Unsure of species from LiveAquaria

jcrza

Hatchling
Registered
Joined
Jul 12, 2015
Messages
5
Location
Moon, CA
I bought this guy from their vague "medium-sized" octopus listing. He's got gorgeous vivid blue everywhere when resting which made me think o. briareus at first but he's got no webbing. I was thinking abdopus like the last indonesian octo I got from them but the body shape and lack of eye ridges makes me think otherwise. Any ideas? He's very friendly... actually crawled into my hand and now comes up to me any time I'm near.

Imgur Album
 
Definitely looks like briareus in the first photo BUT, I have seen Callistoctopus aspilosomatis display the same coloration and slim look. It also lacks the webbing and my two were more interactive than most O. briareus (very individual aspect though). HOWEVER, aspilosomatis is VERY nocturnal. Have a look at Puddles thread (a TONMO search for aspilosomatis in titles will bring up two other journals as well). Also do a TONMO search for briareus in the titles to compare. For in situ observations try luteus on Google (this name has often been designated by divers as an id but does not fit the luteus description at all and is probably aspilosomatis).

The thinness of the body has me leaning toward aspilosomatis. If so, it can (but saw it so rarely, I never got a good photo) display a very true red with white spots. Unfortunately, this is a "disturbed" display and, if it is comfortable, you may never see it - very stunning though :biggrin2:

I would invite you to include the pictures directly on TONMO rather than providing a link that could disappear one day. You can directly drag and drop images onto a post from your local computer.
 
Upvote 0
IMG_20151023_045348.jpg IMG_20151023_045507.jpg IMG_20151023_045526.jpg IMG_20151023_045512.jpg IMG_20151023_045522.jpg
I think you're onto something with luteus. I haven't seen it red yet but I'll try to snap a picture if I do.
 
Upvote 0
It would fit their import arm. Most of their (few) Caribbean's are listed in Diver's Den and are quite expensive. With the acquisition by PetCo, old practices will likely slowly disappear but so far (other than multiple weekly junk mail) most things have not changed. Note that the luteus images are a misidentification as that species is much larger than any tagged with that name. It is, however, a local name assigned to what we think is aspilosomatis (genus was Macropus which is now considered a complex).

Hopefully you will continue to journal this adventure. Let me know when you name it (if you give your animals a name) and I can move the whole thread to the journals section on request.

Oh, and Puddles was most active at 3:00AM (as was Beldar). Others saw theirs out during parts of the day but mine were both strictly nocturnal. Just before Puddles passed on, he was out early in the morning and I was able to video his interaction (posted near the end of his journal).
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
THANK YOU jcrza! I'm glad that you could make a post that effects all of us that know LiveAquaria is the easiest way to get an octopus, but are curious about what species they will send.
 
Upvote 0
@DEATHHOUND207 , Here is my little (well, OK, not so little) post that I call Box of Chocolates. I try to suggest all new keepers read both the introduction and the species descriptions as it attempts to bring reality into the desire to obtain a particular species. For ideas on who sells octopuses, try reviewing the List of our Octopuses threads at the top of the Cephalopod Journals forum. Most recent years have (when given) the source of purchase complete with a link.
 
Upvote 0
@deathhound20 :confused2: which links are out of date? The links in this thread are all internal TONMO links and all function (are you on a phone?) with a PC . The Box of Chocolates link above is a direct link to a long post I made describing available species and information about why a keeper will often not know which species he/she will receive and that they are frequently just not available.

The list of our octopuses threads are historic and can be useful to see where octopuses were purchased but you will need to understand, cephalopods are not an everyday, stocked animal. They are frequently not available and regular searching is needed to source them.
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
At the top of the Cephalopod Journals forum are a group of yellow "stickies". The Lists of Our Octopuses are grouped by years (noted in the title). The lists with multiple years contain multiple posts with the oldest on top (my oversight when consolidating them I'm afraid) so you would need to scroll down for the more current. The oldest lists will not have links. The cuttlefish lists have not been maintained.
 
Upvote 0
These older lists are useful historically, for instance to see how species availability has changed. I imagine you'd prefer to look at the current lists.

Nancy
 
Upvote 0

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top