[Octopus]: Young Male O. Bimaculoides

[The_reef_doc]

It finally happened! After about a year of research, I finally was able to get an O. bimaculoides. Acclimation took about 3 hours with floating and all. He ate frozen shrimp right away while still in the bucket. He's pretty young and interacts sometimes when Im by myself but still hasn't settled in fully. He seems to enjoy the tank and the rockwork. For the first couple of days he was testing out different spots to make a den. After about a week he finally dug underneath one rock and started making a door out of a pvc elbow and some rock rubble. During the day he's wedged underneath a rock on this ledge where he can watch everything that's going on. Everytime the feeding stick hits the water he immediately approaches to get the food. I haven't tried anything else yet because I'm trying to establish a feeding routine. At one point last week I noticed 2 of his legs were half missing and got a bit worried. I checked back to all the pictures and videos I have taken and noticed they were like that during acclimation. The stress of shipping probably got to him but he seems fine now. He hasn't refused a meal yet! We haven't named him yet but asked for help on social media and got a ton of suggestions, so we'll be choosing one soon. I kept the lights off for the first 2-3 days to set the mood and allow him to explore freely. We've has him for about a week and a half now and couldn't be happier! pictures and videos to come!

 

[tonmo]

congrats!! Standing by for pics / vids...

 

[The_reef_doc]

congrats!! Standing by for pics / vids...

Here you go! More to follow

 

[The_reef_doc]

So today I decided to buy some snails for the tank to tidy up a bit. Everything I have read says snails are fine. I put them in the tank and was pretty excited bc they got right to work. While I was watching he left his den and grabbed one of the bassarius snails and took it back to his den. I was like eh too bad I still have seven left so no biggie. Then he did it again and again RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I watched him do it three times, in disbelief I decided to try to entice him away with a piece of shrimp....nothing. I added three hermit crabs to lure him away and also nothing. I only have 2 snails left and I’m pretty sure they’re goners. I guess he’s just weird and likes escargot. What can I add to tidy up? Maybe a tuxedo urchin?? Does anyone have any experience with urchins and a bimac?

 

[tonmo]

Oh boy! I'm not surprised actually ..."mmh, that was good..." Seems they tend to fixate on the things they like! Maybe onsie-twosie introductions would be a better (less risky) strategy.

Tried to do a quick search on urchins, but did not find much (too quick of a search, tho). Hopefully a resident expert will have more insights...

 

[sedna]

So today I decided to buy some snails for the tank to tidy up a bit. Everything I have read says snails are fine. I put them in the tank and was pretty excited bc they got right to work. While I was watching he left his den and grabbed one of the bassarius snails and took it back to his den. I was like eh too bad I still have seven left so no biggie. Then he did it again and again RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME. I watched him do it three times, in disbelief I decided to try to entice him away with a piece of shrimp....nothing. I added three hermit crabs to lure him away and also nothing. I only have 2 snails left and I’m pretty sure they’re goners. I guess he’s just weird and likes escargot. What can I add to tidy up? Maybe a tuxedo urchin?? Does anyone have any experience with urchins and a bimac?

CONGRATULATIONS on your new friend! I have never had a bimac- but several briareus along with pencil urchins and never had a problem! I went with pencils because their tips aren’t sharp at all. The only thing is that they aren’t reef safe- so if you have corals that might not work. At any rate- if he didn’t eat the hermit crabs, then they should clean things up! It’s pretty common to see that they eat the clean up crew upon moving into their tank, then loose interest over time if you begin to stick feed other foods.