[Octopus]: Unidentified Flying Octopus & Baby Cuttlefish

[Hahmlet]

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.

Thanks, that's good info! It's hard to search for this kinda stuff.
Yes I took the substrate out and kept it in the breeding box in hopes of catching that amphipod.

Question: When you say Betadine do you mean the gargle/mouthwash or their antiseptic solution? And do you dip it in RODI water, or tank water?

 

[sedna]

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!

They will definitely eat tank mates, whether they "grew up" with them or not. "It works until it doesn't," as the saying goes. It does seem that this is a lot for a tank that size!

 

[sedna]

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

Agreed with Hadla that there's a danger of predation with them in the same tank!

 

[pkilian]

Thanks, that's good info! It's hard to search for this kinda stuff.
Yes I took the substrate out and kept it in the breeding box in hopes of catching that amphipod.

Question: When you say Betadine do you mean the gargle/mouthwash or their antiseptic solution? And do you dip it in RODI water, or tank water?

I would dip in tank water, and the chemical name is povidone-iodine

 

[Hahmlet]

I would dip in tank water, and the chemical name is povidone-iodine

Thanks! I'll get a bottle and do a dip.
So far the eggs aren't hatching. They might have gotten bigger a little. Can't really tell.
But the baby cuttlefish is not eating anything yet and just laying still under the chaeto mostly.
I did read that they may not eat the first few days and then they'll start showing signs of hunting. It's been a week as of today.
I have a lot of tigger pods and copepods in my tank and my shrimp seems to be giving birth often? I see lots of white baby shrimp flying around the tank in the evening twice already. I hope he's eating when I'm not watching.

They will definitely eat tank mates, whether they "grew up" with them or not. "It works until it doesn't," as the saying goes. It does seem that this is a lot for a tank that size!

Yeah can't do much about the tank size due to space constraints. But it is 55 gallons including the sump, so hopefully that's sufficient water.
So far the octopus hasn't eaten any tankmates, so I'm hopeful. But yeah if the cuttlefish get bigger I'm thinking they would eat the shrimp. The shrimp will go into the fuge if I see signs of that.

 

[sedna]

Thanks! I'll get a bottle and do a dip.
So far the eggs aren't hatching. They might have gotten bigger a little. Can't really tell.
But the baby cuttlefish is not eating anything yet and just laying still under the chaeto mostly.
I did read that they may not eat the first few days and then they'll start showing signs of hunting. It's been a week as of today.
I have a lot of tigger pods and copepods in my tank and my shrimp seems to be giving birth often? I see lots of white baby shrimp flying around the tank in the evening twice already. I hope he's eating when I'm not watching.


Yeah can't do much about the tank size due to space constraints. But it is 55 gallons including the sump, so hopefully that's sufficient water.
So far the octopus hasn't eaten any tankmates, so I'm hopeful. But yeah if the cuttlefish get bigger I'm thinking they would eat the shrimp. The shrimp will go into the fuge if I see signs of that.

That's too bad- we HIGHLY recommend that cephalopods are kept in species specific tanks. I'm not sure how your cuttlefish babies will stand up to an octopus in the same tank, or if they will just become snacks!

 

[Hahmlet]

That's too bad- we HIGHLY recommend that cephalopods are kept in species specific tanks. I'm not sure how your cuttlefish babies will stand up to an octopus in the same tank, or if they will just become snacks!

Hmm ok I'll think of something. Gotta prepare for the worst.

 

[Hahmlet]

I noticed that my octopus is diurnal and checked the list of diurnal octopuses here and finally found his species!
He's an Algae Octopus (Abdopus Aculeatus)! Algae Octopus (Abdopus aculeatus)

 

[ACC4]

I noticed that my octopus is diurnal and checked the list of diurnal octopuses here and finally found his species!
He's an Algae Octopus (Abdopus Aculeatus)! Algae Octopus (Abdopus aculeatus)

Oh!! You'll need to be especially careful about this octopus escaping the tank then!! These guys regularly cross over land to move from tidal pool to tidal pool...guess what would appear to be a tidal pool from the perspective of an octo?--a tank! This little octopus is hardwired to want to climb out and briefly explore land.. and trust me, from the different species I've kept, it really does make a difference in their behavior.
I'd suggest the more you can keep interesting things at the bottom of the tank and really be careful with locking and sealing the top and any overflow drains--use the netting from a 'window screen' to have it drain while limiting the size of the hole. Just remember any hole that is the size of your octopus' eyeball he/she can fit through!

 

[Hahmlet]

Oh!! You'll need to be especially careful about this octopus escaping the tank then!! These guys regularly cross over land to move from tidal pool to tidal pool...guess what would appear to be a tidal pool from the perspective of an octo?--a tank! This little octopus is hardwired to want to climb out and briefly explore land.. and trust me, from the different species I've kept, it really does make a difference in their behavior.
I'd suggest the more you can keep interesting things at the bottom of the tank and really be careful with locking and sealing the top and any overflow drains--use the netting from a 'window screen' to have it drain while limiting the size of the hole. Just remember any hole that is the size of your octopus' eyeball he/she can fit through!

I don't have another tank, so he might go for the toilet bowl.

I think he's definitely trying to escape at night, I see some water stains on the outside of my tank glass in the mornings. He must be testing out my lid. I think my tank is pretty secure. I prepared for this. hehe

The only fear I have is my baby cuttlefish hasn't eaten. He was born on 8 March. I brought him home in the morning. Since the first day he just sits still on the eggs, or on the chaeto, mostly white, sometimes brown, and I've never seen him move unless I'm cleaning his breeder box then he swims away. Maybe he has eaten, just not when I'm looking?

 

[Hahmlet]

Finally on his 11th day my cuttlefish baby ate something! I tried microworms, grindal worms, copepods, moina, tigger pods, cherry shrimp, and boraras brigittae, over the past 10 days. Finally today, he snatched up a mini mealworm that I dropped infront of him. I'm also starting a fairy shrimp and brine shrimp culture trying to get some adults big enough to feed him too.

Next step, to ween him on to frozen mysis!

 

[Hahmlet]

I'm beginning to think my octopus is a girl. Can anyone identify her gender from this picture? Or do you need to see all 8 tips?

 

[pkilian]

It's difficult to tell from this photo. If you can get better images of the R3 arm that might give us a better shot of ID'ing the animal. Here's a reference image that shows what arm to look for. In most (all?) species the R3 arm in males is the sexually dimorphic arm.

 

[Hahmlet]

It's difficult to tell from this photo. If you can get better images of the R3 arm that might give us a better shot of ID'ing the animal. Here's a reference image that shows what arm to look for. In most (all?) species the R3 arm in males is the sexually dimorphic arm.

Got it! So it's one of the middle arms on the right.

 

[sedna]

Got it! So it's one of the middle arms on the right.

The THIRD right arm, specifically.