Ziva, first look ID Please..

eng50

O. bimaculoides
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Oct 23, 2008
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Sadly, Olie, our first octo passed to the great sea in the sky a week ago. He was a true Briareus acquired from Tom's 8 months ago, he was a good size when we got him so I guess natural order has taken him. We enjoyed him so much we ordered another from SWF.com to try to get a filosus, sp? this time.

Just started the acclimation, on what I must say is a very nice octo from SWF.com as I have heard prior they advertise 'Octopus briareus' but many here have said they are really Carribean two spot or filosus?

Anyone want to guess yet?

Hard to see any 'eye spot' as he is mostly whiteish (not very happy) however, he is not breathing heavy or appear to be overly stressed for the shipping! Nice not to open a bag of ink this time!! Going very slow as we are not in emergency mode this time...

Bill
 
THAT'S TYPICAL HUMMELINCKI!:biggrin2:

I have read remberances that bimacs are equally as friendly but the journals on hummelincki suggest they interact more and more frequently than any of the other journalled species. Unfortunately for the visual impact, the smooth skin and more or less bland coloration seems indicitave of a content hummelincki. After a month or so you will not likely to be treated to the fantastic shapes and colors very often. Hopefully you will get to see, at least once, the bright white with vivid blue eye spot pose. I have one poor shot of Octane like this but even the dogs became everyday shortly and the look is only displayed when they are startled.

As long as she (can't really tell from the photos, the sucker enlargement is not always obvious - watch for the third arm to the right -clockwise - to be mostly unused and usually curled) does not try to pull your hand to her mouth allow her to explore. You should not expect a fast attack and should have enough warning of her intent to gently react. With the males, resistence and a touch on the top of the arm was all we needed to be released. Hummelincki is not an aggressive species (a summary observation, not just from my experience) and will completely stop securing your fingers with her suckers when she explores.

Once they continually accept petting, most anyone they will come to can pet them. This was particularly evident when my mother (we do favor) just put her hand in the tank and Octane came up to be petted immediately. With other strangers there was usually some coaxing needed (from me). Both my males seemed to differentiate human males from females, preferring the females.

You may see a reversal or halting of the friendship process for as much as two weeks but when it returns, it should not reverse again. This observation along with a couple of others makes me think there is something unusual about their long term memory that standard experiments don't address.

Others have reported females moving tank substrate around (or moving something back where it belonged after a disruption during tank cleaning). Neither of my males moved objects around in the tank and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the shell rearrangement is not a sign of getting ready to brood.

More pictures please, I miss not keeping one in spite of my two interesting critters.
 
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It is most unfortunate that I must report that Ziva has met with an untimely death...I do not as yet have any explanation why, she ate 48 hrs ago and have not seen her since. Upon trying to locate her this evening, we found the shredded remains of her in the back of the tank...I am at a loss to understand what has happened...does anyone know what might kill a seemingly healthy octopus in 16 days? I will let you know if we find anything further..no other critters have been affected as we know of..

Bill & Joan
 
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Every once in awhile we loose one for puzzling reasons, most show signs of problems a week or two before dying.

When you say shredded remains, did you see clean-up crew doing their job? If not, is there a chance something crossed the barrier and returned? I suspect it is not likely since you are using plexiglass but fish can do a number on a weak or small octo (video observations). It is unlikely there is something on the octo side (like a mantis shrimp) if the barrier was not breached since the briareus live there for 10 months but none of mine have been found "shredded" or even decomposed in the time frame given so I suspect a critter attack if clean-up crew were not in evidence.

You might try putting a shrimp or some other tempting food item on the octo side and see if it is moved or eaten just to be sure there is no sneaky pest getting or residing on that side.
 
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