[Octopus]: Unidentified Flying Octopus & Baby Cuttlefish

[Hahmlet]

Hey guys~ I'm new here. I'm from Korea, but living in Singapore.
I've always wanted to keep octopus and cuttlefish since I started fishkeeping 10 years ago.
I quit the hobby for 2 years because 4 cats and a fish tank proved too much for my lower back.
Then I started reading up on marine biology a lot and the urge kicked in again. Got myself a Waterbox Marine X 60 and the full shabang 3 weeks ago, got everything running and stable and started getting corals and clean up crew first. This is what it looks like now.

• Temperature: 25°C
• Specific Gravity: 1.025
• Ph: 7.8 ~ 8.0

I have 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 4 Peppermint Shrimp, 1 Lawnmower Blenny, 1 Cole Tang, 1 Rainford's Goby, 1 Crocea Clam, 1 Brittle Star, 3 Feather Stars, and 1 Pencil Urchin in the refugium for eating corals.

Then last night, my LFS calls me and tells me they got BOTH octopus and cuttlefish. I had been waiting for 3 months...
My baby cuttlefish shortly after placing him in the tank, using his 2 tiny arms to cover himself with sand.

He stopped when he saw me watching, so I went away then he continued. Even the blenny is bigger than him.

My clingy Octopus took awhile to get into the tank.

Can anyone ID him? He's definitely not a Mimic/Zebra as he doesn't have the horns on his eyes, but he does have a slender mantle.
Today he's been black the whole time with a white band from the tip of his mantle to his face, you can see at 6 seconds in the video below. He does turn light brownish when he's hiding between the rocks.

I'm testing out a theory that they won't eat tank mates they grew up with.
Look forward to sharing and learning with everyone here!

 

[Hahmlet]

The octopus came out and hid almost under a rock when he saw me, I nudged a piece of fish to him and he knew it was food once his arm touched it and he finally started to eat.

I thought he was done and might be hungry since he must have starved 2-3 days, so I nudged a clam to him but he moved away and climbed up the wall to continue his fish. That's when I noticed he DOES have horns on his eyes. Does this mean that he is a Mimic? I was hoping for a more colorful and less shy species(I think). I haven't seen a video of a Mimic interacting with people and they always seem to look angry.

Funny the LFS told me that they don't know the species but that it's definitely not a Mimic, and that if it was a Mimic it would cost 4.5x more. At least I got a steal if it's Mimic I guess.

 

[Hadla]

The skunk stripe in the second video makes me think he’s an abdopus aculeatus. Congrats on your two new friends the cuttlefish is adorable! don’t use blue light in the octopus tank since it hurts their eyes. If he was a wunderpus, he would have lots of webbing on each arm. They also have a very skinny look to them with zebra stripes all the time.

Also they need separate tanks… I’m worried about the cuttlefish being eaten by something bigger

 

[Hadla]

This is the only one I’ve ever seen and it was at my lfs last year. They’re also expensive $200+!

 

[Hahmlet]

The skunk stripe in the second video makes me think he’s an abdopus aculeatus. Congrats on your two new friends the cuttlefish is adorable! don’t use blue light in the octopus tank since it hurts their eyes. If he was a wunderpus, he would have lots of webbing on each arm. They also have a very skinny look to them with zebra stripes all the time.

Also they need separate tanks… I’m worried about the cuttlefish being eaten by something bigger

Oooh I didn't know that blue lights hurt their eyes. Thanks for the info.
Yeah mine definitely does not have those stripes. I will try to share more pictures when he's less shy.

This is the only one I’ve ever seen and it was at my lfs last year. They’re also expensive $200+!

They are a lot cheaper here in Singapore, I just saw one being sold in a LFS yesterday for $100.

 

[ACC4]

Hey guys~ I'm new here. I'm from Korea, but living in Singapore.
I've always wanted to keep octopus and cuttlefish since I started fishkeeping 10 years ago.
I quit the hobby for 2 years because 4 cats and a fish tank proved too much for my lower back.
Then I started reading up on marine biology a lot and the urge kicked in again. Got myself a Waterbox Marine X 60 and the full shabang 3 weeks ago, got everything running and stable and started getting corals and clean up crew first. This is what it looks like now.

