Waldo - Macropus Complex
- Thread starter Dools
- Start date
Last couple of days Waldo has been true to form, sorta speak. He has only engaged in one "touch and go" each of the past few mornings. He is still very active and eating well, including another piece of shelled shrimp. This weekend I will have more time to interact with him, so I will see how things go.
This morning Waldo did our touch "n go routinue a couple of times before I fed him. He is a healthy eater and devours the shrimp pieces I give him. I also put a clam in the tank, but he has ignored it so far. I made these videos this morning before feeding time. Here is the first one:
Two things go try.
When you put you hand in the water, wiggle your finders for a couple of seconds, stop then again. I have no suggestion on time lengths for the stop and wiggle action.
Since he is somewhat tolerating the white light, instead try turning on a light in the room (leaving the tank in red only). This might allow a better focus and still have him stay out. I have had mixed success with this and age does seem to be a factor.
When you put you hand in the water, wiggle your finders for a couple of seconds, stop then again. I have no suggestion on time lengths for the stop and wiggle action.
Since he is somewhat tolerating the white light, instead try turning on a light in the room (leaving the tank in red only). This might allow a better focus and still have him stay out. I have had mixed success with this and age does seem to be a factor.
Today Waldo brushed his body up against my hand a couple of times, but did not grasp my fingers with his arms. D, I followed your advice and turned on of the room lsmp lights and he did not retreat. I was able to shoot this video, which I think is a better quality than just using the red light.
Waldo Update
Waldo is doing great. He consistently eats both frozen shrimp and freeze-dried krill. I splurged as an experiment and purchased a live emerald crab to see if he would show any interest. I put it in his tank on Friday and when I observed him on Sat morning (as the inserted video will show) it was still kicking. After interacting with him for a few minutes, I fed him a krill and went upstairs while he ate. After devouring the krill for awhile he released the "mangled carcass" and I removed it from the tank. I went back upstairs again and when I came back to check on him, I found Waldo had the crab under his webbing and was eating it too. After only a few minutes he released it (probably wasn't very hungry) and had only removed its legs and claw from one side. Hard to tell if he had eaten any of the flesh inside. I guess it was too tempting to resist,
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I do not know what time Waldo comes out after the aquarium lights are out, but he is always out when I come downstairs around 6 am. While during the week, I only see him until I leave for work around 7, this weekend I observed that he stays out and about until around 11 am; before he retreats back under one of the LRs.
Today I am experimenting again by seeing if he will come out and still remain active under a blue actnic bulb instead of the red flood light I have been using. I'll see if he is out tomorrow morning and posts the results.
Waldo is doing great. He consistently eats both frozen shrimp and freeze-dried krill. I splurged as an experiment and purchased a live emerald crab to see if he would show any interest. I put it in his tank on Friday and when I observed him on Sat morning (as the inserted video will show) it was still kicking. After interacting with him for a few minutes, I fed him a krill and went upstairs while he ate. After devouring the krill for awhile he released the "mangled carcass" and I removed it from the tank. I went back upstairs again and when I came back to check on him, I found Waldo had the crab under his webbing and was eating it too. After only a few minutes he released it (probably wasn't very hungry) and had only removed its legs and claw from one side. Hard to tell if he had eaten any of the flesh inside. I guess it was too tempting to resist,
.I do not know what time Waldo comes out after the aquarium lights are out, but he is always out when I come downstairs around 6 am. While during the week, I only see him until I leave for work around 7, this weekend I observed that he stays out and about until around 11 am; before he retreats back under one of the LRs.
Today I am experimenting again by seeing if he will come out and still remain active under a blue actnic bulb instead of the red flood light I have been using. I'll see if he is out tomorrow morning and posts the results.
It will be interesting to see if the blue light is acceptable. Many people would prefer to use the blue and they are more easily available.
Well the blue actnic light experiment didn't go so well. This morning Waldo did not come out until I turned it off and turned the red light on. Once he was out (and after eating a piece of frozen shrimp) I turned the actnic light back on to see what he would do. As you can see in the uploaded video, he made a slow retreat back in the LR. I guess it is red light or no light, .
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Great! Not great that it did not work but great that you tried it and saw a result. There are technical reasons involving their sight and light color wave lengths that suggest blue light may actually be brighter than white light but I did not want to mention it until you experimented since we don't KNOW what the affect is in practice. This does not help establish that particular theory but it does suggest that color is important. There have been a few comments that blue may be acceptable but those too are anecdotal so a few direct experiments with posted results are very helpful.
