Oscars Journal

[corw314]

Not sure, as it's not a brooding/den building behavior. He just hauls them around. Shells are appearing all over the tank on top of rocks, corals etc. He's been seeking me out more for food and is quite animated upon attack of his prey. Goes into the twitching cone head as he stalks a crab.

 

[DWhatley]

Octane used to do the cone head thing and turn half of it dark brown when hunting but I have not seen the look in a long time. He is a very lazy eater any more and kind of flops over for Neal to put a shrimp directly on his beak. He seems to need to fast about once a week but I make sure there are live crabs in the tank when he "isn't hungry". He usually will eat them, eventually, but we never see him actively catching them (I do see them in his maw though) now.

 

[corw314]

Today I'm looking all over the tank for Oscar and realized he was strategically plastered to the front corner of the tank. He hung there for almost 2 hours watching us, till I dangled a crab. He startled me by swimming to my hand, grabbed the crab and retreated to a shell he's been living in to dine. I'm starting to think the twitching, cone head act is just that as he has no fear of me.

 

[DWhatley]

Octane has done the disappearing in plain site act often. So much so that when I don't see him immediately, I scan the front first then start looking in the back.

 

[corw314]

5 weeks since Oscar arrived. He is getting more and more curious. I am seeing some amazing shape/texture/color changes. He reminds me of G2 who was a master at so many different looks. He is starting to seek us out, and will be plastered to the front of the tank until someone notices him. Tonight he swam from the back of the tank as soon as I approached the tank and then proceeded to act scared with two very distinct looks, going from his zebra/spiky look to the twitching cone head. He continues to eat on a daily basis and has almost depleted my stock of over 30 crabs. He is ready to go up to the next size food which will be a 2" shell. I am very pleased at how he's been progressing and very happy to have what appears to be a very healthy, happy, full of attitude and curiosity octopus in my home after so many failures. I can see how people get discouraged as even if you are adept at determining what kind you are buying, there are so many factors that can come into play such as how they handle the stress of shipping, to what method was used in their capture. I am so for captive bred, but if I see one already in place in a shop, I feel they would do best to come home with me. Still keeping fingers crossed, but not so tightly!!

 

[Nancy]

Happy to hear that things are working out for you and Oscar. He's a fortunate octopus because you can provide such a variety of live food for him, living near the ocean as you do.

Nancy

 

[sedna]

Thanks for the good report. Even if it is tough going at my zoo, it is so encouraging to hear that things are working out for others right now. I am keeping my fingers crossed for Al, but it's good to remember that experienced keepers got to be "experienced" by just doing it! Posts like this make me take heart and keep up the hard work and careful husbandry!

 

[corw314]

7 weeks! Oscar continues to grow and do very well. He inks on occasion, but the brown ink and very little. I noticed when he swims, he curls the ends of his legs. I had to go collect the next size crab for food. He continues to eat on a daily basis. He plays! More than once I'll look over at the tank and he's playing with the green lego and baby keys. He tries to scale the plastic plant but now he is too heavy to run up it like he did in the beginning. And positive id for O. Hummelincki (filosus) as D's new octopus has the same markings!

 

[corw314]

2 months and 1 week! Oscar has graduated to the baitshops greencrabs. The first crab was so much bigger, about a 2" shell, he stayed out in the open eating it. I got a great pic of his eyespot!!

 

[DWhatley]

Carol,
There is no question in my mind that Oscar and Octane are the same species BUT... I am going to add confusion to the identification of species. I have been a little bothered (and I think Nancy has been also) by the single definition of the eyespot in Norman and what we see in the Oscar/Octane species. This only bothered me a little until we got Serendipity and her eyespot MATCHES the one in Norman (the blue is an iridescent, unbroken circular BAND and not the vibrant blue disk surrounded by orange) and not the Oscar/Octane spot. Serendipity's spot has not shown any color until tonight when I saw the thin band glow as if it were lighted, the rest of the spot, however, has only shown brown and I have not seen the orange surrounding dots.

There is also a slight difference in the eye/mantle connections that can't be ignored. Serendipity shows a thinning behind the eyes that gives her somewhat of an appearance of an adopus when it sits with its eyes erect. Sometimes, however, the eyes and mantle merge like Oscar/Octane's normal look. Time will tell if the differences are from baby to adult or possibly male to female. Can you tell yet if Oscar is male? I did not detect enlarged suckers on any forward arms but at some point Octane kept his third arm obviously curled.