When I left this morning, Spike was out pacing and then perched on the cleaner magnet. He is such a little pig! Eating daily. He must have been raising heck in his tank because some how he tipped over the large shell he's been living in and has things pulled all over the place. We had to find another food source today, as the frozen prawn is just not enough for him anymore and he ate all the local crabs and snails I have collected. We stopped at the local seafood market and bought a 1/4 lb of large shrimp, which I cut up into sections and now have a good size bag frozen until I can hit the local bait shop and get him some green crabs. He is huge. The 2 months he's been with me, he has tripled in size. Right now he's perched on top of the shell he toppled eating a piece of shrimp.

Beautiful octopus!

He's really gorgeous!

He's very handsome indeed....

He has beautiful coloration, and he doesn't look that big. I would like to eventually get one if it could fit in a 29 gallon tank. What are some care tips/requirements for his species?

Spike is a captive bred O.bimaculoides or Pacific Two Spot Octopus from Zyan in California. He was overnighted to me 2 months ago. 29 gallon is too small to reasonably house a bimac. His size today, curled up, about the size of an orange. Mantle about 2 1/2 ". If you check out the articles in Ceph care there are very good guidelines to go by. You can't go wrong if you follow the advice outlined. And yes, I think he is absolutely beautiful and is constantly amazing me with not only his coloration, but different behaviors.

You can't go wrong if you follow the advice outlined

:p

I can't believe how much he's grown in two months--would you say his mantle length has doubled?

Well, that sucks. I would love to get one of those. How big of a tank would be needed?

I would say it's tripled. Has to be 2 1/2 " long, at least depending what he's up to. He's huge. Has a hard time fitting in his favorite shell, one with an openning about an inch wide and 4" s long. He is now eating 1/2 of a piece of those giant frozen shrimp I bought fresh from the fish market, daily.

And the larger the tank, the better off you are as more volume makes for less errors in water quality once the tank is established. So yes...bigger tank is definitely better. I think 50 or above is the recommended size for a Bimac.

Carol,

What is that purple branchy thing in the pics?

The "purple branchy thing" :) is a plastic piece of some type of coral that I have had probably 20 years in my tank!!!

Well, I might just have to change my 30 gallon plan...just maybe.

Carol,
I would ask who made it if it stays that clean and hasn't faded over the last 20 years but even if you could answer, the product wouldn't be the same. I am only a little disappointed though that it is not alive since I remembered you have a bimac and can have real lights for part of the day (I don't miss the algae or cleanup though).

CHILLER for SURE next year!!!

Truly nothing like a Bimac! Tonight I was teasing Spike with a key ring for babies. He's been stalking it since. Grabbed a hold of it at one point but I think he figured out if he released it, I would bring it back down to him. I also think he was trying to out fox me and grab my hand when I wasn't looking. I measured his leg length and they are 6 to 7 inches long. His playing/stalking behavior is quite different from his wanting to eat pacing. Pics coming shortly! He's really funny...He's trying to pull them off of the surface but hasn't quite figured out how yet! Took him 10 minutes to get close enough to grab on to the keys again....At one point I think he thought he could skim across the surface to reach them but his arms weren't quite long enough. It's pretty amazing the play colors he's been flashing as he stalks the keys. Right now he's black.....

Haha, fun little guy. That second pic is great! Thanks for sharing.