Please do not misinterpret the tone of my answers
, no insult is intended. We're ALL new at this game, relatively speaking. So much is in the opinion of the answerer that I try to qualify what and how I "know" something and that much is IMO or IME. If it comes across differently, I apoligize. I am not an expert, just a passionate hobbiest with some time (and a few octos
) under my belt.
Obtaining one is (can you guess) problematic and usually someone will post in the
availability thread when they are spotted for sale either in a pet shop or on-line so subscribing to that thread will set up an automatic email with new postings.
Local Purchase:
Check with your Local Fish Stores. Some LFSs will order them for you but it is still a pig in a poke as to what you will (and depending on the year IF and WHEN) receive. A few will get them by chance and you can view them before purchasing. For the ones that are viewable in advance, we suggest taking a
good photo and
requesting an ID. We can't always guess but we try.
On-Line:
As I mentioned from your earlier question, Tom is one of our most reliable suppliers for O. briareus and O.mercatoris and availability is seasonal cooinciding with crab season (he does not collect them directly, they are bicatch from the crabbers and shrimpers). Seasonally TONMO member
DanTheMarineMan will get mercs in on their LR and will have a quantity. He has not been active of late but a PM to him usually gets an answer if they have any (but, again, these are the dwarf mercatoris). Lynn at
Island Marine Life occassionaly finds and collects them as well as Kara at
Sea Life Inc but, since I am the webmaster for both sites, they usually contact me when they have them and I will post in the availability thread in advance of them being posted on the site (and if I do not have an empty tank
). Depending on availability, sometimes Lynn or Kara will offer the bicatch mercs but they don't often have the larger bicatch animals because of the difficulty housing them. Drs. Foster and Smith's
Live aquaria Division will list them under two headings when they are available. The link is to their regular listing (we don't know what they ship as the Caribbean octo, it is rarely, if ever available and no one here has successfully ordered under that option) but they sometimes have one in their Diver's Den section (WYSIWYG). The Diver's Den option usually has a decent photo of a specific animal but it is not always properly identified (see
my journal on Maya if you want a direct example). Their Indonesian options have been either a member of the abdopus (diurnal) or macropus (nocturnal) groups. Most have been adult abdopus (usually assumed aculeatus) but
Puddles and several others have been an unknown species of macropus. On a rare occassion, you will see one posted on eBay. Other suppliers come and go. None know much about the species and all know nothing about sexing them.