Mimic octopus

P

Postyoa28

New member
So in my search for interesting marine related internet pages as I am bed ridden for a couple of days with a shoulder and back injury, I came across a posting for a mimic octopus.


http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=206601

Now as "great a deal" this person is offering for this rare creature, I can't help but think how he came across it. These octopus are very rare, with very limited sightings and observations in the wild. Are there enough of these creatures in the wild to be able to handle the pressures of the aquarium trade? I'm not sure, but I can point you to a page of someone more informed than me on this particular species. Dr. Roy Caldwell is a great source of information for these rare cephalopods and provides a great article regarding these species and the aquaria trade.

http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/mimic.php


Now don't get me wrong, I am not against this person's sale of this rare creature. It is already in captivity and seems to be eating. This is an amazing opportunity for a person to experience this octopus. If you have the interest, time, and money I would suggest looking into it.

The problem I have is with the harvesting and importation of these and other rare creatures. Will we deplete the micropopulations of these organisms? I don't know. I hope we don't.
 
I read an article somewhere that said if they are raised in captivity they will not produce the mimic features that make them so unique. Further they would require a huge tank IMO because all of the footage I have watched on them has been shot in large expanses of sand beds. I think this is one creature that needs to be left in the ocean. Just my opinion.
 
I never said that particular one was. My statement was concerning actual mimic octos.
 
No problem. I know that it's hard to understand what people are trying to say through nonverbal communication. I think if anyone has kept a mimic they would be on tonmo. I've never heard of anyone keeping them myself though. There's probably a reason why.
 
This is a species best left to the ocean yes, but this person already bought the animal and is now trying to find it a good home. Let's not flame.

Good call on the wunderpus, cuttlekid.
 
thanks animal mother. it was hard for me to tell at first but then i remembered fontanelle (Thales') and that mimics dont have the more clearly defined stripes as wunderpus does.
 
Oh I never meant to flame, if it came out that way I'm sorry. I don't think he has bought it yet though.
 
Most of the 'crazy' cephs, stop a lot of the cool behaviors relatively quickly after importation.

Wunderpus may mimic, the do at least one pose that may be 'lion fish'. The certainly don't do the variety of poses the mimics are known for.

There are different opinions on how these animals should be kept and what size their tanks should be. There are pros and cons to both large and small tanks, but if small, it should be plumbed into a larger system.

Ethical considerations regarding the keeping and collecting of these species has been discussed

Here - http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8934
and here - http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7838&page=5&highlight=ethics

We don't know if these animals populations are declining or if they are doing just fine. Since we don't know, I would rather them be collected to order instead of the supermarket collecting that often happens. However, IMO the industry that supplies livestock to the hobby is somewhat broken and there is currently no real way to effect what does and doesn't get collected. We know nothing at all about their numbers in the wild or their reproduction rates or hatchling survival.

That said, they really are terrible pets. They are not interactive like other octos (I think I called wunderpus the dumbest octo ever in an article) and they live max a year so they really aren't for most people.

For information of the difference between mimic and wunderpus :
http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/wunderpusvsmimic.html
or
http://www.stickycricket.com/cuttle/wunderpus/mimic_comparison/index.htm

There are people who have kept both mimic and wunderpus. I have kept wunderpus (for more information go to www.wunderpus.net) but never mimic. I would get a mimic if I happened to see one, but I don't want to encourage their collection (I saw several in the field last year, cool!). Same for wunderpus. I will not actively look for these animals as pets or as breeding animals because it is virtually impossible to raise the hatchlings of small egged octos at this time)

And, of course, www.TONMO.com for all your ceph needs.

I am prolly getting the animal in question tomorrow.
 
That is by far, the ballinist, wicked, and downright pimpest wunderpus I have ever seen!

Lol, that thread made me laugh so hard.
 
I'm not here to start an argument, but no one has ever taken the time to look into wild populations. In 1990's, before they were even scientifically described I went on a 32 day dive/collection expidition and on one of the days asked the boat operator if he knew of them. He took us to some dismal mud flats (where no one really dives) and we saw 4 different ones on 2 tanks that day. IMO they could be a lot more common then any one realizes, but because of the habitat the just are rare in the trade. The other thing to consider is their life span, like other octo's, is short so they may be able to handle collections as long as it is responsible. my feelings are that as long as it is that expensive, the few people who buy them will buy them and take good care of them. After the few who are willing to spend the money, collectors/wholesalers/retailers wont buy any more because it is a loss of $$$ when they quickly stop selling, thus reduding the pressure off wild stock. If you were a retailer/ wholesaler you may buy 1, sell it quickly buy another, but then what? Good business says stop buying them so if a collector can't sell it why go to a place where there is nothing else to make money on.

Just my thoughts, but I used to collect for a living so I know how it is to go to a spot where there is few sellable animals, it isn't worth my time to maybe find 1 rare animal if there isn't bi-catch that I can count on to sell.
 
There has been evidence in the recent past to indicate that areas where they used to be plentiful, they are no longer plentiful. Sites where they used to be seen all the time are empty of them - researchers who have gone specifically to photograph these animals have been skunked in locations where they used to be a sure find. It seems that this has been from collection as when one was mentioned to collectors in an area, it was gone very soon after. Up until the last year, they were not really all that rare in the trade and were popping up all over the place, and they were being snapped up as fast as they could be unpacked and their prices were coming down. They were also coming in in bad shape, si it was probable that they were not being collected in a responsible manner. Cep enthusiasts were inundated by posts and emails from people who would buy them knowing nothing about how to keep cephs in general, never mind this particular animal.
Given that we know next to nothing about their life cycle and population numbers, all of the above is concerning. It may be that they are more common than we think. It may be their populations can take responsible collecting, but without more information, those mays become a little scary.
 
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