New dwarf octopus!

I said I would never, ever do it again, however I did get a dwarf octopus earlier this week!

Curts store had brought in this little octopus that caught my eye everytime I walked into the store! I would sit and watch him and I would feed him daily with live snails. I started to fall in love :! But I still swore I would not do it!

Then......I helped out at the store this weekend and I had to refuse selling it to several people because they did not have a clue about how to care for it! Of course everyone is interested in them, and so many people were wanting to buy him and put him in just any tank When you talk to them a little more about it and tell them about the care required, several people told me..."thats ok, I will just leave him in the cup and put him in my tank" The store has to keep octopus in these cups that float in their tanks to keep them from escaping, that does not mean it is right to leave them there for the rest of their lives! I knew that he might get sold to someone who was not suited to care for him (even though the store employees are very good at not doing that!)

Later that night, Curt told me he had to keep many people from buying it for the same reason and he had thought about bringing him home ;D for us! Well that is all it took!

I went and bought the PERFECT tank for it, has a locking screen cover over the top with no openings, placed an airstone for water circulation and bought a sponge filter with no openings for him to get through! Placed some sand, a rock, some rings for him to play with and purchased him! He is about the size of a dime and he is doing great! He has a hiding place in the sponge filter or rock that I have not found yet, however he comes out and plays in the evenings and night! He has a buffet of various snails in his tank for his dining enjoyment and he is eating already here!

I will post some pics tonight if he comes out while I am home!

 

awesome, they must have been an abundance of them my lfs just got one last week too, i would love to get an octopus one day but like you said there needs are just too much for me to care for right now. K+ on the new addy

 

Wow, that's really cool. Put some pictures when you can.

 

what size tank? and we need pics!!!

 

What kind do you think it is, mercatoris?

 

sweet cant wait to see the little fella.

 

as long as its not lulunata itll be fun lol

 

Very cool addition.
Can't wait to see pics.

 

I finally got some pictures of him this morning before I left for work. Yesterday I ticked him off royally trying to get a picture of him, stuck my hand in the tank to move him a bit and he locked himself in a rock! Today he was out hunting, so i snapped a few. Will see how good they are when I get home tonight!

He is very, very small about the size of a medium spider when he is all stretched out. He is definately a nocturnal one, I only see him in the middle of the night and when I first get up! He is doing good, he hasnt ate any snails that I can tell yet. I might have to do what I did at the store to get him to eat. He hadnt ate for about 1 week when he first arrived. I went to one of the tanks that has large copepods and sucked them up in a turkey baster. I then placed them in the cup and he DEVOURED them. He then crawled right to the snails that were also in the cup and scooped them up!