Okay, I bought a carabean reef octopus off eBay last night. I picked it up from carabean_reef _collectors. I plan on putting it in my 6th grade classroom. I'm curious if anyone else on TONMO has purchased from this seller.
Mike, We allow (encourage) actual links to sites that are part of our discussions (as long as you are not selling something ) so feel free to put the actual link in the post. Hopefully you will journal your experience and the reaction of the students. I keep a list of our octos in the Journals and photos thread and have started putting the links to any acquisition sites that are known but I have not heard of this one and can't seem to find it using those words. Did you buy it on-line or does California have a local store that specializes in Caribbean animals? I just saw the eBay part ... , never mind. I could not find a listing under that name. Do you have the link to the original purchase? I think I know who that is but am unsure if I remember the correct eBay name (I would recognize the description though). I did see one that I don't recognize at all on eBay called FoxyFish selling an O. briareus though.
Thanks Alex, I don't recognize them as being any of the VERY limited folks I know in the Keys so it will be good to see how this one turns out. I would still like Mike to post the original listing to see what they say in the animal requirements part of their ad.
Here is the link to the original listing. Hope. I linked it right. http://www.ebay.com/itm/OCTOPUS-live-saltwater-fish-INVERTEBRATE-/271150698781?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D271150698781%26_rdc%3D1&nma=true&si=vQC5WW8V9y2b%252BoTcLIkBbyBqvj4%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
Update: My octopus arrived today. He indeed was an O.briareus. Unfortunately, he did ink in the bag, but alive. So I got him in my aquarium a lot quicker than I would have liked. He first went upside down, then after a minute or two, he flipped himself over and went into a ball, and instantly put on a show of changing colors. I will post a pic of him later. Crossing my fingers that he will be okay.
The link worked but the description ("These Octopi from the Caribbean are brown with white spots when they are in a neutral mood") and picture (A. marginatus - an Indonesian animal - I noticed that all of their photos are not their own photography) are not at all helpful and are more likely describing O. mercatoris. Good luck! Inking in the bag is never good and getting it out of the ink ASAP was definitely the best move. In a case like this I will make a quick attempt to match new water to the shipping water, transfer and then acclimate to the tank but temp adjustments can be difficult to achieve quickly (and IME possibly the most critical). I keep super saturated salt water on hand but usually shipping water will be lower not higher and fresh should always be available. Also fresh mixed saltwater will often have a lower PH than your tank (depending on if you use buffer and your salt mix), usually the case with the shipping water. How black was the water? Looking forward to pictures and keeping that it makes it the next few days. I am never comfortable until day 15 but with the inking, the next couple of days will say a lot. O. briareus are fairly robust but the first two weeks is a critical time.
