• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Buying an octopus. Which source is better?

Both vendors are often used by TONMO members.

Most of Tom's animals will be O. briareus that are found in crab/lobster traps and brought in by the fishermen. On rare occasions he has had O. vulgaris and O. mercatoris. Success rates are pretty good with these animals but we lose a few. Most octopuses will arrive with arms missing and/or in the process of regenerating. With those found in the crab traps it is guaranteed but not a real concern.

Saltwaterfish had not had octos for awhile until recently. Prior discussions indicate that most of theirs come in from Haiti (the earthquake would explain why they had not been offered and I will take it as good news toward things getting better there now that we are seeing them again) and are frequently O. hummelincki. We had a rash of deaths of the hummelinckis purchased through Saltwaterfish a few years ago and the owners responded to our inquiries (they are very conscientious). The general concern was that collection methods were causing the problem (Cyanide NOT likely but possibly other flushing out fluids that ultimately harmed the animal) and they gave us an indication that they were making a trip to discuss collection methods with their suppliers.

You can open the Lists of our Octopuses 2003-2012 and search the page for Saltwaterfish or Tom to see some of the prior animals that have come from these suppliers. Entrys from 2008 forward have links to the journals.
 
Hello I'm about to purchase from saltwaterfish.com however they have sent me photos they say its juvenile indopacific but I can not tell n do not want a Pygmy what should I do
 
If youre ready for one now, definitely give Tom a call, he will have them in stock until April 1st. He is great at answering any questions, but I need mine later.
 
Drsandhu,
If they sent you a photo, please post it. The lastest from them have been O. hummelincki. Sadly, very few vendors can ID species. We do our best but it is always a bit of a guess, especially if there are not clear indications in the photos.

To post a picture, start a reply and click on the 4th icon in the 7th group (the one that looks like a square with something at each corner (to the left of the film icon). This will open a dialog to allow you to choose a picture on your computer. Select the picture and then click upload (the word upload is not intuitively clear as a place to click).
 
Here is the photo I'm hoping this is a juvenile

 

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Drsandhu, Try as I might, I can't come up with a suggested ID of anything other than mercatoris. The color is not a good match for a merc (the browns should be red or redish, possibly explained by being out of the water, wish they would not do that) but the arms and mantle proportions and shape just don't match up well with anything else common in the US Atlantic/Caribbean that I can identify. I strongly believe it to be a dwarf species and likely a merc in spite of its coloring. I have had two dwarfs that were not O. mercatoris from this area (and would highly recommend one like the little male I kept) but one does not favor them.
 

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