Id octopus

[mejiggery]

hi not sure how exactly i got this little fellow other than i recently got some new live rock whic i asume he came in with.
his body length is only about 3 cm not including legs. He is generally a grey colour but changes colour as soon as hes aware im there sometimes to almost red and has a striking white line down the centre of its body.

not really sure what sort of picture you'd need to identify an octopus but i'm finding it very had to get any pics heres the best so far.

 

[CaveManNOhio]

:dance: Sweet hitch hiker. I would love to have one. Make sure you have a real tight lid and all small holes are blocked up. They can get through some very tight places. They are also very intelligent. If you work with him slowly you can get them hand trained. Don't freak them out either cause you don't want him inking in your tank. It bad for the system. Also is your are doing a reef you wont want to keep him in there, he'll eat up all your cleaning crew and most likely go after any other fish or invert's.

Do you know what area your live rock came from? Looks like a common Atlantic Octopus

 

[mejiggery]

I really dont know where the rocks from. I'm going to go back to shop and ask but the tank was full of mixed rock so could have come in on anything really.
hes in the sump. I got the peice of rock for my mantis as he had bored right through the little peice he was in and it looked like it was going to fall apart lol. But I dont need to worry about him anymore. I had a few casulty's to this octopus lol, but i think its sorted now.

 

[mejiggery]

Looking at plenty of pictures I think you could be right about it being a common atlantic octopus. was kind of hoping he would'nt grow any more lol. I was going to change my sump tank but looks like it may be sooner than first thought.

 

[CaveManNOhio]

If any thing else you could prob. sell him for a good price or store credit. What ever you keep it in has to have a very secure top, I can't stress that enough. They will crawl out at some point. They are very smart and have very good vision, so if he see's some thing out side the tank that look's like a good place to hide or some thing that look's like it would be good to eat, they will go for it, not knowing that their water world doesn't go beyond the tank.

 

[mejiggery]

Thankyou for your warnings I have put plastic across the top of the tank and lowered the water to half way, I sill need to work on it though as I have all my equipment running from the sum so there is potentually loads of escape routes I guess.

 

[CaveManNOhio]

No problem. I was talking with a friend today who has some exp. with them, he was telling me most don't make it past 8 months. If you can get it to a year or better you are doing very good.
Good luck with him.

 

[mejiggery]

Thankyou I Hope to post his 1st birthday then

 

[graveyardworm]

Nice hitchhiker, you could go over to the cephalopod forum, and get more specialized attention on what needs to be done to keep it alive. Good luck

Not that you wouldnt find that here, just a suggestion.

 

[mejiggery]

will do thankyou.