Hi all,

I talked for some time with Jim of Octopets today. He's been very busy with his new project: raising different species of seahorses to offer for sale. He's been the only person at Octopets all this time, but now he's hired a young person to help him out.

The California rains have made the water in the lagoon brown. They've also affected some of the livestock because the torrents of rain diluted the seawater and suddenly lowered the salinity. Some octo hatchlings were lost.

Octopets has only bimac hatchlings right now, so it may be 6 weeks before baby bimacs are available. Cuttlefish (S. officinalis) won't be ready until June. Jim will also be raising S. bandensis and another species of octo this year. And there are the seahorses.

I was talking to Jim about ceph food and learned this: his salt water guppies have been bred for generations as salt water guppies. He recommends them as food only for the cuttlefish. The bimacs in the ocean around the Octopets area eat mostly shellfish: scallops, clams and least favorite, mussels - and they never eat oysers. Jim cracks the shells and tosses clams or scallops in with the bimacs and they love it! In the wild, bimacs open the shells by drilling them. Of course, these bimacs also like shrimp and crabs. He thinks it's good to vary the type of food.

So, it will be a bit before we're hearing about new bimac pets, unless some of the LFSs still have some of the last batch.

Nancy

Thanks for the update, Nancy. I wish there were better news! Does anyone have a list of stores that Octopets supplies, other than FishSupply?

Dan

Ooh, thats a bummer. I have my tank all cycled and ready and was hoping to get a bimac soon. I hope Octopets doesn't raise their prices because of this, didn't they just raise them recently?

You mentioned the salt water guppies. What about the clams? The octopets kit comes with 200 of them. I was going to store these in a refugium. Does anyone know what the requirements are to keep them alive and happy? What do I feed the clams? Will they breed? Are these a good food source for the octo throughout its life (along with other treats such as crabs, shrimp, etc)?

What about the amphipods? Are these for octos or only for raising baby octos? What are the requirements for keeping these in a refugium? Will they breed, or will the numbers gradually dwindle if not consumed quickly enough?

My thanks in advance!

Hi..Regarding clams which cost $15..how many are there?

For $15 there are 100 (on the Ceph Feed page).

If you purchase an OctoPet kit, you get an Octo and 200 clams.

The clams are fine for a baby octo, but too small for an adult.

Amphipods are also eaten by baby octos - they must taste pretty yummy because my little bimac continued to eat the many amphipods in the tank until every one was gone. Amphipods breed, but an octopus can eat them faster than they can reproduce in your tank.

Nancy

Ooh, thats a bummer. I have my tank all cycled and ready and was hoping to get a bimac soon. I hope Octopets doesn't raise their prices because of this, didn't they just raise them recently?


Yeah, I was going to order mine this week for my birthday. Since I'm moving next fall I don't know if I should even get one if they won't be available for six weeks. I've been ready to order for a couple weeks, but I thought with the rash of recent deaths I might give it a little bit. Next time I'll take the chance :)

Octopets price did go up at around the beginning of the year. Oddly enough fishsupply.com's prices didn't. I was originally going to order from fishsupply for that reason, but with the other things I was getting (abalones, macroalgae, etc) it was only about $5 cheaper, and at that point I'm willing to pay a little more to support the source.

Liveaquaria.com has cultured bimacs occasionally (and they will also email you when they are in stock). I don't know of any other sources, though.

Dan

well i have recently been to ocotpets b/c i am getting a bimac soon and they are still in stock at same price so is it true that octopets does send octos to fishsupply

Email from Jim this morning: they'll ship in three weeks!

Dan

Have you got a name picked out for your new baby, Dan?

I have a few ideas, but I think it would be bad luck to narrow it down further before the little dude arrives :)

Dan

yeah if you can ever get your hand on a ceph - grab it! lol

very hard for most people to get hold of!!!

I should be getting my OctoPet in about a week! Can't wait!

I think I'm going to have to steal a name for him from the forum, because 1) they sound pretty good, 2) I'm not that creative, and 3) my friends will never know!

Can you walk in and purchase an Octopus instead of going through the web site? I live about 30 minutes south of Carlsbad and am wondering if they have a storefront?

Some of our members have done just that, but you need to call and make an appointment. Also, there seems to be a waiting list right now for little bimacs. Looks like they will begin to be shipped soon.

