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bimac aquascape

marineboy

Wonderpus
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Dec 30, 2005
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Hey guys, I just had a question about how everyone is aquascaping there bimac tanks.

From what I have seen so far, all of you have been creating these semi-tropical looking tanks with crushed coral sandbeds and tons live rock along with some PVC pipe for them to explore with.

However, all of those things are very different from what bimacs actually would experience in the wild so I was wondering if they tolerate all of those exotic setups.

Also, since when I eventually to get my bimac it will be wild caught, would it be okay to use the setup that everyone else is using?

thanks in advance,

~Michael
 
What you described is similar to what they would experience in the wild. They probably wouldn't have PVC pipe, but would definitely have LR. Some octos find glass bottles in the wild to make their home in. Most octos that people get are wild caught, and there is never a problem with them feeling 'uncomfortable' if it is set up the way that is suggested.
 
If I'm remembering right, you're very good at finding bimacs in tidepools, right Marineboy? So I'm wondering what your impression is of the environment they choose in the wild would be... Although I like California tidepooling, I've never actually found an octopus in tidepools, I've only seen a few in 10-20 foot depths around reefs. Those seemed somewhat like live rock, although I didn't see any PVC pipe...

Anyway, I'd expect that you've picked up some good insights on octopus habitat, so my guess would be that you're asking good questions. I'd certainly be interested to hear what ideas you have, and what you've noticed about where bimacs prefer to live in the wild...
 
Your observation is correct, marineboy! We do put all of our octopuses in tropical-type tanks, except maybe for those who use a chiller and keep them at low temperatures. You can set up a tank with the rocks and the rest of the environment a bimac would experience. I looked into this at one time and think it would be interesting for you to do.

One of the reasons we tend to use tropical live rock is that because of its highly irregular surface and holes, it has a huge surface area, which helps with our natural filtration. The rocks that I've seen in bimac territory tend to be flatter. Another reason is availability.

In time we may see more people trying to set up a tank to reflect a particular environment, although that's not always easy to do.

It would a big plus if we had more photos of the undersea enviroment where bimacs are actually found. (And yes, we've had many reports of them in tidepools.)

Nancy
 
so if I were to set up a tank that consisted of local rocks and other species, it would be alright? Because I once tried to replicate the california intertidal zone in a 20g and found that most of the life on the rocks would either die out or give off a lot of waste that would clutter and then become breeding grounds for ammonia.

thanks for your repsonses,

michael
 
o btw here are some pictures that you mite find useful Nancy:
P1020304.jpg


itspp.jpg


227852733_c3a9642608.jpg


tide-pool-closeup.jpg


The top is more accurate from what I have seen around my area but the lower pictures are more typical for northern tidepools on the california coast and are also just as likely to have octo's in them.
 
Thanks, marineboy! Now someone needs to post some underwater shots a bit further out, too.

So these are tidepool photos - how large are the tidepools - and can identify anything of the things we see living in them? Octopets reported many bimacs either living in or caught in tidepools.

Nancy
 
I wonder if some of the reason it's hard to reproduce California rocky tidepools in tanks is that they get 100% water changes from waves every few minutes, or at least every high tide... so the flora and fauna may just not be able to survive in closed systems... I don't really know this, it's just a guess from walking around tidepools...
 
monty;99734 said:
I wonder if some of the reason it's hard to reproduce California rocky tidepools in tanks is that they get 100% water changes from waves every few minutes, or at least every high tide... so the flora and fauna may just not be able to survive in closed systems... I don't really know this, it's just a guess from walking around tidepools...


But during low tide, its a different story where the animals are trapped in small pockets of water. During the period of the low tide, the salinity and temperature change dramatically. Its amazing what type of stress Tide pool fauna can endure. Perhaps..they are tolerable to short intervals of extreme parameters, but not long term imbalances that can occur in home aquaria.
 
Do we know this doesn't work in home aquariums? I don't know of anyone having tried, expect maybe in a few public aquariums. The reason is that you have to live there and dive or snorkel to pick up what you need. I did find one diver collector who would provide a whole kit of rocks and animals for a California aquarium.

The live rock at the aquarium stores is available, cured and spectacular. But I'd like to see people try some other approaches. One of our Tonmo octo keepers brought back granite rocks from the Texas coast, found about 50 feet offshore, and used them successfully in her reef tank. (The granite was probably part of an old jetty).

Nancy
 
Nancy;99749 said:
Do we know this doesn't work in home aquariums? I don't know of anyone having tried, expect maybe in a few public aquariums. The reason is that you have to live there and dive or snorkel to pick up what you need. I did find one diver collector who would provide a whole kit of rocks and animals for a California aquarium.

The live rock at the aquarium stores is available, cured and spectacular. But I'd like to see people try some other approaches. One of our Tonmo octo keepers brought back granite rocks from the Texas coast, found about 50 feet offshore, and used them successfully in her reef tank. (The granite was probably part of an old jetty).

Nancy

I was just tossing out guesses based on Marineboy's "I once tried to replicate the california intertidal zone in a 20g and found that most of the life on the rocks would either die out or give off a lot of waste that would clutter and then become breeding grounds for ammonia."

But I did realize I've never seen a home aquarium with a Pacific tidepool theme, although I've seen them in touch tanks and a cold-and-foggy-rocks exhibit at the Long Beach and Monterey Aquariums. So I was thinking that maybe the difference is that the pro Aquariums have fresh seawater access to flush it regularly the way the tidepools are cleaned out by the waves in their natural environment. Of course, other reasons people may go for tropical could be just the pragmatic "chillers are expensive" or "tropical stuff is pretty" factors.

I've always found tidepools interesting cases to think about, because as Paradox pointed out, the animals are trapped in a small space where all sorts of weird things can happen-- waste buildup, heating from the sun, decreased salinity from rain, increased salinity from evaporation, etc. but the whole mess is replaced with fresh seawater around twice a day (but flora and fauna have to cling tight if they don't want to be replaced with it, or have to be mobile enough to go back when they're swept away)

There was some article on an echinoderm thread last year that claimed that starfish don't do well in home aquariums because they're so sensitive to water quality, which got me thinking that they must be sensitive to something that builds up on the timescale of days, not hours...
 
hm, thanks for that link Monty, that story is now inspiring me further into being the first person here on tonmo to succesfully replicate the california intertidal zone even so far as to keep a bimac. It may not be easy, but I am definetley going to try.

Thanks for all of your responses guys, I will keep you updated some time soon on this new tank setup (it was cycling with a couple pounds of live rock) on a different thread.

~Michael
 
You have definitely had me mulling over ideas. We plan to start a new tank next year and I want to do it with a mud overhead fuge and have been trying to come up with some interesting ideas for the return. The tank won't be suitable for an octopus because it will be fully open but creating a shallow tide pool at the return has interesting possibilities.
 

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