hand I have read that lower temperatures are associated with increased lifespan. Since I work from home (these days) and we have central air the tank has been staying very steady around 74F. Is that fine or should I consider raising the temp to 77-78?

 

[DWhatley]

IMO, 74 is fine, especially if you can maintain that without a heater or chiller. I have allowed my tanks to get up to 80 in the summer and overnight to 72 in the winter but my goal is 75.

 

[Jean_R]

Very sad to announce I found my octopus dead under the couch this morning. I have a custom tight-fitting lid with very little squeezing space, but I was not weighing the lid down with anything heavy. I'm not 100% sure how he got out but think he must have lifted the lid just enough to squeeze through.

Very sad indeed as he was doing great! Eating shrimp off the line and live shore crabs, he had grown two or three times the size of when I got him. He still spent all his time denning but more and more time out at the opening to the den each evening, watching the world go by.

We will grieve for a bit before trying again, but I do think we will try this again as the whole family loved it. And would love to hear of some lid suggestions to octo-proof it. If I got some velcro strips to velcro/DualLock the lid to the tank would that do it? Also, I guess it would not look very elegant but could possible bungy the lid down...or maybe go with another lid design completely?

 

[Tomh]

Sorry for your loss!!

 

[tonmo]

I'm so sorry. By all appearances, the ability for octopuses to find a way out cannot be overstated.

 

[DWhatley]

I lost one by not weighing down a top that on an aquarium that had housed at least a dozen others without the weights. I feel your pain.

 

[LLynn1952]

How exciting it must be. O. Briareus seem to be neat little guys. From the very few i have seen in my Noobieage they seem to be loaded with personality. I look forward to hearing more about little Oscar as time goes on. Thank you for helping with my OctoSchooling. They are endlessly fascinating to me and i hope to meet one in person someday.

 

[LLynn1952]

Very sad to announce I found my octopus dead under the couch this morning. I have a custom tight-fitting lid with very little squeezing space, but I was not weighing the lid down with anything heavy. I'm not 100% sure how he got out but think he must have lifted the lid just enough to squeeze through.

Very sad indeed as he was doing great! Eating shrimp off the line and live shore crabs, he had grown two or three times the size of when I got him. He still spent all his time denning but more and more time out at the opening to the den each evening, watching the world go by.

We will grieve for a bit before trying again, but I do think we will try this again as the whole family loved it. And would love to hear of some lid suggestions to octo-proof it. If I got some velcro strips to velcro/DualLock the lid to the tank would that do it? Also, I guess it would not look very elegant but could possible bungy the lid down...or maybe go with another lid design completely?

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I did not read your other entries before i stuck my foot in my mouth and chewed vigorously. In truth, i did not see them until today. My deepest apologies for your loss of little Oscar.