• Temperature: 25°C
• Specific Gravity: 1.025
• Ph: 7.8 ~ 8.0

I have 2 Cleaner Shrimp, 4 Peppermint Shrimp, 1 Lawnmower Blenny, 1 Cole Tang, 1 Rainford's Goby, 1 Crocea Clam, 1 Brittle Star, 3 Feather Stars, and 1 Pencil Urchin in the refugium for eating corals.

Then last night, my LFS calls me and tells me they got BOTH octopus and cuttlefish. I had been waiting for 3 months...
My baby cuttlefish shortly after placing him in the tank, using his 2 tiny arms to cover himself with sand.

He stopped when he saw me watching, so I went away then he continued. Even the blenny is bigger than him.

My clingy Octopus took awhile to get into the tank.

Can anyone ID him? He's definitely not a Mimic/Zebra as he doesn't have the horns on his eyes, but he does have a slender mantle.
Today he's been black the whole time with a white band from the tip of his mantle to his face, you can see at 6 seconds in the video below. He does turn light brownish when he's hiding between the rocks.

I'm testing out a theory that they won't eat tank mates they grew up with.
Look forward to sharing and learning with everyone here!

Hi,
First, congrats! What an exciting time for you!
I’m a Scuba DiveMaster and I’m obsessed with cephalopods, I ingest any information I can get my hands on about cephalopods and am always looking to spot them in the wild when I’m diving. I have to say
I think this cuttlefish is actually a “bobtail squid” or “pop” squid, not a cuttlefish at all, granted it is difficult to see on your video, but that behavior of dragging sand over its body to hide itself under the sand as well as it having those two long tentacles and a bunch of shorter arms…. It’s identical to what I’ve seen while scuba diving in Indonesia-near Singapore…where you’re living…. People selling cephalopods are notorious for being dead wrong about the type of creature they are selling.. let me show you a video of this bobtail squid from Bali, Indonesia a few months ago that I videotaped myself. I’ve also been diving with hundreds of squid that were colloquially referred to as “Caribbean reef cuttlefish“ but they aren’t cuttlefish at all, they are squid-but the local people will tell you they are cuttlefish.. the fact is that many squid are too similar to cuttlefish for most people to tell the difference. One key is in their eyes, the cuttlefish will have a drastic wavy line as a pupil.
It’s not letting me upload the video I took of the pop/bobtail squid right now, I will have to upload it tomorrow (east coast of USA/later tonight in your time zone) to show you!!

 

[ACC4]

Hi,
First, congrats! What an exciting time for you!
I’m a Scuba DiveMaster and I’m obsessed with cephalopods, I ingest any information I can get my hands on about cephalopods and am always looking to spot them in the wild when I’m diving. I have to say
I think this cuttlefish is actually a “bobtail squid” not a cuttlefish at all, granted it is difficult to see on your video, but that behavior of dragging sand over its body to hide itself under the sand as well as it having those two long tentacles and a bunch of shorter arms…. It’s identical to what I’ve seen while scuba diving in Indonesia-near Singapore…where you’re living…. People selling cephalopods are notorious for being dead wrong about the type of creature they are selling.. let me show you a video of this bobtail squid from Bali, Indonesia a few months ago that I videotaped myself. I’ve also been diving with hundreds of squid that were colloquially referred to as “Caribbean reef cuttlefish“ but they aren’t cuttlefish at all, they are squid-but the local people will tell you they are cuttlefish.. the fact is that many squid are too similar to cuttlefish for most people to tell the difference. One key is in their eyes, the cuttlefish will have a drastic wavy line as a pupil.
It’s not letting me upload the video I took of the pop/bobtail squid right now, I will have to upload it tomorrow (east coast of USA/later tonight in your time zone) to show you!!

