People ask how do you handle the short lifespan? Why would you ever want to subject yourself to loosing something you can become so attached to? Because........they are magnificent.........I came home just now and found Spike had passed away. I don't know at this point if my tank went bad as it's hot here and the tank temp is up to 82 and he was such a large octopus he really should have been in at least a 100 gal tank. At this moment I don't feel like testing the water as I'm already beating myself up wondering what I could have done differently with him. It was totally unexpected and a shock. But know what? I will mourn him, my goodness, he was so large. When I went to retrieve his body, I'm wondering if he got himself wedged behind something as I had a hard time getting him out. Doesn't look like anything fell but he was stuck by some coral. I just don't know. I'm sad but I do still have Biddle and now once Tonmo.com is done I can think about moving Biddle to Spike's tank.

Sorry to hear about you loss. It's tough lossing an beloved pet no matter how much you try to tell yourself you will only have them for a short time.

Concentrate on the positive aspects of having an octopus and stop beating yourself up. I'm sure you did your best

RIP spike :angelpus:

Sorry to hear it, poor Spike. Were there any signs of senescence?

RIP Spike :angelpus:

Sorry about your loss. Spike was a beautiful bimac and you have some wonderful pics of him.

Nancy

RIP Spike. :angelpus:

:angelpus::tentacle: RIP Spike. He was a great octopus.

Carol,
I never expected Spike to go before Trapper (she is still hanging in there as of tonight). You mentioned his lethargy a couple of weeks ago (before the heat I think) and it did not match the smaller siblings' behavior so his excessive size may have contributed to the shortened life span.

It is making me feel better about Trapper's up coming end to have found a productive home for her remains. I have been thinking that we might consider a list of preserved cephs available (possibly on the Supporter's forum) for kids like Dylan where the cephs can continue the human learning process. The ocean in general and cephs specifically have been featured a lot lately and we have had two requests by young student's parents in the last month so I thought I would throw out the idea.

:angelpus::tentacle: Rest In Peace, Spike, and all condolences to you, Carol. So sorry about your loss. He was a beautiful, beautiful creature.

rest in peace, little octo...

when he died, how big was he?

chris

Thanks everyone. It was a shock. I just wasn't expecting this but thinking about it, his behavior had changed a few weeks ago and his color changes were not as before although he continued to eat right up to the end. Size, his mantle had to be at least 4 " in length and about 2 1'2 in width. He lived in a 47 pentagon and there were times when he spread out his legs he could just about touch the sides. My kids used to come in and say My goodness, he's huge. Can you represerve if you put their body in the freezer? He must have passed in the morning and was in the tank for the day so I'm not sure how well he will preserve.

I'm sorry for your loss Carol. Take comfort in the fact that Spike surely loved the wonderful home you provided him. Please don't "beat yourself up"over his passing. I'm sure I speak for all when I say that Spike couldn'tve belonged to a better family.

:angelpus::angelpus::goodbye:sorry to hear about your loss

Carol,
They froze Steve's giant squid and were debating about how to thaw it so that it could be perserved so I would assume the same holds true for an octopus. If memory servers me right, they decided to thaw it in ice cold salt water before the formaline treatment but you might take a look at the posts.

I had to grin in spite of the situation though since not only do you use the barniacles I am so fond of, you have the same size and shape tank!