Today my Pygmy Octopus is due for arrival

**DocFrye** · Apr 07, '05, 9:37am

I am extremely excited. Today is a huge day for me. My octopus is scheduled to be delivered before 4 today. It is also my 2 year anniversary of opening day at my vet hospital.

I was never able to get any response to phone messages or e-mails from Octopets (I know they have been busy and have had unfortunate turns of events,) so I started looking elsewhere. I ended up ordering a Octopus joubini from Tom's Caribbean Tropicals.

I was assured that it will be a small O. joubini, but I am somewhat skeptical. I will post pictures and descriptions as soon as possible. It's mantel is supposed to be the size of a dime, so it shouldn't be fully mature.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me. I will post an update when it arrives.

Thanks,
David

**DocFrye** · Apr 07, '05, 10:43am

Well... it arrived alive and I am acclimating right now. It is clasping a bivalve shell and pulsing various colors (brown, pink, purple, and blue.)

This is very cool.

**Black96WS6** · Apr 07, '05, 11:06am

That's great news!

Please post some pics as soon as you can, I'm interested to see how big (err...small?) it is

If OctoPets doesn't get its act together by the time my tank is ready I may do the same thing you did.

Do you mind if I ask how much Tom charges to get one?

**dawnchihuahua** · Apr 07, '05, 12:01pm

Congratulations on your new baby

what will you name it?

**DocFrye** · Apr 07, '05, 12:42pm

I am leaning toward Jebidiah. My 4 year old son wants to nick name him Jelly-headed Jeb Jeb.

The mantle is about the size of a nickle and its tentacles are around 3 inches long.

He cost $40 plus shipping, and Tom threw in quite a few blue-legged hermits.

**Colin** · Apr 07, '05, 1:40pm

got any pics on the go yet?

look forward to hearing more about jelly head :)

**DocFrye** · Apr 07, '05, 3:46pm

I have to charge up one camera, and borrow another to take good pictures, but I will try to get some posted as soon as possible.

**corw314** · Apr 07, '05, 9:37pm

Congrats!!!! Can hardly wait for the pics! I hope he becomes a record for longivity for a dwarf!!!

Carol

**DocFrye** · Apr 08, '05, 8:06am

I will have a nice camera over the weekend to try to take a few good pictures. Jebidiah has not moved much, and is quite well hidden inside a macroalgae covered, live-rock rubble filled glass vase. As small as he is, it will be challenging to get a photo of him worth posting until he comes out to explore a little.

**cthulhu77** · Apr 08, '05, 8:38am

Congratulations !!! Looking forward to seeing pics of Doctor J !
greg

**Nancy** · Apr 08, '05, 2:19pm

Congratulations on your new dwarf octo!

What was the final choice for a name?

Nancy

**DocFrye** · Apr 09, '05, 10:35am

His name is definately Jebidiah.

He hid under and aound some live rock rubble iside a submerged vase until last night (which made it impossible to get a decent picture.) Last night he did some exploring and I have not located him yet this morning. The entire tank is full of Live rock and macro - so he has numerous hiding places.

I don't really expect him to be very bold any time soon, but I will attempt to get a good photo posted ASAP.

Even though he hasn't moved around a lot, this is a very fulfilling and exciting hobby.

**Colin** · Apr 10, '05, 4:55am

Glad to see you are enjoying the experience :)

**DocFrye** · Apr 11, '05, 8:29am

Hello again.

Jebidiah had spent nearly two and a half days hidden in a tiny cave in one rock in his aquarium. I was able to see about 2 square cms of him at any time with the help of a flashlight. This morning when I awoke, I turned on the red lights (remote controlled no less) to peek in at him and discovered him fully out in the open happily munching on a blue-legged hermit.

I watched in awe for about 2 minutes and then went to get the camera. By the time I got back to the tank, Jebidiah was no where to be seen.

Great experience. If I didn't have to hurry off to work, I could have spent all morning peering into that tank. I am very glad to see that he appears to be acclimating well and is eating. He is bigger than I was told he would be, and when he puffs himself up, his mantle is close to the size of a US quarter. I haven't been able to verify whether or not he is truly a O. joubini, but how large have pygmy octos grown to in captivity? I have read that they can have mantles up to 4.5 cm. That would be a little larger than a golf ball, right?

Thanks everyone.

**Colin** · Apr 12, '05, 6:37am

glad all is well...

you might want to do some reading on Octopus mercatoris which is often sold as joubini, mercatoris is a large egg species and a possible candidate for captive breeding programmes.

I have been told in the past that there are several other closely related species to joubini and mercatoris, a typical cephalopod taxonomic mindfield

**clownfish** · Apr 23, '05, 4:48pm

cant find that web page can youtell me agian

**clownfish** · Apr 23, '05, 4:58pm

Oh I found it of season

**Neogonodactylus** · Apr 23, '05, 7:16pm

If it came from Tom's and was in a bivalve, the chances are 99% that it is O. mercatoris - which is good since if it is a female that has mated, you have a good chance of rearing young. I picked up one a couple of months ago and the juveniles are doing well on ampipods and live brine shrimp.