Here!! This is one of the videos of a bobtail squid that I have! See how it uses just two long tentacles to sweep Sandy bits over top of itself? The same way your video shows yours doing it.
Also in regards to the octopus identification -I can’t claim I know which type of octopus that is, but I do know that most octopus species that have papillae, or “horns” can change it on their bodies at will to be visible or not. So they can make the “horns” above their eyes come and go at will. If you watch both of your new babies a lot for a week and write down all of the different patterns and colors you see on them that will give us a better idea what species they are. It take a little bit of time to see what their typical characteristics are and from that we should be able to figure out what they are

 

[Hahmlet]

Hi,
First, congrats! What an exciting time for you!
I’m a Scuba DiveMaster and I’m obsessed with cephalopods, I ingest any information I can get my hands on about cephalopods and am always looking to spot them in the wild when I’m diving. I have to say
I think this cuttlefish is actually a “bobtail squid” or “pop” squid, not a cuttlefish at all, granted it is difficult to see on your video, but that behavior of dragging sand over its body to hide itself under the sand as well as it having those two long tentacles and a bunch of shorter arms…. It’s identical to what I’ve seen while scuba diving in Indonesia-near Singapore…where you’re living…. People selling cephalopods are notorious for being dead wrong about the type of creature they are selling.. let me show you a video of this bobtail squid from Bali, Indonesia a few months ago that I videotaped myself. I’ve also been diving with hundreds of squid that were colloquially referred to as “Caribbean reef cuttlefish“ but they aren’t cuttlefish at all, they are squid-but the local people will tell you they are cuttlefish.. the fact is that many squid are too similar to cuttlefish for most people to tell the difference. One key is in their eyes, the cuttlefish will have a drastic wavy line as a pupil.
It’s not letting me upload the video I took of the pop/bobtail squid right now, I will have to upload it tomorrow (east coast of USA/later tonight in your time zone) to show you!!

Thank you it is exciting indeed! OMG you are right. I actually knew this from a video I watched just a few weeks ago!

I never realized until you mentioned it. He basically looks exactly like the bobtail squid in the video above.

This was a shipment from the Philippines so I guess it is a Euprymna morsei, the Mimika bobtail squid. Which also means mine is almost fully grown because they only grow up to 4cm.

Here!! This is one of the videos of a bobtail squid that I have! See how it uses just two long tentacles to sweep Sandy bits over top of itself? The same way your video shows yours doing it.
Also in regards to the octopus identification -I can’t claim I know which type of octopus that is, but I do know that most octopus species that have papillae, or “horns” can change it on their bodies at will to be visible or not. So they can make the “horns” above their eyes come and go at will. If you watch both of your new babies a lot for a week and write down all of the different patterns and colors you see on them that will give us a better idea what species they are. It take a little bit of time to see what their typical characteristics are and from that we should be able to figure out what they are

Thanks for the info. So there are other octopus with horns as well, not just the Mimic. I will definitely share more. They keep disappearing when I get my lens and come back.

 

[ACC4]

Thank you it is exciting indeed! OMG you are right. I actually knew this from a video I watched just a few weeks ago!

I never realized until you mentioned it. He basically looks exactly like bobtail squid in the video above.

This was a shipment from the Philippines so I guess it is Euprymna morsei, the Mimika bobtail squid. Which also means mine is almost fully grown because they only grow up to 4cm.


Thanks for the info. So I there are other octopus with horns as well, not just the Mimic. I will definitely share more. They keep disappearing when I get my lens and come back.

There ya go! You got it!

Haha yes they tend to do that-running away when the camera lens comes out!
Yes, a bunch of different species can make their skin have protrusions to help camouflage them!

 

[Hahmlet]

Here!! This is one of the videos of a bobtail squid that I have! See how it uses just two long tentacles to sweep Sandy bits over top of itself? The same way your video shows yours doing it.
Also in regards to the octopus identification -I can’t claim I know which type of octopus that is, but I do know that most octopus species that have papillae, or “horns” can change it on their bodies at will to be visible or not. So they can make the “horns” above their eyes come and go at will. If you watch both of your new babies a lot for a week and write down all of the different patterns and colors you see on them that will give us a better idea what species they are. It take a little bit of time to see what their typical characteristics are and from that we should be able to figure out what they are

I can hear your "Awww" under water in the video.

