3 CB Bimacs are doing GREAT!

[asch803]

i've had my 3 CB bimacs from fishsupply for almost 2 weeks now, and they're doing incredibly well. i also got my lfs two additional that are also doing well...I have all 3 in a 35 hex tank with alot of live rock for them to hide in...For the past 3 or 4 days i've been feeding them crawfish (with their pinchers removed) and finally this morning i saw all 3 at the same time, each eating their own crawfish and I could finally confirm that all 3 are doing well...it's tough to identify which is which when they change shape, size and color...so far there's been no noticeable fighting between bimacs (all from the same brood according to jack at fishsupply)...good news is i'm picking up a 70 hex this week which will become their home in a month or two (i have approx 100-120 lbs of LR curing in a bucket for the past 6 months)...need to get a pump, skimmmer and octo prrof it in the meantime...i'm trying to get the octos used to the net (for when i need to change their home) by feeding them the crawdads from the net...i just love these octos and can't pull myself away from their tank...

 

[Dr. Idso]

Hey Asch...,

I know how addicting it can be to watch the octopus feeding. I've attached a picture of my my latest feeding trick. I take a 3 inch long crawdad and stuff it into a Cool Mountain Gourmet Soda bottle and... well the rest is history. Check out the photo and enjoy!

Regards,

Dr. Idso

 

[asch803]

octo feeding

octo feeding

is that a glass bottle? that's really cool! Is it a bimac? I really need to get them used to the net or me, so i can get them out when the time comes...have you ever kept more than one? how long until i'll need to move them?? do you think a 70 gal tank will be sufficient ultimately? thanks!

 

[Dr. Idso]

Yes, the pop bottle is glass, and it is 9 inches in length. I believe the octopus in the photo is a bimac, and hope that it will be positively identified by the experts on this discussion list as such. Twenty years ago, when I was starting high school, my father built a ten foot long by three feet high and two feet wide glass aquarium. We had up to ten octopuses in it at one time. All the octopuses were of the variety that I have now and show in my photographs. Just recently, I had two octopuses of this size in an 80 gallon aquarium, but one seemed to be getting stressed and frightened by the other, so I pulled on out. I paired it up with a much smaller captive bred bimac, which it devoured after about six days. But in this case, the size differential was about 15 to 1. As long as your small ones as adequately fed, I would think that they would not attack each other. The many octopuses I kept in the ten foot long aquarium were all similar in size, and none of them ever preyed upon one another. But again, I kept them well-fed, so that would probably be a key to your success. And I think that a 70 gallon tank would do fine, at least for a year.

Regards,

Dr. Idso

P.S. Here's a neat color pattern I shot just before feeding time today.