Looking for Octopus!(Desperate)

[AprylWillis]

Aquacon

They said that they are processing the order and that it will arrive within 1-2 days. They marked it a priority, so they will possibly be shipping it overnight with only a $20 charge--complete with the state-of-the-art packaging to insure safety.

They said that they would let me know if they didn't have any available. Maybe they got some in the day I ordered it? I was very hopeful that they would have the size I requested until we get the 55 gallon tank in next week. PetCo is supposed to contact me. I got the tank sale, so I only have to pay $55 for the tank and we have a skimmer for it already and heater, etc.

We should be all set. Wish me luck? I will let you know what happens after he arrives and the type of condition that he's in. I'll also post and ask you guys what breed he is by describing him. They don't really say what breed he is, but the manager assured me that he would fit in my 30 gallon and be comfortable.

Everyone is really excited about our new addition to our family. We have alot of support!

How often do you feed them? I hear different opinions about how some people feed them every other day, to every 30 minutes.

"Apey"

 

[Jean]

Apey (& Fiance'!)

Octopus need food every day. We generally have one or two crabs in the tank at any time, the octi can then suit itself when it feeds, I work in a public aquarium, so we don't always have the time to persuade the octopus to feed from our hands, anyway we release back to the wild so they have to be able to hunt!

It's very important to remove debris as soon as you spot it....octopus are very messy eaters!!! We usually remove crab remains then replace with a new live crab.

Good luck

Cheers

Jean

 

[Armstrong]

Every 30 minutes is definately false, lol. Makes no sense

Depending on how fast you want your Octo to grow, you should feed him once a day with 1 meal if you want it to last longer and live longer because it'll grow at a slower rate. By feeding him more, it'll grow quicker and die quicker. Remember that they only live for about 1 year in the home aquarium.

 

[AprylWillis]

I found out that my total cost for the octopus is $120! I am willing to pay it, because I want him badly enough, but is this the average price for an octopus? I still don't know what breed I will be getting, but they promised me that it will be small enough for my 30 gallon until I get my 55 gallon. They also assured that I would get a guaranteed replacement if anything happens during FedEx. (We all know that FedEx tends to be douchebags.)

Thank you Armstrong for the feeding tips! I was very confused with all of the information that was being thrown at me. I will keep in mind to feed him once a day. I don't want him growing too quickly.

Also, I recently bought him some infant toys and I placed a plastic ring in the tank for him to swim through. We also placed clear, plastic ferret tubing and we built a cave in the corner for him to hide in. Do you think this is adequate enough for him? (I also got a little bendy toy rattle and a clear plastic hamster toy to hide food in for him.)

 

[DHyslop]

$120 is a little above average, but probably still in the range. Marine Depot is offering bimacs for $45 and Tom is asking $30 for a briareus (I think its safe to add $35-40 shipping and a $10 box charge to either of those numbers).

I'd personally prefer one of the above vendors because you'd be relatively confident in which species you're getting. You might also consider having a plastic "critter cage" handy with lots of little tiny holes drilled in it. That way if your octo is very tiny on arrival you won't lose him in the tank.

Dan

 

[AprylWillis]

I really wanted a Bimac, but I was told my aquarium is too small. (Regardless I have seen others house the same breed in the same gallon aquarium without any problems.)However, I've been told that my aquarium is just perfect for the octopus offered by Aquacon.com. I figured $120 was average, maybe a little over the normal rate. I'll let you guys know what breed I get when it comes in.

Thanks for the critter cage tip. I'll keep that in mind.

 

[DHyslop]

You'll be housing it in a 55 once that tank is cycled? That's a reasonable tank for a bimac.

Also, take with a grain of salt whatever the vendor tells you about the octopus. I don't trust "aquacon" to know what species of octopus they're selling you, how old it is and how large it will grow.

 

[Lil Shark]

I got my little guy in the store to devour frozen silversides... I thought this was normal behavior?

 

[marinebio_guy]

I have some baby bimac's if you are interested but they are still really small.

 

[xavier]

any updates>>??

 

[AprylWillis]

New baby!

Hey, everyone on Tonmo.com!

I would like to give a warm shoutout to everyone who responded to my individual needs. I'm a new and very, very proud parent of a baby octopus!

I still don't know what breed he is. I ordered him from www.saltwaterfish.com for $97.97 and I'm also ordering his first few meals from another website. Since I can't afford the ShrimpStuff.com website, I can buying him 10 fiddler crabs and 100 mysid shrimp for now. (f course, I'll be buying the mysid shrimp later)

Like any new parent, I plan on taking a ton of new pictures with our brand new webcams that we got especially for this occassion!

If you can spot what breed he is, please, please let me know!

He's a dark brown color.

Also, how do you tell the sex of the octopus? He's still pretty young, but I noticed his sunction cups were closer together and I heard a rumor on this site that that was how you could tell the sex?

We put in clear ferret tubing and plastic rings for him to mess with. I hope he enjoys his new home! He'll be one spoiled pet!

Thanks, you guys for everything!

"Apey"

 

[cuttlegirl]

Congratulations! How small are the fiddler crabs? Mysid shrimp are really small, so the fiddlers must be tiny... How big is your octopus?

 

[Animal Mother]

Awesome, congratulations!

 

[AprylWillis]

The body part (mantle) is 4" and the tentacles are about 3" long.

I followed the acclimation procedure as instructed and I slowly placed him in the tank. I didn't "drop" him in to give him a shock. He moved around and seemed to be fine, but when my grandma went to view him, he suddenly shot out ink and turned upside down and his color went a pale white.

His legs tensed up and he continued to float upside down for a few seconds, before he returend to normal color and procedued to cling to the tank. Now he's climbing down the tank as we speak.

Should I be alarmed by this behavior? When should I be concerned that he might be dying/sick? Did I do something wrong? I let the bag float at the top for approximately 3 hours.

I just discovered an opening in the lid and I'm afraid we might even have a leak-what is a good concealer that I can immediately apply?

Please let me know about all of these things right away. It's an emergency and I'm in panic-mode!

Thanks,
Apryl

 

[Armstrong]

Just wanna let you know...to tell the sex is very, very difficult at your octopuses age...if it even is young and is a Bimac, Briareus or w/e. Hopefully it's not a Dwarf, but when it grows bigger you'll notice for a male octopus it has a sperm/sexual tentacle on the tip of the third right on used for mating and is a little bulge, while females don't have this in any of it's arms.

Also, when it's sexually mature, males have two rows of suckers like females, but towards the upper part of the arms near the base, they have randomly overly larger suction cups...usually 1 huge sucker per arm and bigger than the rest. These are used for mating also in order to scare other males away...the bigger the suckers, the bigger the octopus. Females have 2 rows of perfectly shaped suckers going from big to small.