O.bimaculatus

[Tonka]

Hello, this is my first post on this site but I have been in the saltwater hobby for about a year now. I was thinking of having a species tank with one O.Bimaculatus, so far I have been using R/O water free from copper, I have a 55 tank with a wet/dry with protein skimmer and the wet dry has enough to hold 75 gallons so the tank is pretty clean, my paremeters are all good but the problem is I have some livestock, so I might wait until I find a home for them and then try to make room for the Octo. What do you think? Or what am I missing?

Also I was thinking of ordering the octos from marinedepotlive.com they seem to have them but I am worried they might get mixed up with vulgaris or bimaculoides, so has anyone ordered from there and what are your experiences? good shipping? Anything. Thanks.

 

[cephalopoder]

Welcome Tonka
Sounds like a good plan. You will need to remove the live stock from your tank first. Every thing but cucumbers, snails, starfish, hermits will have to go.
The species you want is O.bimaculoides. Bimaculatus is a deeper water species and grows 3 time larger. It is not common in the trade. I would order one from www.fishsupply.com. They are the only ones I know of that can ID a bimaculoides. Talk to Jack and tell him chris sent you. The are the best octo shippers in the business. There is tons of info in back posts in this forum. Its a good place to start learning about cephs. You can also do a search of the forum for specific questions.
Good luck and feel free to ask any thing you can't find info on in the forum.
chris

 

[Tonka]

thanks, I will keep asking questions as I get more into the subject but just out of curiosity what is the min. tank size for a bimaculatus?

 

[cephalopoder]

I recommend a tank size of 30 gallons or more for O.bimaculoides. The bigger the tank the better. You will need a well aged and cycled tank. Octopuses put out about 3x as much waste as the same weight in fish.
I recommend a tank up and running for atleast 3 months with 6 months being even better.

 

[Tonka]

The problem is that I live in Puerto Rico, and I already checked with fish supply a while ago and they said that the wont ship livestock here. So the options that I see for now is marine depot live which sells the bimaculatus(thats why I asked the min tank size for them) and flying fish that sells the bali, can you give me some info on the bali? Heard some dont last even weeks. The other option is to find a lfs that will order one for me but Im still not sure.

 

[cephalopoder]

I wouldn't count on marine depot getting you a O.bimaculatus. It is a very hard octopus to get. Just because they advertise something, does not meen that it what you will get. My guess its pot luck when you order from them. I have seen a few octos come from there and they were not bimaculatus.
As far as the bali goes.. Pot luck again but I have seen two examples of it and it was a long arm species of the horridus complex with excellent camo ability. It was prone to escape as well. Unless a octopus is captive breed you never know the age of what they send you.
A specimen could live 1 week or 9 months...One never knows.

 

[OctoMonkey]

Hi Chris
The Bali's that i have seen here recently are all longarm ones too... look a LOT like aculeatus but who knows??????

 

[OctoMonkey]

I was thinking about this today Tonka......
If you stay in Puerto Rico, could you not get a mask and snorkle and catch your own octo? I think I would

 

[Tonka]

I dont know, because its not easy. and it is pretty hard, I have already nearly about 40 dives and out of those 40 I have only seen 2 octos, and very hard to see since they are under a very tight rock. I rather just order one and enjoy my diving time by watching.

 

[cephalopoder]

Tonka, its not that hard to catch octos. I spent two weeks in costa rica studying octops and catching them both snorkleing and diving.
Look for the intertidal species close to shore.
You just need to look in the rocks or look for a miden pile in fron of a den. Carry a squeeze bottle of fresh water and squirt it in the den to flush them out. After you squirt it in the den get obove and behind the rock so the octopus can not see you. When it comes out grab it!
I caught about 8 in water less than 10 feet snorkeling this way. O.hubsorum.
Or a another easy way is to go when eary morning or at night after dark and look in the tide pools I found several this way.
chris

 

[Tonka]

I might try that, during what month should be the best time to capture them?

 

[Tonka]

I also forgot to add that right now I have 260 watts off power compact over my tank, will this blind the octo? I also have some shrooms and soft corals, are corals ok with octos? And one last question if the octo is not reef safe can I setup a 20 gal for a joubini? and which site will sell pygmy octos?

 

[cephalopoder]

I would try any season for octo hunting. Just look for a small one.
260 is a lot of light. Members of the horridus comples get white milky lookng spots in the center of their eyes in captivity some times. Possibly dure to light levels. I have not seen this take place on O.bimaculoides and non horridus species. The coral would be fine, temp depending on where the octo is from could be a issue.
Pygmy octos would do fine in a 20. Try tampa bay saltwater.

 

[Tonka]

thanks a lot! checked with tampa bay and they will ship, so Im going for the 20 gal, the guy said that they are usually found in their live rock and live up to 2 years. So if you could please give me info on them, thanks again!

 

[noni]

Hey Tonka, It might be a good idea to bring home some live beach sand from a clean area to cycle your tank faster. I know I would if I lived by the beach.