Ceph Rescue.... (Iggy's Demise)....

Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
7
Hello all,

Let me start by saying that I was SOOOO glad to find this website, there is so little information out there on these wonderful creatures...

Im sorry if this turns into a book.....

I first got into saltwater 2 years ago.. built a simple fish only system cause i didnt recognize the beauty and intricate life of the ocean. Eventually I educated myself enough to try a reef tank (its easier than they make it sound at the lfs (local fish store)). with some careful planning and allot of hording of cash, I eventually put together the tank I currently have, 150g all glass, protien skimmer (for a 300 gallon tank), 1.5" live sand, about 100 pounds of live rock, lots of various corals (mostly leathers and polyps, with a couple of plate corals, reefugium sump w/inline charcoal chamber.

This tank is to become Iggy's home, currently he resides in a 40 gallon tank setting next to the sump. water from the sump is circulating at 180 gal/hour through his tank and returned through A method I built utilizing an over-flow chamber and large hose to gravity feed it into the sump again (sounds wierd I know, since the tank and the sump sir right next to each other, but it works, I didnt have much time to set this up).... anyway, Iggy has been here 2 days now and is already eating and exploring his little world....

Now (as Paul Harvey would say) The Rest of the News:

I was sitting at home one day and got bored looking at my reef tank, so i decided to go to our only descent saltwater fish store in Anchorage, Alaska (trust me there arent many options here)... I was surprised when i pulled into the parking lot, to see that they are closing shop and selling the building.

While I was looking around, i overheard 2 employees talking about a shipment of live rock that had just come in... one of them was saying that they must have gotten a "free loader" (their term for an animal that comes in with the rock) because all the hermit crabs were being killed in the tank and the shells were "piling" up... well, ive read about ceph's a few times so I inserted myself into their conversation and asked to see the tank.... sure enough (as you probably guessed) their "free loader" was a baby vulgaris octopus (his mantle is about 1" long, stretched out tenticle tip to tenticle tip he is maybe 6") . They had no idea what to do with it, so they got the owner... He is closing the shop on the last day of January 2006 and has no desire to keep it.... thus Iggys Demise, be killed when the shop closes because no one wants him, or take his chances with me and my willingness to dismantle my reef to give him a home.

Well, we talked about it for an hour or so (Iggy and me that is), well, actually Iggy just sat there and looked at me and I did the talking, but we came to the agreement that he had no chance if I didnt try.... so here I am. the proud poppa of a little lost eight legged orphan.

I am reading allot on this sight, and will continue to do so... but in the interest of saving Iggy, I am hoping that I can get some fast up-front answers to some serious questions.

first off, the tank is well established and I feel that the tank meets (or exceeds) all requirments that Iggy might have. And I know the fish I have either go to new homes or risk being dinner... but that leads to my first question, here is a list of the fish/corals I have, are any of them an imediate danger to Iggy if i put him in the main tank?

5 scissor tail gobbies
2 coral beauties (mated pair)
1 yellow damsel
1 blue damsel
(both non-agressive)
1 marine beta
1 percula clown
1 blue hamlet

CORALS:
sever species and size of leathers
2 plate corals (which i believe to be a danger to him)
1 sml clump frogfoot (I think thats right)
a bunch of star polyps

I never got a bunch of delicate corals because they just dont do that much to me...

any and/or all of these can or will go away, but I want to make sure that I get anything out of the tank that will "hunt" Iggy down and harm or kill him.... I dont trust the tank design system that I had to rig for him... there is allot of potential for failure with it hehehehe.....

Sorry this (my first post) is soo long, there is allot more that i could enter, but in the interest of not putting anyone to sleep I'll end this and await any information that might make this adventure more pleasant for Iggy and me.

Thanks for readiing it all
 
First let me say :welcome: to you and Iggy!!! I love to hear stories like yours! Sounds like you are hooked as I have been for many years! My only concern is the damsels. They can be nasty fish and can really torment an octopus. I'm not sure on the corals and I'm sure you will have alot of input! Any pics yet? He sounds adorable!

Good luck!

Carol
 
A big hearty :welcome: to you! If only you could teach your vulgaris the absolute mimic octopus classic "banded sea snake"... it works like a charm on damsels :wink:

Have fun with the little guy/gal, cheers,

Olaf
 
There's a reply on the other thread that you posted, but I'll say :welcome: here too !
 

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