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Help with identifying octo

jjensen6823

Hatchling
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Feb 26, 2004
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Having sufficiently recovered from the accidental death of my six month old bimac, Curley, on my office floor last October, I was beginning to think about another eight legged friend (after taping up the small gaps around the filter!) when I discovered an small octo at my LFS. The poor thing is being kept in a peanut butter jar with holes poked in it, floating in a barren tank, and I would really like to rescue it and give it a good home, but first I need to try to figure out what kind of octo it is and if I can provide for it properly.

Unlike Curley, this octo was apparently wild caught, and the store owner is certain that it came from Bali. It was all curled up against the bottom of the jar, so it is hard to gauge size, but it's mantle was approximately the size of a silver dollar. I would attach a photo, but it was just a curled black mass at the bottom of the jar, so the picture wouldn't be very informative. Seemed to have rather long legs for its size, and no distinguishing eye spots or marks that I could see, so I don't think it's a bimac, and I don't know how to identify it. I can't even find any information on regional distribution of species. Can anyone tell me what species of octos are commonly shipping from Bali, and how I might identify this little guy? The tank I have available is a 42G hexagon, which worked fine for a small bimac, but would obviously be too small for some of the larger species. Any help would be appreciated.

Jim Jensen
 
:welcome: Hard to say without a pic. And I can't find my World Guide of Cephlapods at the moment to even venture a guess!

Since you already have a seasoned cycled tank, I would venture to take a chance as odds are it would have a few months in your tank and maybe check into a local aquarium, or a shop that would be more suited should it end up being a larger species.

Good luck whatever you decide!

Carol
 
Anything has got to be better than that tiny peanut butter jar. Will you take photographs?
 
Hi and welcome to TONMO.com!

The LFSs here sell "Bali octopuses" and they seem to remain fairly small and would be able to live in your tank, if it's the same species. You might want to search on "Bali octopus" to find previous threads.

Nancy
 
There are a fair number of Octopus aculeatus coming in from Bali right now. This is a common reef flat species that does fairly well in an aquarium. Females hide a lot; males often spend most of their time on the side of the aquarium. They are not very interactive and they do ink when spooked. All it all, while they tolerate an aquarium fairly well, I would not recommend them for the home tank.

Roy
 

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