Octopus?

[Sarah D.]

I have at least two hitchiker octopus on a piece of LR. My question it, do I need to feed these little guys?

Tank is LR and crab only.

http://www.gulfcoastpundit.com/images/octopus.jpg

[Danfish]

now that is a cool hitchiker.
Dont they get big?

[masterswimmer]

You should make sure you cover your tank, securely. Cephalopods are notorious escape artists.

swimmer

[CrystalAZ]

And some pics would be nice!!!

Crystal

[Sarah D.]

Pic is now up, sorry it's not so hot. Little thing is shy!

So they like to roam? Don't they die outside the tank?

[Danfish]

Are you sure its an octopuss and not a serpent or brittle star?
Have you seen it completely out of the rock and moving about?

[masterswimmer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7482057#post7482057 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sarah D.
Pic is now up, sorry it's not so hot. Little thing is shy!

So they like to roam? Don't they die outside the tank?

Very neat little hh. Yes they'll dry up pretty quickly outside the tank. But so do carpet surfers, yet they do it anyway.

swimmer

[Sarah D.]

Danfish,

No I have not seen them fully out of their holes. They are quite supple though.

I'll try and get a better picture.

[masterswimmer]

Sarah, where did your rock originate? That could be the first indicator if it's an octopus.

swimmer

[Sarah D.]

I have no idea - at all. I happened to be in the store today getting a larger tank and saw the red cured rock, had to have a small piece.

I'll have to ask them tomorrow.

[Sarah D.]

If they are tiny octopus, will I need to feed them anything extra?

[Sarah D.]

Hold the phone! Just remembered something. Right after I got the LR home, the kiddo was looking at it and said that something had inked in the water.

[masterswimmer]

Well that's a good indicator.
You'll have a tough time keeping small fish in there. As the octo grows, you'll have a tough time keeping bigger fish too.

They are cool, but should be in a species tank.

swimmer

[shoddyk]

I am pretty sure that is a serpent star. I have hundreds of those in my tank.

[CrystalAZ]

It sure looks like a brittle star to me as well...

Crystal

[Sarah D.]

http://www.gulfcoastpundit.com/images/octopus4.jpg

Do brittlestars ink?

[shoddyk]

I am not sure about the Ink but if those are baby Octo then I have hundreds of them in my tank. I am pretty positive that that is a serpent star. here is a little larger one
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h175/slowfirechicken/tiger_1.jpg

[Sarah D.]

shoddyk,

I'll go look closer and see if mine have those little spiky things on the arms.

If they are brittle stars, I'll be thrilled!

[Sarah D.]

They are just too small to tell until I see one out of their hole.

Thanks everyone!

[shoddyk]

The picture I posted is not the same thing but it looks very similat to it. They are very small serpent stars ranging from 1/2 inch to about 3-4 inches. Wait til it is all dark and shine a flashlight in the tank and you can see many little arms of the stars poking out of the rockwork.

[Sarah D.]

I can see the little arms (many of them - I'm estimating at least four of these creatures in different small holes in the rock), but I'm not able to tell what the body looks like as they have not yet come completely out of the holes.

I'll try sneaking up on them tonight with a flashlight.

[shoddyk]

Mine usually dont come all the way out of the rocks. The only thing you are really going to see is the arms hanging out of the rocks. They don't really do much.

[angelsj247]

looks like a starfish to me. throw some pellets in there see if he comes out.

[Sarah D.]

You don't know how relieved I am! Brittle stars I can handle!

As I'm fixing to have to move this tank about 1000 miles!

[tkeracer619]

yeah i would say its a brittle star. I have hundreds of them myself. First i thought they were worms until i put a piece of lr in a tank doing hypo. I did this for a reason..................

Well the star fell off the rock and I was like woah not worms. Quickly got him back into the main tank were he slowly climbed a new rock and lodged himself in. That is the only time I have seen one out of their home.

[ANNIESREEF]

The legs look like my serpent star. Infact, a regular serpent looks alot like an octo. Hopefully, it is a star. Octo's don't live much over a year if that long....

[stupac21]

Looks like a brittle star to me, I have many of them

[hornybear]

look like a star fish

[Sarah D.]

Definitely serpent stars, as I have now seen one fully out of its hole. I have at least six of them on one 2lb piece of LR. They are funny creatures.

I have been target feeding them, to make sure they are fed up for the move I have to make soon. They now know that when the pump turns off, it's feeding time and tentacles come out from all over that rock!

Unfortunately, when I purchased the rock I didn't expect it to have these or the anemones that it has on it. Actually, I think the person at the store brought me the wrong piece, as the one I had picked out was very clean of vegetation and had no growths at all. Now I'm worried about everything making the trip okay.

[Joulko]

Looks like the serpent stars I have in my tank.
They rarely come completely out of the rock and they dont ink like the octopus, they rejct some kind of pale brown detritus every hour or so whereas octopus ink is very dark and has a more liquid aspect that mixes easily with the water.
I wonder if they have an important role in a tank, they reject quite a lot of detritus though.