blue ring
- Thread starter flyboy18
- Start date
squidlips02
New member
They are the prettiest things your ever likely to see, I have thought about it a few times myself, I could go collect one myself, its less than an hours drive from where I live, but my wife is'nt ready for a tombstone just yet. by the way your gonna die?
Steve
Steve
Dell'Oro
New member
Are you in the States?
If so, I don't like your chances as it is very very unlikely you would be able to import them.
The good news is, you're far more likely to live longer this way.....
An LFS not too far from me, used to have a couple in a small species tank, beautiful critters but I wouldn't want one in my house.
If so, I don't like your chances as it is very very unlikely you would be able to import them.
The good news is, you're far more likely to live longer this way.....
An LFS not too far from me, used to have a couple in a small species tank, beautiful critters but I wouldn't want one in my house.
Gonodactylus
Premium Member
Squidlips02,
I spent most of last year searching areas around Brisbane including Straddie and did not find a single Blue-ring. I did find a new species on Lizard, but the population in the Brisbane area seems to have crashed.
Roy
I spent most of last year searching areas around Brisbane including Straddie and did not find a single Blue-ring. I did find a new species on Lizard, but the population in the Brisbane area seems to have crashed.
Roy
It doesnt matter anyway, i have a terminal heart condition that at best only gives me about two years to live. within at least a year i will be bed riden and will have to stay at home. While im still able to enjoy life i want to, i have taken up diving and hanggliding, i have also gone skydiving a few times. i have no fear of dying any more and i want a blue ring before i die. If i get bit, then so what, i have less than two years anyway. so if you know where to get one please let me know.
just kidding, im not really going to die, i had a heart condition and all, but im not going to die from it. i've been researching blue rings for sooo long and i know the risk, i know exactly what needs to be done and how long i have to do it if bitten, i know EXACTLY what i'm getting myself into and i know what it takes to house them. so, beyond the "you're going to die" comments, i would really like to know if anyone can set me up with one or knows where to get one. i am in the states, illinois, and im willing to pay. so anyone who can be straight with me, please respond with any info you have, everyone, dont bother. thanx
Gonodactylus
Premium Member
This is a bad time to try to find a blue-ring. Almost all of them that come into the U.S. market are from Indonesia and a combination of bad weather there this time of year, the holidays, and the fact that many of the H. lunulata are juvenile means that they are not showing up. Things will pick up in February or March.
Years ago, while in Utah, I saw a sign on an aquarium that said "blue ring octopus $24.99". I couldn't see anything, so asked the clerk where it was. He stuck his hand in the tank, picked up a rock and shook it. The octopus came out, and turned a variety of colors in front of my eyes. Very, very neat. I thought the clerk was playing with death at the time, and further research proved that to be "somewhat" true. They ARE deadly, fairly timid, but most fatalities occur from beach visitors (in Australia) when they pick one up to look at it.
It's not an agressive, deadly killer (from what I had read), but still (to me) an unacceptable risk.
It's not an agressive, deadly killer (from what I had read), but still (to me) an unacceptable risk.
yea i know, they aren't aggresive. everyone thinks they know everything and are just like "you're gunna die", its not like that at all, u have to **** it off first, then practically grab it. even when its mad, u can put ur hand in the water and be safe, it doesn't just attack. thank you Gonodactylus, im really lookin to get it about then anywaz, so thats perfect, if u get any info on where exactly to track one down when feb/march rolls around, let me know, thanks
bigworm616
New member
your gonna die, pretty ocotpus but your gonna die. If i had one in my apartment id kill it with a stick. Hope you find one.
Gonodactylus
Premium Member
I'm walking a fine line here. A few years ago I wrote an article for FAMA discussing blue-rings. My major purpose in publishing that article was to inform people of the danger of keeping a Hapalochlaena. This was based on my own experince seeing a person who probably died from a blue ring bite and having exposed my own daughter to an encounter with a blue-ring which could have been fatal.
On the other hand, the extreme paranoia that I see on sites such as this regarding keeping blue-rings is bothersome. They are generally not aggressive and someone who knows what they are doing can probably keep one quite safely. The problem is that when you put a blue-ring in an aquarium, you cannot guarantee that anyone who has access to the blue-ring knows enough to stay clear of it. That is why I always ask if you can be sure that the neighbor kid down the block won't reach into the tank when you are out of the room.
Even more troublesome is the fact that they are unpredictable. Almost always I can feed my blue-rings with a feeding stick with no problem. However, occasionally they attack the stick with unusual vigor and more than once I have had to drop the strick as the blue-ring charged up it towards my hand. Always the impulse was to push it back into the water, but that would mean coming in contact with it and that is something you do not want to do. I've kept blue-rings for 15 years and even this year I have come unintentionally close to having one grab on to my hand. Every time I deal with them I remind myself of the danger and what to and what not to do. Can you say that a visitor to your home who simply wants to see the pretty octopus while you are getting a Coke from the fridge will do the same?
