just got my first octo

[cruehead]

my octo from fishsupply came today!! he had inked in the bag a little but i went ahead and aclimented him and put him in the tank. he sucked on to the front glass fanning out for me to get a nice look at him and then quiclkly swam behind the den that i made for him where hes been ever since. are they usually shy for awhile? also he seems to be breathing, IMO, kinda heavy. with no prior experience with octos is this the norm? i had the lights off when i first put him in and his color was very dark. i then turned the actinics on and he changed to match the light and now with the daylights on hes changed to match the rock thats surrounding him. im axious for him to become more active. awesome creature though!

[cephalopoder]

Congradulations!
What you have is O. bimaculoides where it came from fishsupply. You can confirm that by looking for the two false eye spots on each side of its webbing. Bimac happy colors are a grey- brown look. Scared is white and black is angry. One of the things you will notice on this species in the first few weeks is the "joker effect" till he gets to know you. The side faceing you will be a white or black and the side away from you will be grey or brown. Its a very cool thing to witness. So watch for it.
As far as heavy breating. Octos have 3 hearts so they need a lot of oxygen. Its hard to say is he is breathing hard with out seeing him, but if you were just shipped in a bag over night you might breath heavy too for a while lol.
Little by litte the little guy will be more and more active. I say at the end of the first month your octo will be be adjusted and glad to see you every time you walk in the room!
-chris:)

[cruehead]

LMAO. yeah i suppose if I put a bag over MY head... your right about the "joker" look. pretty neat thing to see. he came out for a few minutes last night and explored the back glass. i tried to feed him a piece of shrimp on a feeder stick but he didnt seem all that interested in it. ive always had this chilhood fear of octos so when he fans out on the glass or whatever it kinda makes me nervous but theyre awesome creatures.

[cephalopoder]

Bimacs are just as curious of you as you are of them. So don't be nervous. I would try feeding it hermit and fiddler crabs and small crayfish itf it won't take raw shrimp from you. Makeing sure octo eats soon after getting it is important. Octspuses love all forms of crustacea.
chris

[OctoMonkey]

cruehead, hows things going with your bimac????????/

[cruehead]

i wish i could report good news but unfortunately he died a couple of days ago. he wouldnt eat anything. i tried it all. raw shrimp, raw mussel, live hermits both big and small, live shrimp (a peppermint shrimp), live chromis. i fed at different times- lights on lights off, actinic only. you name it i did it. he just wouldnt take it. water params were all in check. i was really upset as i had been looking forward to it for some time now. someday id like to try it again but will dive back into the research before i do. any ideas as to why he wouldnt eat?

[cephalopoder]

Sorry to hear that.

What was your PH, salinity, temp, nitrite, nitrate, brand of salt and source of water?

[cruehead]

params were all dead on as this tank has been up and runnin for about 6 months- ph 8.2, sg- 1.024 temp 72 nitrite 0 nitrate near 0 using reef crystals salt and running my water through a 4 stage ro/di unit. i have 2 reef tanks that are flourishing and ive got a good handle on water quality and params etc. i know he died of starvation i just cant figure out why

[Iwantacephalopod]

:( :( :( Awwwwwww man...and you were like the perfect model for what iw as going to do...man I am stumped....I am sure you had everything perfect.....aw man I dont know what to say..maybe some jerk tossed the guy around to much when he was shipped or maybe the octo just had a very " nervous" personality... I think you did your research anda ccording to the guys around here you certainly had your tank running long enough.. I think you should give it one more shot..
just my thoughts...
sorry to hear about that
I was looking forward to hear some really nice things about the bimac...*sigh*...=(
take care of your self,
Devon

[OctoMonkey]

My very first octo arrived DOA. I had to try at least once more and I have had much better luck since then. You know it didnt stop at just one either!

As long as the water is okay I would be tempted to try again...........

[cephalopoder]

This is the time of year that can be tricky some times when you order. The young octos are really small and hard for the collectors to find and the old octos are on their way out, thats if if you got a O.bimaculoides.
Did you order from fishsupply? How big was the mantle on this guy?
What ever you do don't give up. Sokme times this happens with octos.
chris