Wonderpus journal - Scott

[tonmo]

I actually ended up falling asleep twice typing that lol.

I noticed today that there are still 2 shrimp alive out of the 3 I had put in last night. It looks like the octo ate one, and became full lol.

As for the crabs I bought they died in the baggy (from last night), I may possibly freeze them for later (can you do that?).

I'm not an expert / never kept an octo (always have to say that), but I think you may be providing a lot more food than is necessary. Can anyone weigh in on this? @DWhatley / @sedna / @Nancy?

 

[Boogeyman]

Day # 7

@tonmo yes please get back to me on that. I’m almost making daily trips to the lfs! Buying 3+ shrimp and releasing into tank, there are currently 2 live shrimp in the tank. The octo was out and about all day but rejected frozen clam and crab. I heard when first getting an octo getting it to feed was crucial the first few days so I supplied a lot of it. Let me know what you guys think I should do. Wait until all live shrimp in the tank are gone, then feed 2 days after? So I’d skip a day of feeding (feed 6 days a week). Also buying all these peppermint shrimp is expensive. Any other choice of live food? Freshwater shrimp?

He’s been active all day today, he went into his den an hour ago, 9PM. Also if anyone has any info on whether or not this species is toxic to where I could be in trouble, or not, let me know. I’d like to start playing with him.

 

[Boogeyman]

Day # 8

I’ve just figured out how to tell when he is hungry. He disappeared for a day or so when I had fed him those two shrimp, a few days ago. I noticed he was out exploring all day yesterday, I did not feed him. I came home today and same thing, he’s out exploring. I’ve just fed him one shrimp, and he has gone back to his den. It seems as though he comes out to search for food. Not 100% sure on this, just seems that way.

Anyways I have some good news as far as feeding goes. I have an acrylic acclimation box that suction cups and sits inside of the tank. With holes for water flow. I bought a magnet today and I will be setting it up. I’ll send pictures tomorrow. But basically it has a sliding acrylic door, so I can close and open, it’ll be about half an inch above the water line, as well as a piece of live rock in there. I’ve searched up saltwater ghost shrimp and found a site that sells for 0.20$ a shrimp, dirt cheap !! I can get 5 for a buck lol. I’m going to start ordering in bulk and store them inside the tank, but inside the acclimation box so there not running around everywhere. That way I can control feeding time for the octo.

I may do more research as far as toxicology goes, I’d really like to play with him. Anyways, I’ll see y’all tomorrow with pictures of the box in the tank.

 

[Boogeyman]

Day # 9

I have good news !!! I got the acclimation box all set up and ready to go. I’ll attach pictures below, this will work with a wonderpus octo because the arms of the wonderpus are not strong compared to other species of short armed octopus. I imagine a common octo will easily pull the box off the glass. Another interesting fact is that, the wonderpus does not lift any of his arms, or body out of the water, I’ve read in other wonderpus journals that their octo has never tried to escape, and it is the same with mine, he has never tried escaping. It must have something to do with them disliking the feeling of air above the water line. I’m not 100% sure but I have watched him crawl up to the top of the glass multiple times, only to stop as soon as he hit the water line, and crawl back down. I’ve also witnessed him moving over the small slits in the overflow, he has been curious sometimes by sticking tentacles in the holes but has never tried going in them.

Anyways. Today I have my aquarium lights on, full lights not just moon lights. The octo has not been seen today but he normally does this after he eats, I won’t see him for a good day or so, then he’ll come out again, I stated this in a previous post, but when he re emerges he will be hungry. Most likely coming out to look for food.

I’m going to go ahead and order bulk saltwater ghost shrimp online, I imagine I can keep around 30 or so in that box, I’m expecting a few to die off, so that’s why I’m ordering 30. Even at an order of 30 shrimp it’s only 6 dollars lol.

I’m heading out of town only for the day so I will catch you guys tomorrow! Let me know if I should move the box, or just keep it there. The top of the box actually lifts up, the 3 sliding doors are not the only entrance.

 

[Boogeyman]

Day # 11

Hey guys! Sorry I missed yesterday I was extremely busy.
Good news though I managed to get around 25 saltwater ghost shrimp for a couple dollars but had to drive to tampa.

The octo has been out and about a few times today, I witnessed him digging more holes under the rocks. He must have a network of tunnels by now lol. Literally, there are holes coming out from underneath multiple rocks lol. So for any future caregiver I would suggest making sure your rocks are sturdy. As this octo will dig holes under them.

I fed him today and he went under a rock for a few hours. Now he is back out wandering around. I still have yet to make any skin to skin contact, no information as to whether or not he is toxic.

As of right now I’m having some problems cleaning wise. I need to clean the sponge filter in the sump, I’ll do it tomorrow. The water level in the return section is becoming lower every day which tells me the sponge is full of gunk. I also need to clean the protein skimmer. Here’s the problem. I’ve tugged, I’ve pulled, I’ve tried to turn, I cannot get the collection cup off. It is removable, but I do not know how. It’s the Aquatop xyclone protein skimmer.