Worm Diet
Waldo showed no interest in eating the ghost shrimp I put in his tank last week; even when one practically crawled on him. The owner of the LFS where I purhased Waldo recommended earthworms as a food choice. I purchased a small container that she sells to give it a try. I gave him one today and he devoured it happily. Has anyone else tried them as part the octo's diet?
Waldo showed no interest in eating the ghost shrimp I put in his tank last week; even when one practically crawled on him. The owner of the LFS where I purhased Waldo recommended earthworms as a food choice. I purchased a small container that she sells to give it a try. I gave him one today and he devoured it happily. Has anyone else tried them as part the octo's diet?
New food supplies are always welcomed but feed carefully if you opt to try something new. I have not tried any kind of worms with the octos but have used black worms that were grown for food for other aquatic critters. I would be very careful about anything from the ground though, simply because of possible pesticides or other chemicals. Be sure to report if he continues to eat them or if there are any negative observations.
Waldo Update
Today marks my 1 month anniversary with Waldo,. I brought him on on Dec 9. He is very active every morning when I go downstairs to his tank. He definitely lets me know when he is hungry. He does a "happy dance" on the glass until I feed him. He usually eats every other day, but today he was obvioulsy hungry even though I fed him yesterday too. This morning I fed him an earthworm and he devoured it. There was very little left when he was done. This was the 2nd one I have fed him and there is no doubt he likes them and I have seen no ill effects (knock on wood).
Waldo and I have to work on our hand to arm transfer of his food. A couple of days ago I was giving him a piece of thawed shrimp and I thought he had successfully taken it, but to my surprise (and his) he was still holding on to my fingers as I pulled my hand out of the tank. I think he squirted a little ink when he realized he had was no longer in the tank, but I immediately put my hand (and him) back in the water. He quickly got over the shock and ate the shrimp anyway.
Then yesterday I was feeding him another piece of shrimp and being a little gun shy, released it too soon. It got caught in the current from a powerhead and shot across the tank. I reached into the tank to retrieve it and try again, but unbeknowst to me Waldo had the same idea and shot across the tank too. As my hand closed to capture the shrimp, to my shock and surprise I had a handful of octopus. He wasn't too happy about the encounter either and quickly darted off. I was still able to feed him, so no harm, no foul,.
Needless to say, we (by that I mean me) have to work on our food transfer skills. Earthworms are especially tough, too small to use a feeding stick and tweezers are of no use. As they say, practice makes perfect.
Today marks my 1 month anniversary with Waldo,
. I brought him on on Dec 9. He is very active every morning when I go downstairs to his tank. He definitely lets me know when he is hungry. He does a "happy dance" on the glass until I feed him. He usually eats every other day, but today he was obvioulsy hungry even though I fed him yesterday too. This morning I fed him an earthworm and he devoured it. There was very little left when he was done. This was the 2nd one I have fed him and there is no doubt he likes them and I have seen no ill effects (knock on wood). Waldo and I have to work on our hand to arm transfer of his food. A couple of days ago I was giving him a piece of thawed shrimp and I thought he had successfully taken it, but to my surprise (and his) he was still holding on to my fingers as I pulled my hand out of the tank. I think he squirted a little ink when he realized he had was no longer in the tank, but I immediately put my hand (and him) back in the water. He quickly got over the shock and ate the shrimp anyway.
Then yesterday I was feeding him another piece of shrimp and being a little gun shy, released it too soon. It got caught in the current from a powerhead and shot across the tank. I reached into the tank to retrieve it and try again, but unbeknowst to me Waldo had the same idea and shot across the tank too. As my hand closed to capture the shrimp, to my shock and surprise I had a handful of octopus. He wasn't too happy about the encounter either and quickly darted off. I was still able to feed him, so no harm, no foul,
.Needless to say, we (by that I mean me) have to work on our food transfer skills. Earthworms are especially tough, too small to use a feeding stick and tweezers are of no use. As they say, practice makes perfect.
Waldo Inks
Today Waldo surprised me when for no apparent reason shot away while I was watching him and released some ink before ducking behind the rocks. He came out a few minutes later and did his normal crawling across the glass and rocks. Still not sure why he did inked, but I was recording him when he did. Anyone have a similar experience?
Today Waldo surprised me when for no apparent reason shot away while I was watching him and released some ink before ducking behind the rocks. He came out a few minutes later and did his normal crawling across the glass and rocks. Still not sure why he did inked, but I was recording him when he did. Anyone have a similar experience?
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