Hey All!

I got a response from all of you like no other when I talked about catching bimac's all the time, so I decided to start this thread so I can keep you updated on all the bimac's I see. I have good pics to and am hoping to get more and more as the thread go's so enjoy and ask as many questions as you like!

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-035-16-0001.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-035-16.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-033-15-0001.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-033-15.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-031-14.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-025-11.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-023-10.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-021-9.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-015-6.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-013-5.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l41/octopus_02/0836980-R1-011-4.jpg

Is there any water in the bucket? The camera doesn't really show it. although I think there is a thin line which might be the surface of the water...

yeah theres water. sorry the post is a little akward. Took me a little while to find your posts.

Looks like some great bimacs!

Do you keep a log of the date and size for each bimac you find? It might be very helpful for others in the San Diego area who want to collect.

Dan

I am starting to record them like you said but when I was catching these guys and many others I was only there to experience. But now that I have near-perfected my catching skills I am going to start a log. Unfortunately I have no knowledge of people tagging octopus without spending loads of money on expensive gear, so I am refrained from that area of study.

Neat!

try getting a ruler and measuring the size between their eyes, or put something colorful and a fixed size (like blocks) and compare in pics.

I wouldn't worry about getting real specific measurements unless you really want to. You can compare the mantle to an olive or a golf-ball, etc. If anyone chooses to collect their own bimac, they would really appreciate having a little guide to where the best spots are, the best strategies to use to find them, and what sizes you can expect to find at different times of the year.

Dan

Excellent idea! I enjoyed seeing all the bimac pics together.
What size you find during various seasons of the year would be interesting, too.

Nancy

Thats something I have recorded.

September-January: mid-size adults to full grown adults with mantle lengths of about 2 inches+ until late december and january when you can get off and on younglings

Febuary-August: lil' guys. Prime season for baby bimacs to teenagers. If your a collector, these months are when ya score but your going to have to dive for them because low tides range from 2am-5am.

A couple days ago I was on an evening dive and recorded an octopus I call "peek-a-boo"

This was because when I found him he was just outside his den ready to head out for his night time hunt before he spotted me and whent into his den again. I would come back every couple of minutes just to get the same reaction. I really wanted to catch him since he was small enough to be shipped to a tonmo member. But one time I came back to find him completely gone from the den. I searched the area hard but to no avail. He had vanished.

hmm....maybe it left to find a better place since it thought you were a large predator trying to ambush it.

could be, but that was my first bimac I saw and failed to catch...

:(

Octo-season is coming up though and I can't wait!!!!

I usually call late August through january 'octo-season' because it has great low tides that aren't at 2am. I just get picked up from school and head right on down to the tidepools to see my favorite little creatures.

Ill definetley start posting tons more pics so you can enjoy them like I can.

ok, another evening dive today but to no avail bimac-wise.

I did get to see a striking nudibranch though and almost got it to shore but a wave knocked it off my hand :(. Really wanted it for the tank but the ocean wanted it back. It was a lightning purple with fire red 'hairs' on its back. very pretty.

I was rewarded with a small brittle star though that DID make it to shore and is now happily buried in the sand of my tank. When I move out im going to get a pond sized tank so I can collect rays and all that good stuff because there awesome. Would like to keep some small sharks and tons of fish to.

hm...sharks are pretty neat. I used to release bamboo sharks into the local harbor. Hardy creatures, saw one survive for 4 hours on dry land, cheap too, at around 2 dollars for a 1.5 foot long one. (Tail takes around 40-50 percent of the length though.

we get small leopard sharks and sand sharks around here. there interesting but there big enough for an adult bimac to eat so there not top of the reef.

bamboo sharks are like leopards in siza and shape, although they never grow to be as large. (Our top of the food chain in the water happens to the occasional/seasonal sharks, which happen to be white tips, black tips and I've heard of a tiger shark back in my father's days.

cool. no dives today so im bored.

scuba diving?

No I don't scuba dive, just snorkel.

Anyway, I am hitting the first low tide of the fall on thursday september 8th. If I find any octo's ill tell you guys and see if I can't send somebody one that needs one.

