"Weirdish intro" cause I'm new here

Mel Cheal

Cuttlefish
Registered
Joined
Jul 1, 2016
Messages
22
Location
Massachusetts
Hey everyone. ("Hi Mel")
To jump right into this, I'm a bit octopus obsessed, they have always been my favorite animal. About 8 months ago, I began cycling 3 60 gallon tanks, in the hope to eventually get a few octopuses. Any ways I've been keeping the tanks up and I'd say they are mature enough to house octos.
So a bit of personal background, I'm an avid wildlife photographer (mostly marine life and reptiles). I've kept some small nano reef tanks in the past. Currently, my entire house seams to be cephalopod themed (It might be why I don't go on many dates, I guess most girls don't dream of being octomoms, figures).
I'm currently in Hawaii for a vacation, where I have been making several trips to the Kinaloa octopus farm to craze my desire to be near cephalopods at all times.

Anyways, this is just my weird-ish introduction. I've been lurking for the past year, figured I should grow a pair (errr I mean, a hectocotylus) and make a real account.

Mel
 
Anyways, this is just my weird-ish introduction. I've been lurking for the past year, figured I should grow a pair (errr I mean, a hectocotylus) and make a real account.
:lol:
...now I tried, but I can't find the weird in here. You must be in the right place! :biggrin2:

Thanks for lurking, and thanks for jumping in. Looking forward to your contributions here. Let us know what you think of Kinaloa; I've corresponded with them a bit but I know they were slow to get started up.
 
:cuttlehi:Mel! As tonmo said, nothing weird here about cephalopod obsessions, you are clearly looking in the wrong place for octomoms :wink:. Perhaps hanging out around the aquarium? :sagrin:. Home furnishings are not even weird, check out this Octobot news post.

Here is a link to a group of discussions I recommend for all new octo keepers that I hope you find useful.

Do give us a report on Kinaloa's progress. In addition to octopuses, I am hoping for a source of crab zoeae for hatchlings.
 
Kanaloa seems to be doing well. On their first try raising the paralarvae, they got them to day 7. They are hoping to eventually get a clutch of eggs a month. Their crab zoeae production is going very, very well. They have a whole system dedicated to raising them. They have figured out the correct ratio of phytoplankton to be feeding the crab zoeae, and at this point seem to have an unlimited supply.
Obviously the farm is in it's startup stage, but so far their progress seems great.
I actually fell head over heals in love with O. cyanea, and am so tempted to setup a huge tank for one when I get home. :octocash:

I guess I should also add, I live in Massachusetts. I can often be found at the New England aquarium at the pgo exhibit if anyone's looking for me.

Mel
 
Hi Mel, and welcome to the site!

You'll fit in here very well, so I hope you continue to enjoy the site.
Speaking of the New England Aquarium, have you read The Soul of an Octopus?
We'll be interested to read your posts when you finally get your octopuses.

Nancy
 
Thank you Nancy! I actually read it on the plane the way here! After the first page I was glued to it. Hopefully I'll be getting a few octopus in the next couple weeks, I've been very hesitant to find the right source.

Mel
 
I have always wanted to keep O. cyanea but just don't have the tank space. I ran across one of the GA aquarium employees a couple of years ago at a fish store and extolled their virtues. At the time, she was sure it would fall on deaf ears as the owner (Home Depot entrepreneur, Bernie Marcus) was all about the cold water quest exhibit. I did mention they could have BOTH kinds of octopuses. It is my understanding they now have an O. cyanea exhibit. I need to go check it out but I have no clue whether or not my sales pitch had anything to do with their decision.
 
Thats very interesting. Most aquariums need to expand on their ceph exhibits. My local aquarium (New England Aquarium) has delightfully surprised me and is working on a quickly expanding exhibit dedicated to cephs (plus jelly fish :bugout:).
For future reference, would O. cyanea need a tank say a minimum of 300 gallons? I feel even that would be pushing it for such a large an active octopus. I know the farm uses stock tanks around 300 gallons, and imo they area bit too small. Speaking of which, I went back to the kanaloa farm today, figured I should say my goodbyes to the octos as today is my last day here.
And on a final note, I talked on the phone with some marine invert suppliers this morning. I found two that had octopus that they could ship me. Here are my options.. "Assorted atlantic octopus" and "Assorted pacific octopus" :roll:. Asked them to email me pictures. In response, for the pacific octos I got a google image and "When we get them, they are labeled as Pacific Brown Sp. Unfortunately, we don't have any more information than that. The photo shown, is the species you will get, but we cannot send individual pictures". This was from Saltwaterfish.com, if anyone has ordered from them.
Here is the picture from the other supplier.. (I know, its quite small and not helpful.. grrr)
octopus-1.jpg
 
LOL, I actually figured out who the supplier was from your description. We have had two members recently order the Pacific from them (forever27 and Trevor Little) Both appear to be dwarf species but do not have a firm ID on either. Zeke initially looked very much like it was taken from the mixed Caribbean tank and possibly O. briareus (later photos suggest otherwise).

The "other supplier" is on my personal, "Do not order from" list but you can search on "Aquacon" (alternate ID is Aquatic Connection Live) for member's experiences. Their pictures are "borrowed" from the internet so they are no help with what they MAY have in stock.
 
I'll do some research on the second supplier when I get home tonight. As for the first one, assuming they are selling dwarf octos, would it be an ok idea to buy from them? I don't want to end up putting a tiny octo in a 60 gal and never seeing it again. Is a 30 gallon too small for a dwarf? I would consider making a divider (out of acrylic maybe, with very small holes drilled through), and putting one in each side. I would like to be able to see and interact with them sometimes (even if it's in the middle of the night lol).

At this point I should probably just make a new thread for my questions sorry!
 
A 30 is fine for a dwarf species. The divider, possibly not. Some dwarfs do well together. We have success with O. mercatoris (Caribbean) that have been living in close proximity or are siblings. The lesser Pacific Octopus , also a dwarf (O. chierchiae -- very rare) is known to live similarly. However, trying this may cost you one or both of them if they turn out to be aggressive or cannibalistic. If you use a divider, I would recommend using something opaque with holes no larger than their eyes (the beak is the actual restriction but beak and eye size are roughly the same). If they can detect each other and are mixed sexes, aggressive or cannibalistic problems with ensue. It might be better to use a clear divider and put live food on the other side.
 
Where were you when I was looking for a husband??? I had to go and marry a musician... probably best, didn't want to share my cephs with anyone...

You should volunteer at the aquarium, you might find some friends...
:roflmao:
Thats a good idea! I would absolutely love to volunteer at the aquarium.. I'll have to look into that!
 

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