Baby octopus?

[rt67ghy]

I got a rock with some different varieties of sun coral which came from the sea at the beginning of last month.

For the past couple of weeks whenever I target feed the suns pieces of shrimp or shrimp eggs I have been seeing a couple of black and white tentacles coming out of a crevice in the rock and grabbing some food. My immediate reaction is that I have a hitchhiker octopus.

Last time I fed the suns I saw 4 such tentacles coming out of the crevice. They are so small I can only view them with a magnifying glass (I bring the rock to the front of my tank while feeding the suns) so it's difficult to estimate the length of the tentacles. They are very thin but most closely resemble the tentacles of a mimic octopus in colour and pattern.

My question is is it possible to have such a small octopus or could it be something else? I'm very excited because I've always wanted to have a small octopus in my tank. Unfortunately I can't get a pic because I don't have a macro lens yet.

 

[Nina51]

most likely it's a tiny brittle star. if you have one, you probably have many. i have them in my tank here and there but all i ever see are the arms. they appear pretty much every time i feed my tank.

 

[Betta132]

They're most likely micro brittle star legs. Brittle stars have little bristles on their legs that make them appear to have black-and-white stripes. I'm pretty sure a mimic octopus would come out of hiding as opposed to staying in a hole and just reaching out.
Use a pair of tweezers or a turkey baster to place some sort of strong-smelling frozen food near them, something like mysis shrimp, and film it when they reach out.

 

[rt67ghy]

Thanks for the responses. I only see this one and it does seem too small to be an octopus.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Thanks for the responses. I only see this one and it does seem too small to be an octopus.

I've got to ask what is that in your avatar?

 

[rt67ghy]

I've got to ask what is that in your avatar?

It was a sebae nem.

 

[rt67ghy]

Or, it could have been a heteractis crispa; not sure which since there's some confusion between them.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

That's for sure about the confusion the Malu and the Crispa are both very similar so much so they lump them under Sebae anemone :lmao:

Yours does look bleached in that picture. What happened to it? It looks very bleached in the picture. But hard to tell much with such a small picture.

 

[rt67ghy]

Yes, it was totally bleached when i got it. I fed it a lot and it grew from 5" to about 14" in 3 months and was getting some colour. I had to sell it to make space for more corals but it was my favourite nem.