I am so excited to hopefully see some octo's!

hey marineboy, what part of the county are you finding these guys in ??i want to p/u 1 for my tank if poss.

bump

C.A they are Bimics

Marineboy lives in San Diego County, if you look through his previous posts, you can find where he visits the tidepools. If you are going to collect an octopus for yourself, you need a fishing license from the Dept. of Fish and Game.

bump

...Now posting just for the sake of the need to make it appear on the front page is not exactly informative now, is it? :wink:

everyone just calm down pleeeeeze, i have lived here all my life and i am very much aware of ALL RULES AND REGS. IN MY STATE! so lets NOT pile on ( right chrono??) and thats all i have to say about that

:oops: Sorry, you haven't posted in awhile, and I am still kind of new here, sorry if I offended you.

:oops: Sorry, you haven't posted in awhile, and I am still kind of new here, sorry if I offended you.:octopus2: no worries:mrgreen: i may be heading down to the lagoon sat morning where octopets used to i will let you guys know if we find any thing there

Ok guys, sorry about not posting for like FOREVER!!! But I have been very busy with school and stuff.

A lot has happened to! And I just found a 30g tank with 500$ worth of equpment in it sitting on the side of the street with a FREE sign!! I am so excited! now I can hold octopus for you people who have been nudging me for quite some time on when I will get some for you.

lately the tides have been low and I have cought around 7 or 8 bimacs. 3 of which where the size of my thumb and perfect for an aquarium.

i did catch one full grown bimac and happened to get a moray very mad when I removed it from its jaws (I know its nature people but I just couldn't resist...) to show my family. I also showed it to my biology class for my project on cepholapods. It was awesome.

here are some pics of the adult bimac when he was in his temporary holding tank, sry about HORRIBLE quality it was taken with a cell phone...

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/ugly555_bucket/102206_22522.jpg

http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p176/ugly555_bucket/102206_22521.jpg

Good news on the aquarium equipment! Sounds like a great find.

Despite the previous pessimism by many of us, it seems that there are commercial bimacs here and there for those of us who want them, so you shouldn't have to concern yourself with catching them for us :)

Dan

PM'ed you marineboy.

hey everybody, I set up all the gear I found and have it up and running already with my new little buddy kraken!! I found him saturday afternoon at the tidepools, and he is really cool. he has about a 1/2 inch mantle length to.

here is a HORRIBLE pic again. I will have some high quality ones up soon but for now I am taking them with my razr and lets just say they dont come out too well...

http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r118/OCTOPUS_FTW/110506_20051.jpg

You can sort of make him out can't you?? i am so sorry for this guys....

Hey guys, EXTREMELY low tides this weekend brought in a variety of octopus. I estimated we found around ten bimacs with mantle lengths ranging from 1.5"-to 4".

I also encountered a classic example of cannabalism in a tidepool were an adult octopus had suffocated a smaller octopus from the safety of his den and then pulled him inside to eat him!! It was definetley exciting.

Anyway, I will have some pics and possibly a vid up pretty soon for you guys to feast on. I'm hoping to get a digital camera for christmas to so that I can post ALOT more and better pics.

~Michael

well if anyone has been checking this thread for updates, sorry for not posting in so long I kind of forgot I created it.

Anyway, I have an update some of you might have already seen. but for those of you that haven't I went out today with tonmo member Joe-Ceph in a local tidepool area were I find most of my octo's. I was successful in finding two octo's and relayed most/all knowledge I have to him so in the future he will be able to find some on his own.

The first one we caught was one step away from an adult with a mantle of about 4" in length. The second one was a fairly small juvenile with a mantle about the size of a golfball. And surprisingly Joe-Ceph informed me that it would be the first one we caught that he is most interested in.

I would post the pictures but currently they are waiting approval from tony apparently. anyway, when that happens [or IF?] I will definetley edit this post and add em in for you.

