Triton - ?

octo..

O. bimaculoides
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Feb 21, 2012
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ID Request - Small Caribbean Octopus

Hello, I got this new octopus from live aquaria the other day. He is supposedly a Caribbean small but he doesn't seem too small to me. I was acclimating it and then it found a little hole in the bag and squeezed through it was about the size of a dime. He then inked and shot into the rocks by one of my star polyps. I did a 20 percent water change and now you cant see any of the ink. If there is still ink in the aquarium what will happen to it?
Could you please help me ID this animal because I want to know how big of a tank it needs and what temp to keep it at. I thinks its a vulgaris but that's just me, it also looks kind of like a briareus I am very sure it isn't a hummelincki though.
 
Im sorry these pictures are terrible, I dont know how to upload videos




 

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I dont think it is Vulgaris, the arms seem too long, but to be honest I cant see it very well in those pictures. Maybe Briareus which needs between 65 and 75 gallons.

Videos need to be uploaded to Youtube, or any video hosting site first.

Temp should be around 78 degrees.
 
I'm 100% with CaptFish on this one. Arms to mantle ratio too big (arms too long) to be O. vulgaris, and as you have determined, arms too long and not shaped right for O. hummelincki. Arm length appears about right for O.briareus but the mantle is not exposed enough to make a call AND both Dave and I have little Caribbean guys that looked like O.briareus when small but are turning out to be something different.

Are you running a skimmer on the tank? If so any remaining ink will get captured without a problem. With a 20% water change you should be fine but a skimmer is not something you should do without for this issue as well as water quality. The ink is not poisonous but has a coating quality. Inking in the shipping bag is almost always fatal because it coats the gills and the animal suffocates, with enough water volume a small amount won't be a problem.

If you don't have a public video account (in order of my personal preference), YouTube, Vimeo and Photo Bucket offer free accounts. Uploading is fairly simple but does take awhile. Once your video is uploaded, go to the video and copy the URL in the address bar (avoid the share links offered on the upload screen, one of them works but you can easily pick the wrong one and then I will have to edit your post to correct it :wink:). On your TONMO post click the film icon and past the url into the pop-up box and save it.
 
OK thanks, I don't think that it is a briareus because it shows no color other than grey and orange, and doesnt have green eyes, but yet the eyes seem too small to be an octopus vulgaris so i am thinking possibly Octopus joubini. Although it could be an octopus briareus because I havent seen it that much. And this octopus is acting pretty strange most small octopus usually hide and you never see them for days if not weeks, this one hid into the rocks and then started stalking my peppermint shrimp but it didn't seem too intent on eating it:yuck: its den is now in plain sight and it doesn't really seem to mind us looking at him. His favorite colors so far are grey, orange, and this purple and white color that shimmers when you get too close to the tank. It also has some very good camouflage it likes to blend in with the sand when following the shrimp. OK here is the acclimation video, at the end you can see that he found a tiny hole and is squeezing through it we couldn't capture the rest because that was panic time.

 
Interesting. I still want to see more to get a better determination. but so far my guess would be either A O.briareus or B. O.defilippi, Both D and myaself have octos that were at first thought to be briareus do to the arm length but are turning out to be Atlantic Long Arm octo.

Two things to look for. if brieaus when the lighting is just right the octo will appear to have tiny brilliant green spots, iridescent in color. if it is a ALAO: no green spots, and the third arm pair will be longer then the other six arms.
 
Temps will all be the same for any species from the Indonesia or the Caribbean, I try to target around 78degrees,
They grow to a mantle size close to 2.5 inches with and arm length of about a 12". I would say anything smaller than a 55 or 60 would be pretty cramped. Larger is always better, but these guys do have long arms. 55-60 depending on the tank dimensions.
 
I don't think this Octopus is eating, it couldn't be senescent already right?? I also believe its a male( Large suckers), it has some strange behaviors as well it sleeps in a little hole in the sand with two rocks making a triangle over him for shelter, and he has already come out to swim multiple times. I find dead hermit crabs ripped out of their shells but nothing else. When he was swimming the other day I put a fiddler crab in, he then grabbed its leg and the fiddler crab started freaking out, then he let go and kept swimming. And he is also terrified of my tang that's in the tank with him. He could care less about the damsels though, when they come too close he just swipes at them and they swim away.
 
From our journals, I have only noted octos killing and not eating when they feel threatened. We have seen this occur when females are are brooding or about to brood but keeping an octopus with fish may explain the behavior especially since you noted that it reacts to the tang.

Roger Hanlon filmed O. defilippi burying in the sand in the video in this post. There is also a paper on the species above the video that might help determine ID.
 
IME, the first two weeks of introduction are no usually typical of normal behavior and I consider it part of the acclimation period. Often we see very opposite tendencies from later behaviors.

O.defilippi is often seen during the day in situ but mine (acquired VERY young and all photos and videos I can locate are of much older animals) is only just now showing itself, after 2.5 months, just a little with the lights on but I am still not 90% positive if ID.

I do wish you would remove the fish. We have seen over and over that this is not a good combination. Even if the octopus survives the stress and potential predation, the chances of it being a good experience are low. Aquariums are not natural environments. For starters, consider the amount of individual space an animal has in the wild.
 
I only have a 55gallon and a 30gallon the eggs are in the 30 gallon and the octopus and fish is in the 55 gallon. I am hoping to get a larger tank in a few months. But I think that that would be too late. He is getting curious of life outside the tank I saw him behind a tall rock with his eyes camouflaged right on the top with all his legs hanging down so only his eyes showed. When I saw him his eyes turned black and he slowly inched his way down. His camouflage is very good, a lot better than my last Abdopus.
 

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