Wunderpus Photogenicus ?

[dleo4590]

Just picked up this very small "Zebra octo" that one of our lfs had listed. Currently still acclimating but very beautiful and interesting so far. The reason I am posting in this forum is I think it's a Wunderpus based on the stripes running through the suckers unlike the Mimic that has a white line runing through one side and some stripes even don’t go through on the thin side of the stripes. Since they often get misidentified as one another I was "wondering" what it is...

 

[Tomh]

Just picked up this very small "Zebra octo" that one of our lfs had listed. Currently still acclimating but very beautiful and interesting so far. The reason I am posting in this forum is I think it's a Wunderpus based on the stripes running through the suckers unlike the Mimic that has a white line runing through one side and some stripes even don’t go through on the thin side of the stripes. Since they often get misidentified as one another I was "wondering" what it is...

Looks like a wonderpus to me! How many octos you have?

 

[DWhatley]

As hard as I have tried, I cannot be confident in my guess as to which is which in most of the images. @Thales , however has bragged about it being easy so hopefully he will report in.

 

[dleo4590]

Looks like a wonderpus to me! How many octos you have?

My boyfriend and I have four. Hank, the bimac that we got from here. We also have two baby Caribbean Reef octopus, Ursula and Alusru, since they look like twins. Upon further observation it does have the solid white line just before the suction cups so I think it is a Mimic afterall but the shop had it mislabeled to begin with so I wasn't relying on their ID of the animal. Doesn't seem to have much of an appetite yet but there is a red fiddler for when it decides it is hungry.

 

[dleo4590]

As hard as I have tried, I cannot be confident in my guess as to which is which in most of the images. @Thales , however has bragged about it being easy so hopefully he will report in.

Ok from what I found in this article: Creature Feature: Mimic Octopus third paragraph from the top it lists some of the physical differences so based on that I believe it to be a mimic.

 

[DWhatley]

I hope @Thales will verify but mimic was my first impression. It would make me feel better if he confirms that I am getting there on IDing the difference (that he calls easy).

 

[Thales]

Can you get a better image of the mantle?

 

[dleo4590]

Can you get a better image of the mantle?

 

[dleo4590]

If anyone else has any suggestions on what to offer for food. It wasn't interested in the red fiddler crab. It ate two "marine feeder fish" from an online supplier. They have a mix of Sheepshead minnow, Green Sailfin Molly, Mosquito Fish and another that is very small they just refer to as "marine feeder fish." When we acquired it, it had already ate the tips of two of it's arms. We are trying to keep it from continuing to do that so any suggestions we are open to. It's very mellow though. Has not inked once and does not get spooked when we get near or come into viewing distance.

 

[pkilian]

How big was the crab? Did you remove the pinchers before you offered it to the octopus? When you fed the crab to the octopus, did you just leave it in the tank or actually present it to the octo?

 

[dleo4590]

How big was the crab? Did you remove the pinchers before you offered it to the octopus? When you fed the crab to the octopus, did you just leave it in the tank or actually present it to the octo?

It's a standard sized female fiddler so 1-1.5" across. At first I just put it in to let it hunt or allow it to go after it itself but it showed no sign so last night I took forceps and offered it but it did not suction on to it at all. I then took it out and put the live feeder fish in and it grabbed one of the "marine feeders" as it was swimming through it's dangling arms. I don't remove the claws of fiddlers since all the other cephs don't have any issues and aggressively snatch the crab from the the top of the shell and if I offer it to them I make sure they can grab onto it from the top to quickly bite and paralyze it and the only reason I don't remove the male fiddler's claws, if it is a male I'm feeding, is because that holds a lot of meat inside the claw. However, this one does seem to be actively going for anything but I'm thinking of going and trying to get some small live shrimp or emerald crabs later. (I attached pics of the crabs and the what's left from feeding the baby CROs which are smaller than the Mimic.)

 

[pkilian]

Yeah it sounds like you are doing everything right. Perhaps this particular octo isn't interested in crabs or just wanted to eat the fish because it was new and different.

I don't get worried about my animals not eating until they have gone more than 3-4 successive days without food. Your animal may be full or still a bit stressed out from a new tank. I would try feeding other things but don't stop offering them a crab every few days to see if they take it. I've had the most success gently rubbing the crab against any exposed suckers to try and entice the octopus to take the crab.

How often are you attempting to feed?

 

[pkilian]

The eating arm tips thing could be related to hunger but more likely could be related to stress due to shipment and tank acclimation, or the animal could have some sort of disease or bacterial degradation, but that is less likely than them eating the arms from stress.

When I have an animal losing arm tips the first thing I look towards is water chemistry. If it's a new animal I usually don't worry too much unless I see the condition getting worse every day. Have you had any drastic swings in water chemistry in the past few days?

 

[dleo4590]

Yeah it sounds like you are doing everything right. Perhaps this particular octo isn't interested in crabs or just wanted to eat the fish because it was new and different.

I don't get worried about my animals not eating until they have gone more than 3-4 successive days without food. Your animal may be full or still a bit stressed out from a new tank. I would try feeding other things but don't stop offering them a crab every few days to see if they take it. I've had the most success gently rubbing the crab against any exposed suckers to try and entice the octopus to take the crab.

How often are you attempting to feed?

I put it the crab the day we got it because I don't know when the last time it ate and since they have a high metabolism I didn't want to wait too long but it has three fish of different sizes in with it currently. I am planning on going to look for other things for it. Might even possibly offer some small clams that's a source we have not yet tried or offered.

 

[pkilian]

That sounds like a good plan. How are the fish interacting with the octopus? Do you commonly see the animal all curled up in a den or are they moving around the tank normally? Maybe the fish are picking at the mantle of the octo and that is what is causing the stress you are seeing? I don't typically house my octopuses with other critters because they often get picked on.