Youngster Dan
New member
Meet "Steve". This video is how we play with our octopus, they are extremely interactive. Excuse the cheesy music, I have a bad sense of humor!
http://youtu.be/C86MZjodmiQ
http://youtu.be/C86MZjodmiQ
Playing with a giant pacific octopus
- Thread starter Youngster Dan
- Start date
I can't reply to personal messages until 10 posts so I'll just post what I intended to reply here.
I work at Aquarium of The Bay. I haven't done enrichment myself yet, was going to today actually but was too busy. They usually seem to do a little bit of human contact with their arms inside the tank, letting him hold a slight grip. They also rub pieces of fish across his tentacles until he gets a grip of it and pulls it from them. Generally hide his overnight food in jars or inside of long tubes of some kind. Enrichment is usually once a day. Our current GPO is a male, about 25lbs and 6ft arm span I believe, came in as a 15lb a few months ago. Hope that info helps.
Derick
Youngster Dan said:
I work at Aquarium of The Bay. I haven't done enrichment myself yet, was going to today actually but was too busy. They usually seem to do a little bit of human contact with their arms inside the tank, letting him hold a slight grip. They also rub pieces of fish across his tentacles until he gets a grip of it and pulls it from them. Generally hide his overnight food in jars or inside of long tubes of some kind. Enrichment is usually once a day. Our current GPO is a male, about 25lbs and 6ft arm span I believe, came in as a 15lb a few months ago. Hope that info helps.
Derick
Youngster Dan
New member
Thanks! Yeah, they can be. But as long as you have a proper lid then there isn't much of a problem.
No worries, I'm glad you liked it!
Thanks! Seems pretty similar to what we do as well. Have fun when you do enrichment, it's a blast!
kjreiner72
New member
What a great job to have!! Thanks for sharing.
AquaticEngineer
New member
I've had 3 juvenile GPO's in the last year, they are awesome
Youngster Dan
New member
It's a display tank, with two "towers" that are connected by a "tunnel" over top where people can walk under. When Steve is moving between tunnels it is really cool to stand under him and watch.
Thank you
I've had 3 juvenile GPO's in the last year, they are awesome
That they are. How big are your juvies that you're getting?
AquaticEngineer
New member
Most of the ones we collect are about the size of a bottlecap then we grow them out from there. They are definitely more social when taken very young and acclimated to humans early. I had one of mine eating thawed frozen fish and off live food by the time it was approximately 7 months old.
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Youngster Dan
New member
Interesting that you find them more social when you get them young. What sort of interaction do you do with them when they are that size? Do you keep them for their whole lives?
Also, how are you determining if they are GPO vs a O. rubescens when they are that size? I have always found it hard, especially upon collections. Hah, for me it has been wait a month and then you'll know.
Youngster Dan
New member
We have divers go look for them and catch them by hand. Though, you can get them as bycatch in prawn traps - especially the smaller ones.
mtaquarist
New member
That's awesome! Makes me want one but I know my skill and knowledge level is not there yet
AquaticEngineer
New member
Mostly its just based around the feeding and getting them used to being handled. They tend to have that "please dont eat me" mind set until they get about palm sized. I have yet to keep one for its entire life, since most of them sell off pretty quickly. But I will definitely be keeping one long term eventually
Usually its about that long as well for me if I cant tell right away. I like to get them in a small white acrylic box and watch them for a few hours. Once you can see some of the defining marks then its pretty easy. The most dead give away once you have them where you can see them is the pattern of the chromataphors. They Rubescens will be very round on the mantle, and the Dofleini will be more elongated. Or look for the white dot on the front of the GPO or the "eyelashes" on the Reds.
Youngster Dan
New member
That's awesome! Makes me want one but I know my skill and knowledge level is not there yet
Well, they aren't super hard to keep. Just really, really expensive to get a big enough system!
Thanks
Haha, it's pretty cool.
Huh, that's a good idea with the white acrylic box. Definitely going to steal that for the future.
It's interesting that you mention the white dot on the front of the GPO, I've noticed this on a few of our GPOs - some display it more frequently than others. Do you know why they do this? It's rather bizarre.
BowedFloor
Member
You tie your dogs arms in knots?
you horrible horrible man!
Seriously though, that's a crazy video. Do you have to worry about him trying to eat your hand? I thought squid/octopi had beaks that they use to chew on food, or am I mistaken.
Either way, thanks for the vid! please post more
you horrible horrible man!
Seriously though, that's a crazy video. Do you have to worry about him trying to eat your hand? I thought squid/octopi had beaks that they use to chew on food, or am I mistaken.
Either way, thanks for the vid! please post more
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