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-   -   My BEST hitchhiker is an OCTOPUS! (http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=873176)

Buddy Pine 06/25/2006 04:48 PM

My BEST hitchhiker is an OCTOPUS!
 
I never expected this to happen to me in my entire life. What a shocker! After picking up a few corals from my local Reef Stores, I was watching my tank one early morning when suddenly I saw something unusual moving besides the new coral i've just bought. I had to rub my eyes exactly what it is, when it moved and saw the tentacles it just freaked me right out! What an AMAZING hitchhiker!. Luckily my camera was handy and took some photos. I was told that it's from Indo Pacific and a Pigmy Octopus species. If anyone knows exactly what it is please let me know, thanks in advance.

These photos was the first day I found him in my tank, April 19, 2006 (night shots).
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Z/Octopus5.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Z/Octopus2.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Z/Octopus4.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...240Z/Octo9.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...240Z/Octo7.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...40Z/Octo13.gif

Buddy Pine 06/25/2006 04:50 PM

2 months later...
 
This is 2 months later, June 24, 2006 (day shots)

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Octo10-624.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Octo11-624.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../Octo9-624.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../Octo8-624.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../Octo7-624.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../Octo4-624.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../Octo6-624.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../Octo3-624.gif
http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2.../Octo1-624.gif

Sk8r 06/25/2006 04:51 PM

What a neat critter!

DHyslop 06/25/2006 05:43 PM

Beautiful little guy! Thanks for sharing.

Do you feed him or let him scrounge?

Dan

Frostyeel 06/25/2006 06:17 PM

Does he leave the fish alone? Cool looking octo.

Buddy Pine 06/25/2006 06:19 PM

[QUOTE]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7627002#post7627002 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DHyslop
[B]Beautiful little guy! Thanks for sharing.

Do you feed him or let him scrounge?


I tried feeding him as much as I can but manage to eat a little more than expected.:eek:

oceanscurve 06/25/2006 07:15 PM

That octopus is going to rip apart your reef tank (eat all the fish, ext.). That inst a pygmy its a briareus. which grows to be 2 feet from tentical to tentical. I suggest returning it to your lfs for your reefs sake or isolating in your quaritine tank until you can get another tank for it.
It is a very cool hitch hicher though,

-Tom

DHyslop 06/25/2006 09:02 PM

He's pretty big now, so if you haven't seen him nip at the fish I wouldn't be too worried. Contrary to the stereotypes, its just as common for fish to harm octopus as vice versa; although if yours was being nipped at by the fish, I don't think he would show off like that.

If you were to take it to a LFS they would almost certainly kill it. You have a very happy accidental octopus and you can consider yourself lucky :)

If you are worried about the fish and want to keep trying to supplement its diet, you can get fiddler crabs for reasonable prices at www.aquaculturestore.com. I don't know if they ship to Canadia, though! ;)

It does look a lot like Octopus briareus, particularly the "web" at the base of its arms, but I don't think that's exclusively diagnostic. If your LFS is correct that it came from the Pacific then it is certainly not O. briareus. The question is whether or not the store really knows where their stuff comes from. Either way, its no dwarf!

Thanks again for sharing. Beautiful little guy.

Dan

thedigitalimager 06/25/2006 09:08 PM

Whatever the species, it's fascinating and gorgeous. If it doesn't work out in your tank, I'll bet that a public aquarium would take him. Thanks for sharing such a wonder!

Yasha 06/26/2006 08:49 AM

He is one attractive looking octopus. If you are wanting to keep him, post the pics on tonmo. They would be able to tell you what your your hitch hiker is. Keep posting pics of the cute one.

shells 06/26/2006 09:03 AM

what an awsome little guy. :)

mikeatjac 06/26/2006 09:30 AM

I would make sure that you have something in place to keep him from climbing out.

Thanks for the pictures, lots of fun viewing. LR is cool, you never know.....

Buddy Pine 07/01/2006 04:22 PM

Here he is feeding on Tiger Shrimp, man this guy is strong!!

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...0Z/OctEat1.gif

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Z/OctoEat2.gif

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Z/OctoEat3.gif

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h2...Z/OctoEat4.gif

thedigitalimager 07/01/2006 07:02 PM

That's so cool! How often do you feed him?

batesdc 07/01/2006 08:07 PM

That is awsome what a great hiker!!!:D

Buddy Pine 07/01/2006 09:06 PM

Quote:

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7665707#post7665707 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by thedigitalimager
That's so cool! How often do you feed him?
once or twice a day, shrimps and Iobsters.

thedigitalimager 07/01/2006 09:57 PM

You mentioned that he came in with some corals you purchased. I'm amazed that he went unnoticed. Was he really small? I know they are able to camouflage themselves.

nancyocto 07/01/2006 11:24 PM

You have a very beautiful octopus and you're doing well in keeping him. If you ever decide you don't want him (and that would be a shame), there are octopus keepers at this site who would be glad to have such a fine octopus. They'd like to see your excellent photos, too.

Nancy

lessans 07/04/2006 01:00 AM

I think it would be cool if you put him in his own tank that way you won't risk the lives of your corals. Plus, if you wanted to you could put in much bigger prey to watch him eat.

Boomer 07/10/2006 10:03 PM

Now that is cool :D L@@ks liike he likes it there.

Konadog 07/10/2006 11:22 PM

Now that's just cool!

melev 07/11/2006 01:12 AM

Yes, that is indeed an awesome hitchhiker. At first I was smiling to myself as there wasn't a fish in sight in most of your pictures, until I saw those tangs. :eek2: Looks like they are cohabitating well together, and if you feed that octopus as much as you are currently, I have to imagine it will grow more rapidly.

Hopefully there are those here with enough experience to give you the adequate feeding schedule so you don't end up with a giant octopus-in-a-box. ;)

Great pictures! :thumbsup:

nancyocto 07/11/2006 08:44 AM

You're feeding your octopus the right things and the schedule is good. The size it reaches will depend on the species.

Nancy

Kinetic 07/11/2006 01:05 PM

that's so amazing! It looks brown sometimes, then other times white! so cool =)

Fini 07/11/2006 03:33 PM

Did you end up making any major changes to the tank since your hitchhiker came (ie: tank top, filtration, rock, corals, etc)?

He's really gorgeous! You've got a rare treat for sure.


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