[Octopus]: Tatanka - O.briareus (tank hatched)

[corpusse]

You still see him a lot more then I see mine..

 

[DWhatley]

Tatanka is now coming out occasionally with the lights on and most every night before 11:00. There are a number of possibilities why he is suddenly more interactive and visible.

1) I changed the water-flow on one side of the tank to increase flow in the upper part of the aquarium. He started coming out regularly from the day I made the change but this may be only coincidental.

2) He has appeared to have noticed Cassy. It is unclear if he realized she is female or even if he knows she is another octopus but he can definitely see movement at her tank (he reacted to me moving while playing with Cassy).

3) He is simply maturing and socializing at at different rate than Cassy (about 2 months later).

Whatever the reason, he is coming out daily and interacting with us by dancing on the front glass and following hand movements. He has started the quick touch to a hand inside the tank but does not fully retreat to the live rock when he withdraws. He is coming to investigate my hand in the water and has let me pet his head (close to the eyes) and a little on the mantle but not as a regular event. This is a drastic change from even a week ago.

 

[Lmecher]

Interesting behavior change. It could be

 

[DWhatley]

I tried to get a video of him crossing through the tubes. You can see him entering from the left and then act as if he knows I want to video him going back across

 

[DWhatley]

We have noticed the briareus whipping their arms on the glass with most or all of the animals and have never come to any conclusion as to why they show this behavior. This is the first video of the motion and I only caught a small segment of the action. Visually it is reminiscent of a cat twitching its tail.

Although he is still much shier than Cassey, we are seeing more of Tank and I was able to get a few general pictures to show how he has grown. His arms are close in length to Cassy's. He has always been slightly smaller but since Cassy started to produce eggs, his mantle now looks small in comparison. He looks younger and healthier as well.

 

[iAlex]

It's good to get an update; his sister gets all the attention.

 

[DWhatley]

I don't know if it is the positioning of this tank or just happenstance but we see more of the octo in the tanks that have been located in this spot. Since the switch, we still see a lot of Cassy but are seeing a whole lot more of Tatanka. I don't think it is the tank directly because we had two identical (as identical as in the base tank) in the same locations as the current tanks and this still seemed to apply.

 

[CaptFish]

Your tank's feng shui must be out of balance. Perhaps you need another tank to balance things out...


He still looks like such a young octopus to me. he's still perky unlike mama cassy who is a little saggy and bulgy

 

[DWhatley]

Your tank's feng shui must be out of balance. Perhaps you need another tank to balance things out...

... and YOU sir can be replaced with any of 10 inanimate objects.

He still looks like such a young octopus to me. he's still perky unlike mama cassy who is a little saggy and bulgy

... and just why is it that grey hair on men is distinguished where on women it makes them look old?


Kidding aside, the difference in the two is amazing. I have mentioned early on that it is hard to believe they are sibblings in both looks and actions. If tank were delivered as a wild caught I would guess him at around 5 months, no more than 7. It will be interesting to see if his mantle ever grows to the size of SueNami's and if he outlives Cassy by a significant amount of time.

 

[corw314]

Wow...He's beautiful Di. Really nice pics!

 

[DWhatley]

I rarely intentionally flash the octos (and at my age they would ignore me anyway ) but Tank was out curiously watching me tell Cassy it was OK to move rock from one side to the other and giving her a few extra pieces for her brood den and I missed taking pictures of her in the rearrangement process so I took a couple of him (since he is short on photos anyway). He is still very shy and jumpy but has shown much more curiosity and will come out around 6:00 looking for food. Tonight Neal was able to give him a shrimp directly from his hand rather than using a feeding stick or our floating plastic ice cube contraption.

 

[DWhatley]

Happy Birthday Tatanka

Tank and Cassy are one year old today!

Tank comes out nightly and will touch the end of an arm to a finger or hand but continues to be shy. Besides feeding time, we see him out most nights at supper, whenever he sees me searching Cassy's tank and again after midnight. His color is still a healthy white (vs dull grayish) and he shows skin texture changes but little color change. He will often stretch out an arm is I approach the tank and will slowly touch an offered finger but does not want more interaction. He needs softer food now and leaves most of any table shrimp offered uneaten. Small krill and fiddlers are now his main diet.

 

[Nancy]

Yes, Happy Birthday Tank and Cassie!!

And congratulations to you, D, for enabling them to have long lives!

Nancy

 

[Lmecher]

to Tank and Cassy. Quite an accomplishment D. Congratulations!

 

[DWhatley]

Tank comes out every day for supper at very close to 6:00. He is still eating but in much smaller quantities and seems to have a hard time with table shrimp (something I have noticed in aging octos). I am trying to convince Neal to give him more krill (he still eats fiddlers fine) but it is difficult to feed the smaller shrimp (but he has been known to take it away from the serpent stars). He seems to want a small amount of attention around 1:00 AM and comes to the front center of the tank when he sees me coming or going to my office. He will touch the front glass across from my fingers and then play a little touch and duck when I offer my hand to the tank. Tonight was the longest he has come and gone and returned for contact since the mating but he only wants to be touched (or actually comes to touch as I don't actively try to pet him now, just offer my hand) on the arms.

Today the temperature was over 100 and the air conditioning was not on in the house. I turned it on when I got home only to discover that one unit needs a repairman (or we need a new circuit breaker) but the unit cooling the breakfast room is functioning and will be left on. Everyone seemed OK but both octos in that room (Tatanka and Monty) are aging and the heat was not likely a good thing.