Nancy

Ok thanks Nancy, the tank won't be sufficiently cycled until end of May, early June, so I'll do that as soon as it's ready =o).

maybe you could call and cancel the mail order and go pick it up (avoids shipping and perhaps avoids the wait too?)

said hopefully friday did jim and me just cant wait to see the little feller anyway let you know if me find out more

so octopets will start shipping this friday? i thought people said 3 to 4 weeks until then.

Be sure, all of your who are getting baby bimacs, to find out how old they are.

Nancy

Anyone hear from Octopets?

They should be shipping soon! I wanted to revise my order (add some feed), but I haven't gotten a response to my email for over a week...

Jim seems pretty notorious about not answering email. As frustrating as it can be, I get the impression that he's as busy as a one-armed wallpaper-hanger over there.

I've been crossing my fingers for a shipment this week, but Friday is coming up pretty fast!

Dan

Octopets is only Jim and one assistant, perhaps part time. They raise more than octos and cuttlefish, too, so Jim is very busy taking care of all the tanks as well as selling and shipping. That's why he's difficult to find and there are delays with the emails.

Nancy

Nancy, congratulations on post number 2000!


I can't imagine how Jim gets everything done--even with an assistant-- especially now that he's raising seahorses! I wonder if he does a lot of wholesale with his macroalgaes and his abalones: I wouldn't think he'd ever break even with just the octos. Because of this I try not to let the email difficulties bother me as much as they would from a larger mail-order house.

Dan

Thanks, I didn't even notice that I was reaching a milestone! :smile:

One of our members who visited Octopets some months ago reported that Jim was raising mussels (and something else, I forget exactly what) for the restaurant trade. That probably brings in more than little bimacs.

Nancy

yeah- the cost of feed must be quite high anyway and then the care taken means lots of time!!! hard work! but im sure he loves it lol - ive always thought the octos seemed quite cheap! i mean some places sell for 16 dollars (probably wild caught of course!!!)

anyone know why he doesnt like to answer the phone ive been trying to get a hold of him for about a week now and still havent and im starting to develop a twitch from anxiety about the octo and just a little info on the progress of the shipping would be nice and help calm my nerves anyway some one help me get over this please!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i dont think he would have time to give all the customers progress reports on the shipping- just be patient cos it will be worth it bigtime!!!

sometimes these people are so busy they dont have time to answer the phone...hey at home i dive for tyhe phone when it rings...lol i guess im glad im not THAT busy though!!!

hang in there

we talked to him yesterday and from what he said if you didnt get one yesterday dont excpect one for 6 more weeks. 200 of them headed for the ocean. so i gueese we are gonna have to wait some more. from what dan said when your octo is shipped out you will get an email and then it will arrive the next day.

Yeah, don't expect the same sort of "customer service" that you would get from a department store...this is a small, quirky business and has problems coming from all directions...it takes a lot of hours in the day to try to manage a startup like Octopets, and they are doing as much as they can to make everyone (including the octos!) as happy as possible...with such an esoteric item, sometimes you just have to wait....
But hey, remember the days (uh, two years ago?) when they weren't available AT ALL ???
greg

Yes, he could hire someone to answer the phone, but then your octos would cost a lot more!

For those of you who are waiting for your little bimacs and will be delayed 6 weeks, please take this time to build up your amphipods. You can transfer them from other tanks - I have a Fluval on my smaller tank and I always find amphipods in it, which I save for my larger tank.

If you're a beginner, you can practice on the water changes and testing - so this delay won't be all bad.

But, sorry for your disappointment :sad:

Nancy

we talked to him yesterday and from what he said if you didnt get one yesterday dont excpect one for 6 more weeks. 200 of them headed for the ocean.

I'm sorry for Octopets and sorry for those of you waiting for octos, but I am just tickled by the image of a mass octo breakout!

It's not possible to add 200 octo emoticons....

Melissa

wonder if the octos were led by the guy from papillion

Oh my...with those little dirty spectacles??? Now, THAT would be a TRUE bimac!!!!
Great visual, thanks!!!!
greg

200 is a HUGE number for me....I mean...WOW! I wonder how many will actually survive...

definately... i mean i guess it will depend on how big they were when they escaped and everything...

more than 85% will probably be hit by cars while crossing the street and the rest will dry out on the other side... :sad:

???

i thought they escaped like into the ocean...or are u making a joke...hmmm

YES ITS A JOKE!

haha!!! right right i just made a royal d##k of myself!!! lol

(although...) lol