[Octopus]: Pandora - O. joubini? Tom's Pick

Pandora

How did it get to be Friday already? I decided on "Pandora" for this one. I'm still not all that sure it's a "she," but we can go with "Pan" if it turns out to be a boy. My older daughter is into Greek mythology at the moment. Anyway, Pandora is doing fine as far as I can tell.

I have a new pic (have to post later) of her in her barnacle apt., her favorite pose, with her eyes popped out but the rest of her tucked away. She spends most of her time in the barnacle, and only really comes out when I put my hand in the tank. When she does come out, she either grabs me quick or shoots poop at me and then quickly retreats back into her den. Frequently I can only see one giant eye peeking out, but it always turns red as I approach, no matter how deeply it looks like she's sleeping.

She has taken shrimp from a stick, but it doesn't look like she eats much of it. She really likes hermit crabs right now, and like most octos keeps the empty shell collected in her den until they can't fit and she has to push old shells out to fit a new meal in.

I am enjoying getting to know her, and am encouraged by other journals that she will outgrow her shyness. I know it sounds sappy, but we all know what was left in Pandora's Box... (I have to give D something to research, easy as it may be).
 
I remembered that disease, hate, etc flew out of the box but I never knew (or didn't remember) about the last thing remaining. There are better links to tell the tale (this one tells little of it) but this one has an interesting discussion about the fact that the box likely should have been a jar :wink:.
 
Small Egged Babies!

Tom's pick gave me some small egged babies! I'm comepletely taken off guard and unprepared, I thought I had a briareus! What to do now... What type of octo is Pandora, then?
 
Pandora the Joubini?

Pandora must be O. joubini, according to Norman's they are frequently mistaken for O. briareus. Bluespot, aculeatus are from the Pacific Ocean, and I'm not going to put a ton of effort into trying to raise them. I'll do some of the easier things I can do but it's all but a lost cause to try, and it's not the best time of year to throw a bunch of money (in super tiny food) at a doomed project. I'd still be cool to get to 12 days, though... Just to break my own record. It's the middle of a busy day, I've got the filter turned of and will set up the bubble ring- maybe buy some 'pods from the LFS.
 
ONLY You could get the one briareus that wasn't.:roll: If it was not so sad I would roll on the floor laughing. I will have to agree on you alternate choice species. I did not recall the comment in Norman but can see where either dwarf spieces might be confused with briareus based upon the white and red but does Pandora show any of the shiny green? Arm proportion would be another clue but not if you never see it out. Lynn sent me an unknown once that I was pretty sure was a post hatch joubini female. His comment about what it looked like preshipped was that it looked just like the ones the crabbers bring in (briareus). Unfortunately, I never saw it again after releasing it into the tank but it was definitely neither briareus nor mercatoris.
 
Pandora Post Mortem

Well, Pandora had passed on this morning. I am bummed, I'd really thought I had one that would be with me for a while. But I think it 's cool that I got another species that is uncommon. She looked like Osgood (the only briareus I had to compare with- who was senescent) lots of red and white. I didn't see the blue green, assuming it was there but I didn't catch her out at the right time. Turns out she was brooding, not shy.

So, for the most part, Pandora was a cool little puss. She was far more friendly than a merc! When she first came home she was beginning to make contact and I saw her out way more than the mercs I've had. I include this one pic from a few weeks ago because she had to be brooding here! The whole time she was brooding, she was denned up but always had an "open door," watching us and occasionally reaching out an arm or popping out her eyes. I kept thinking she was going through a shy stage as reported about other briareus. She would take hermit crabs from me into her den, but it was last week before I noticed the last two I gave her were still alive. When I realized she wasn't eating, only then did I think it seemed like she might be brooding. I kept thinking that couldn't be because Tom said it was a briareus, but mostly because I've never seen a brooding octo so uncovered. Sure, she kept a shell for a door but only during the bright hours, like you'd expect from any nocturnal. All in all, I'd keep another joubini. The friendliness of Pandora, even during brooding, makes up for the smalled egged heartbreak. Of course, it'd be nice to get one that was younger.

She didn't have a lot of babies, about 50- 80. They looked just like the aculeatus babies I've had. I took some pictures of one and will post it in the "raising babies" thread, even though they have all died.
 

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From memory only, I would venture to guess Pandora was the same as the one Lynn sent me that I thought was a post brood joubini. Pretty iffy set of statements but the arm mantle proportions look the same. This has been a bumper year for octos in the Caribbean I think and I wonder if we will be seeing more of these show up.
 
One of the things I forgot to mention is that pretty much all of her arms were missing the tips so it was hard to tell what the natural arm length was. By the time I found her this morning, two of her arms were being munched on by something in the LR, and others had been shortened by the clean up crew. The mantle and her eyes were well in tact, but I'm not sure any of the arms are the normal length in these photos.

As I mentioned, it wouldn't break my heart to have another one of these guys! If more show up it wouldn't be terrible, it's just a bummer if you're looking for a large egged mom and get a joubini instead. Glad it's a good year for octos, 'cause I see a X-mas ceph in my future...
 

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