Roy
On the other hand, the extreme paranoia that I see on sites such as this regarding keeping blue-rings is bothersome. They are generally not aggressive and someone who knows what they are doing can probably keep one quite safely. The problem is that when you put a blue-ring in an aquarium, you cannot guarantee that anyone who has access to the blue-ring knows enough to stay clear of it. That is why I always ask if you can be sure that the neighbor kid down the block won't reach into the tank when you are out of the room.
Even more troublesome is the fact that they are unpredictable. Almost always I can feed my blue-rings with a feeding stick with no problem. However, occasionally they attack the stick with unusual vigor and more than once I have had to drop the strick as the blue-ring charged up it towards my hand. Always the impulse was to push it back into the water, but that would mean coming in contact with it and that is something you do not want to do. I've kept blue-rings for 15 years and even this year I have come unintentionally close to having one grab on to my hand. Every time I deal with them I remind myself of the danger and what to and what not to do. Can you say that a visitor to your home who simply wants to see the pretty octopus while you are getting a Coke from the fridge will do the same?
Roy
squidlips02
New member
Gonodactylus
I have heard there are a few in the caloundra area around the rock pools near Kings beach, I have never realy looked for them, but I did happen upon a very large bright orange octi that scared the bejesus out of me one afternoon up there, I mistook it for something else and I touched it, it was out of the water in a large rock with I presume water in it, any way to get back to my story I touched it to feel the texture thinking it was a sponge or something any way all of a sudden there were these big eyes looking at me, and its tenticles started moving well I'm not sure which of us got the biggest scare me or the otupus, I let out squeel and took off like a girl, i'll never live it down.
You must have spent some time in the area to know about straddie and that, holliday or work, some nice sots near Bunderberg.
Steve
I have heard there are a few in the caloundra area around the rock pools near Kings beach, I have never realy looked for them, but I did happen upon a very large bright orange octi that scared the bejesus out of me one afternoon up there, I mistook it for something else and I touched it, it was out of the water in a large rock with I presume water in it, any way to get back to my story I touched it to feel the texture thinking it was a sponge or something any way all of a sudden there were these big eyes looking at me, and its tenticles started moving well I'm not sure which of us got the biggest scare me or the otupus, I let out squeel and took off like a girl, i'll never live it down.
You must have spent some time in the area to know about straddie and that, holliday or work, some nice sots near Bunderberg.
Steve
Gonodactylus-
to address the problem of someone else entering the tank, it actually cant happen, because of the way the tank is made. its glass top is sealed 100% around the edge and the olny spot to open it is thru a small door that is hinged in the glass w/ a fraction of a centimeter around the door. the latches are so taht nothing from the inside can ever push the door up, so he cant push his own way out, and as for the people on the outside, they cant get in without knowing exactly what ur doing with the latch. plus the tank is on a dresser, so the actual top of the tank is a good 5 feet or so off the ground, and i live in an apartment so no one but me and my roommate will be there and he knows more bout salt water krap than i probably do, he has a 75gal reef. plus on top of that, my bedroom locks, so for the purposes of a party, no one can get in w/o me anywho. so i think as far as other people doin something to it, i think its covered.
now you say it runs up the stick at you? what do you do, obviously drop the stick, but if the stick is sticking out of the top, he could potentially climb out of the tank. what do u do? net him? with a longggg net? also, how long is this feeding stick? i planned on throwing live emerald crabs and junk in there. if you are feeding with a stick, are the crabs u feed them dead? should they be fed dead? thanks
J
to address the problem of someone else entering the tank, it actually cant happen, because of the way the tank is made. its glass top is sealed 100% around the edge and the olny spot to open it is thru a small door that is hinged in the glass w/ a fraction of a centimeter around the door. the latches are so taht nothing from the inside can ever push the door up, so he cant push his own way out, and as for the people on the outside, they cant get in without knowing exactly what ur doing with the latch. plus the tank is on a dresser, so the actual top of the tank is a good 5 feet or so off the ground, and i live in an apartment so no one but me and my roommate will be there and he knows more bout salt water krap than i probably do, he has a 75gal reef. plus on top of that, my bedroom locks, so for the purposes of a party, no one can get in w/o me anywho. so i think as far as other people doin something to it, i think its covered.
now you say it runs up the stick at you? what do you do, obviously drop the stick, but if the stick is sticking out of the top, he could potentially climb out of the tank. what do u do? net him? with a longggg net? also, how long is this feeding stick? i planned on throwing live emerald crabs and junk in there. if you are feeding with a stick, are the crabs u feed them dead? should they be fed dead? thanks
J