It must be cephalopod season here, my LFS just got a batch of cuttlefish eggs so I went over in the morning to get them.

USD 26 for this bunch. Kept them in the breeder box. I suppose they don't like light? Might be why the eggs are inked. Will appreciate if anyone knows if light is good for them or if anyone has kept them in high light conditions and they turned out fine.

Two of the eggs had already hatched in the LFS and there were baby cuttlefish swimming around, so I told the LFS to give me them to me and they said they wanted to keep one so he only gave me one for $4. Hard to tell him apart from the rubble.

I bought a bag of live copepods to feed him. I can't find live mysis shrimp or adult brine shrimp in Singapore. It just doesn't exist here. The best thing I can buy is baby brine shrimp but I don't think that will last long. I suppose I will have to try grindal worms and move on early to frozen mysis shrimp.

 

[pkilian]

Those look like sepia bandensis eggs to me. They are naturally black, so they likely didn't ink in the egg. Typically adults lay eggs underneath overhangs in darker areas so it may be best to try and limit the light. You don't need to go pitch black just not in direct tank light would be best.

If some have started hatching the rest may be following soon. Good luck! The babies like to hang out in aquarium tank decor that has a lot of "verticality" to it. You could try something like this or similar.

 

[Hahmlet]

Those look like sepia bandensis eggs to me. They are naturally black, so they likely didn't ink in the egg. Typically adults lay eggs underneath overhangs in darker areas so it may be best to try and limit the light. You don't need to go pitch black just not in direct tank light would be best.

If some have started hatching the rest may be following soon. Good luck! The babies like to hang out in aquarium tank decor that has a lot of "verticality" to it. You could try something like this or similar.

It was a Philippines shipment, you're probably right. Good I just read they are a dwarf species.
Gotcha on the lighting. I put them in a breeder box and placed a book over it. Thanks for the good advice!

 

[Hahmlet]

Been feeding this shy boy frozen clam meat(1 clam a day) for the past couple of days and today after he finished his meal, he walked up to the glass when I was nearby and stared at me for a minute.

I guess he was finally opening up to me. So I decided to shake his hand.

 

[Hahmlet]

I saw a critter run into my cuttlefish eggs! The first instance I saw it through the side of my eye when the lights were off, a small black bug darting under my eggs. I lifted up the eggs and checked but nothing and thought I must've been imagining things.

Early this morning before the sun was up I saw it again for sure! It was not black but rather dark grey or maybe brown. It crawls pretty fast. Once I got near the tank, again it crawled towards my eggs and looked like it went under them or into the substrate. I lifted my eggs and dug around the sand and nothing. So it must be in my bundle of cuttlefish eggs.

I can't ID it since it disappears so fast, but it is not that small. Maybe about 0.2~0.3 inch. I guess it's an amphipod, chiton, or criolanid/ceroland isopod. Can it actually eat the eggs? Should I break apart the bundle of eggs to find and remove this critter or leave it alone as it likely will not be able to break the cuttlefish egg shells?

 

[pkilian]

Some aquariums have had success using various chemicals to treat eggs to prevent bacterial growth and manage amphipod/copepod abundance in squid eggs. Check out page 4 of this issue of Drum and Croaker: http://drumandcroaker.org/pdf/2020Issue.pdf

You may fund success repeating these treatments in your eggs. I would also suggest making a basket for the eggs to get them off the substrate, that may help reduce amphipod/copepod abundance in the eggs as well. Again see page 4 for suggestions from Monterey Bay Aquarium.

I have done Betadine dips on bandensis eggs before and it works well. I have never used Revive coral cleaner on eggs so I cannot speak to the efficacy of the treatment personally, but I trust the people at MBA.