Well here are some pics as promised. Unfortunately the octi was under the undergravel filter at the time so no pics of him!

J

more! plus I found one of the midget in holding, he was peaking out of a horse mussel shell. Sorry it's a little fuzzy!

J

and more of plasma

Cool! But y is he called a midget?

Great pics! How big is Plasma? and is midget named Midget??? Great names!!!

Carol

The midget octopus never gets much bigger than a manderin! Hence the midget title (bites though!). And yep Carol we just call him Midget .

Plasma measures about 1.5 metres across his arms and his mantle is about the size of a rugby ball!

We actually have another Plasma (smaller about 50cm arm spread)!!!!!!!! But he keeps escaping, he's taken up residence in a neighbouring tank behind all the rock work :x and short of dismantling the tank we can't get him out. we'll have to wait til he gets too big for his hole (and yes we've tried enticing him with a juicy crab.......no go!)

J

The eyes that Plasma has are pretty amazing, very goldie coloured

thanks for postsing ;)

Do you mean a mandarin ORANGE or a mandarin fish? :P

I'm guessing the orange - ^ The pic looks different from the mandarin oranges we get here. I must say they're fine looking octos Jean!

whhooaaa!!! there well cool Jean!!!

Tell me im intrigued about your muscle line, did you encourage them there or put them in as a line already attached to something??

I fancy havin some of them in mine but wouldnt the bimac just eat them all?? what if one dies wont it foul the tank pretty bad??


And sorry sooooo many questions....it seems your crabs are very bigger than the octo, does this not put him at risk to bein chopped up???

Sorry to fire so much at you!! :D

cheers in advance

What's the species name for the midget? (Just curious.)

I mean a manderin orange!!! I'd never seen a manderin fish before, beautiful!

Scouse, the mussel lines were donated by a mussel farmer (HUGE business in NZ much $$$$$$$!) They put out the lines in the spring (called christmas tree lines....cos they look line the branches of christmas trees!!!) And the spat (baby mussels ) settle onto the lines (apparently they think they're seaweed or something!!) After a month or two the farmer hauls them up and removes anything that isn't a mussel and transfers the lines to a good site for ongrowing, usually a bay with a good current. They are then left for 5-6 years, then harvested and sold, mainly to the US (NZ greenshell mussels).

The octi's don't bother much with them....starfish on the other hand..... :D As for fouling if you left a dead mussel absolutely also mussels produce enormous quantities of pseudofaeces which can get pretty nasty. Our tanks are siphoned every other day, every day if they are getting dirty fast....so octopus tanks are cleaned very regularly :lol:

Yes the crabs are way bigger than Midget BUT both species are scavengers and pretty much ignore him!

I don't mind questions!!! Gives me a chance to show off!!!!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :rainbow:

J

Mr.Mandarin says thank you. (He also requests that someone convince me to stop makin mandarin jokes. :wink: )

Interesting about the mussels. I'd never heard about that before.

Ummmm....can I post some pics of mine that aren't ceph related? Because my computer crashed recently...and I just checked my pictures...and 50% of my pics are mutilated....yep....all 65+ of that 50%....2 crashes in under a month can make ya pretty insecure...and I don't want to end up with the ok ones mutilated too....

Yes, you can post non-ceph related photos in the Octopus Den or in the Supporters Forum (if you're a Supporter).

Jean, Bill and I were really admiring the pics of Plasma today. Is Plasma friendly - can you play with him? Do you pick him up?

And I love your midget octo!

Nancy

Jean, Bill and I were really admiring the pics of Plasma today. Is Plasma friendly - can you play with him? Do you pick him up?

And I love your midget octo!

Nancy

Thanks Nancy (& Bill!) Yes we can play with plasma (when he's in the mood!) but no we don't pick him up unless we have to.......he weighs nearly 10Kg!!!! Because he's so heavy, we worry about damage to his skin (not to mention our backs!!!!)

Cheers

J

He ways that much and yet he is a midget?!?

Plasma is the large one. :P (not the midget)

Did you actually take Plasma out to weigh??

Wouldn't he be much lighter in the water?

Hey nice one Jean,

Yep can say they are crackin mussels, had the finest NZ greenshell in Amsterdam once upon a time!! oh yeas, think ive decided on my tea (dinner) tonight!!

The octi's don't bother much with them....starfish on the other hand..... As for fouling if you left a dead mussel absolutely also mussels produce enormous quantities of pseudofaeces which can get pretty nasty. Our tanks are siphoned every other day, every day if they are getting dirty fast....so octopus tanks are cleaned very regularly

hmmm, so are we sayin that an octo tank has to be syphoned everyday?? i was aware i had to get the remainder of uneaten food out unless the scavengers pick it up, but is there more...??

hmm them muscles sound pretty nasty and could wreck my tank, forgive my ignorance but what do you do when syphoning are you just sucking up the bits of muscle poo on the bottom if you can get to them???

Cheers

What's the species name for the midget? (Just curious.)

Sorry CK didn't see this question to start with (old age y'know!)

The midget belongs to a group of very similar octis it's most likely to be Octopus warringa (right Steve???????)) I have to say I ALWAYS get this complex muddled up.....they are very similar!

J

He ways that much and yet he is a midget?!?

Sorry OM I didn't make that very clear Plasma is our Large Pinnoctopus cordiformis Midget is a much smaller species!

Cheers

J

Did you actually take Plasma out to weigh??

Wouldn't he be much lighter in the water?

He was weighed B4 he went in! weight of bucket of seawater, then add one octi, reweigh subtract 1st weight=octopus weight!

Even in the water he's much too heavy to lift for long!

J

Hey nice one Jean,

Yep can say they are crackin mussels, had the finest NZ greenshell in Amsterdam once upon a time!! oh yeas, think ive decided on my tea (dinner) tonight!!

The octi's don't bother much with them....starfish on the other hand..... As for fouling if you left a dead mussel absolutely also mussels produce enormous quantities of pseudofaeces which can get pretty nasty. Our tanks are siphoned every other day, every day if they are getting dirty fast....so octopus tanks are cleaned very regularly

hmmm, so are we sayin that an octo tank has to be syphoned everyday?? i was aware i had to get the remainder of uneaten food out unless the scavengers pick it up, but is there more...??

hmm them muscles sound pretty nasty and could wreck my tank, forgive my ignorance but what do you do when syphoning are you just sucking up the bits of muscle poo on the bottom if you can get to them???

Cheers

I don't like seafood :yuck: so can't comment on the culinary delights of greenshell mussels!!!

As for siphoning.......probably not (although often is better than less often!) But we're a public aquarium so everything has to be just so! Mussels are nasty!! yes we siphon up the mussel poo! (and the octi poo....and the crab poo.....and the fish poo.......and to top it off ...at the weekends we get to clean the human bathrooms too!!!!!!) I'd be inclined not to keep too many mussels in a tank at home. They are too messy and require phytoplankton for food. One or two might be OK for a while.

J

An update, I never did get a pic of Plasma, but he has reached maturity and started exploring in the drains, so we have released him. This means that at the moment we are bereft of octis (Midget having been released earlier) :sad:

J

:goodbye: to them.

I'm confused... where are the pictures?

Hi Joy,

The board has just been updated and the pics have vanished. I'll see if I can find them and repost!

Cheers

Jean

oh good, please let me know when they go up!