~Michael

oh one more thing I forgot to mention.

as I was talking to Joe-Ceph the subject of shipping some how came about. Now, some of you may have read my post already but the reason why I stopped that "buisness" [never really got started I guess because I had no idea what I was doing at first and there ended up being a tradgedy with my first attempt] is because I could not find pure oxygen as was told to me was neccesary by tonmo member DHyslop . But as I talked to him about it, he told me that he knew were to find pure oxygen and also told me that he has a spare container for one [well apparently he might have sold it but he said he could probably dig it up].

SO, if I can get ahold of that and I can find the place that he described to me, I will gladly do some side shippings to all of you people who have pm'd me these past couple months. If you haven't already found an alternative I guess.

~Michael

Oxygen is available in a number of places. it's used for soldering, so Home Depot has small canisters. I think you might have to buy a regulator. Home heath stores also carry it for people who need oxygen.

Nancy

I did some research about oxygen and it is cheap and easy to make it at home. If you mix Hydrogen Peroxide with a little Manganese Dioxide (a black powder used as a pigment to color ceramics and pottery) it will fizz for a minute, and give off pure oxygen! You can get a 3% solution of H2O2 (Hydrogen Peroxide) at any drug store or super market for about $1.60/qt. You can get MnO2 (Mangganese Dioxide powder) on ebay for $4 per pound (plus $6 shipping) or if you can get down to National City, you can buy it at "Freeform Clay & Supply" ((619) 477-1004) for about $3 per pound. A pound would be several lifetime supplies, because you can get enough O2 (oxygen) to ship an octopus by mixing about one and a half cups of H2O2 with about a half teaspoon full of MnO2.

For the nerds:
The MnO2 acts as a "catalyst" which causes each molecule of the H2O2 (which is made of 2 Hydrogen atoms and 2 oxygen atoms) to break off one oxygen atom, leaving H2O (water) and a bunch of oxygen atoms, which pair up creating oxygen gas (O2).

If you mix these two things in a closed plastic bag, with one end of a tube in it, and most of the air pushed out, you can put the other end of the tube in another bag with some water, an octopus, and most of the air pushed out. Then just let the oxygen flow through the tube and fill the octopus bag. Cheap, and easy!

Safety:
1) Only use the common 3% Hydrogen Peroxide. Highly concentrated solutions of Hydrogen Peroxide (like 30%) can be found at chemical supply stores. That stuff is dangerous to work with. The 3% stuff is relatively safe, but it will bleach the color out of clothes (or your mom's good towels!) and burn your eyes if you splash. Just read the cautions on the bottle.
2) The powdered Manganese Oxide is a very fine messy black powder. Treat it just like the powder you get when you sand heavily rusted iron. Don't eat it, don't breath the dust from it, and don't get the dust in your eyes. Use a WET paper towel to clean it up, never a broom or any method that will let the dust get airborne, and don't use it in a breezy place. It can be toxic if you breath the dust over a long period of time (months?) so just be careful with it.
3) When you mix these two things it will fizz a little, and give off a little heat (that's why you use the 3% stuff). Not enough to burn you, or melt the plastic bag, but don't be freaked out when you feel it get warm.

You can dump the used up Hydrogen Peroxide (now water with a little MnO2 in it) in the toilet.

I tried this last night (without an octopus) and it worked fine. MnO2 is not the only catalyst that will cause Hydrogen Peroxide to give up oxygen, but I think it is the best one to use. Believe it or not, liver (beef liver, chicken liver) also works. So does your blood, which is why Hydrogen Peroxide makes fizzy little white bubbles when you pour it on a cut. I also tried liver last night, since it is so easy to get, and while it worked great, the protien (goo) in the liver caused the fizzing oxygen bubbles to make a foam (like in a protien skimmer) which could get into the tube and into the octopus bag. The MnO2 makes nice clean oxygen without foam. I got my MnO2 by breaking open a flashlight battery, which I do NOT recommend. It was messy, dangerous, and I can't be certain that I was only getting oxygen because there were things in that battery that I couldn't identify. I just wanted to prove that it worked, now I'll buy the pure safe MnO2.

I hope this helps you ship a few bimacs to some eager Tonmo people.

We might have to do this with my granddaughter just for the fun of it.