Other then that things are going good. I’ll post some pics below.

 

[Boogeyman]

Day # 12

We’re almost at the 2 week mark! Well I just finished cleaning the sump sponge filter, I just swished it around in 3 gallons of bleach. lol just kidding. 3 gallons of aquarium water that I took out. The return section of my sump is back at the original water level, it was getting dangerously close to the pump itself, couple more days the pump might have ran with no water. The sponge wasn’t terribly dirty but a lot of stuff did come out. I’ll keep an eye on it for sure, I also poured 4 cap fulls of microbacter (bacteria in a bottle) just in case.

I also fed the shrimp today I actually forgot that I had to feed them lol. Just put some flakes in the box and they are eating, I also fed the octo today. I took a picture right after so I could post it here. The octo is doing very well!! His typical routine is wandering the tank, he does occasionally explore areas of the tank where he has found food in the past. Then he goes back to his tunnel network under the rocks, the tunnels are so small its hard to imagine he fits in them.

Not to go off topic but I had a few visitors at my apartment yesterday and let me say having an octopus is a great conversation piece lol.

I have yet to clean the skimmer, I have to take the whole thing out in order to remove the collection cup, I called the company who makes my skimmer to confirm that it is removable. I’ll do that tomorrow. The sponge filter was more of a priority.

Not sure if I mentioned, I will also be doing water tests every couple of days to make sure everything is still in good order. I managed to lower the salinity to where it should be at, I mentioned in a past post that it was a tad high. I replaced the 3 gallons of aquarium water with RO water.

As of right now the wonderpus is under his rock, I’ll be heading to bed soon, I’ll post a pic below.

 

[GPO87]

Thanks for all the pictures! I'm really enjoying following along with your wonderpus adventure!

 

[sedna]

Wow, really detailed journal entries, excellent work!!! Also, good job ejecting the damsels- no good comes from those bastards

I’ve only had one wunderpus in my experience, years ago- he wasn’t in good shape & the LFS has me take him- so I’m not much help for species specific information. You can return to your regular photoperiod now. If he tends to be crepuscular or nocturnal, you’ll only see him at the darker times of the day, anyway. Yep, if you froze the crabs right away, you can use them. I just whack their claws off if I feed them live. He’ll only eat what he can, so don’t worry about cramming the tank full of shrimp!

I’d say you’re off to a good start!

 

[gjbarord]

Great stuff!!!

FYI, wunderpus should readily accept frozen food chopped to reasonable size. It's much easier than relying on live food all the time. Of course, live food is good enrichment every now and then.

Keep up the posts!

Greg

 

[Boogeyman]

Day # 21

I suppose my posts will be weekly from now on, or every couple of days

Some updates! The octo is out every day when I get home, I’ve been feeding him 2 saltwater shrimp a day, they are small, about half the size of a peppermint shrimp. One when I get home, one when I go to bed.
He is a pretty smart fella, he knows his food is in the acclimation box lol. Of course he can see it though. I recently went out and bought 100 shrimp, as soon as I put them in the box, the octo reached into the box through the small holes and took one out for himself. Honestly didn’t think he’d be able to get one out, I know he can reach in there, but the shrimp are bigger then the holes, he’s only done this once. I hadn’t fed him all day, I guess he was helping himself lol.

The disappointing news was that 2/3 of the 100 shrimp were dead by the Time I got back to my apartment. I called the lfs and just got 200 saltwater shrimp for free you have no idea how annoying it was taking out each dead shrimp one at a time. There are still some laying on the sand, I’m going to leave them in. It’s good for the biological media, I’ll just have to do a water change if the water tests are a tad high. I’m acclimating the 200 shrimp as we speak.

speaking of water changes, I just did a water test yesterday and nitrates were between 20-40 ppm. So I did a 25 gallon water change. The dead shrimp in the sand happened afterwards so I imagine I will have to do one again soon. I also cleaned the sponge filter in the sump in aquarium water. Still have not cleaned the skimmer, that’s the plan this weekend.

As of right now the octo is not out, I imagine when all those dead shrimp were floating around he had himself a buffet. Ugh lol.

I still dose with microbacter, whenever there’s potential for big bio loads. Like the shrimp incident. I also just purchased purple up, which encourages coralline algae growth. Started dosing yesterday.

Do you guys remember the two or three peppermint shrimp the octo could never find and catch? I released them into the tank about 2 weeks ago I believe. We’ll they are still there I’ve witnessed the octo trying to hunt them multiple times, he knows where they hide, but they are too quick. Not going to lie they are getting bigger.

As for the clean up crew I purchased a few weeks ago they are all still alive, the octo has not eaten the hermit crabs, or snails. Not to go off topic but I mentioned a while back that my salinity was a tad high, it is now 1.025, back on track.

Also thanks for the feedback guys!!! I really appreciate it (: believe me, I read and take your advice!

I just bought a big ass shell I’m going to put in there, maybe he’ll crawl inside of it. Anyways I haven’t taken too many pics lately but I’ll post some below.