• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Blue Ring

johnjohn

Hatchling
Registered
Joined
Jan 17, 2009
Messages
3
Dear Friends ,

I am very new to this forum .

16.01.2009 i received a shipment from Indonesia . I had some fish , corals and a Octopuse .

I checked the Dunlop & King 's Cephalopods . I think it is a Blue Ring ! I attached 2 photos of it .

Can anybody help me ? If it is Blue Ring , what do i have to do ?

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Regards

Can Tunali / Aquarist
 
okay what ever you do do not stick your hand in the tank. That is indeed a blue ring octo. That guy could kill you in one bite. they are highly poiseness!!!!!!!! I think you should try and return were it came from. That species should be left in the ocean and not to be touched or get near.

P.S. dont stick your hand in there at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Yup, definitely a blue ring. I'm not at all sure what you should do, but being aware of the toxicity is a good first step. In Roy's lab, they have the rule that no one is to be in the lab with the animals alone. Everyone should be aware that in case of a bite, death is caused by paralysis of the lungs (and the rest of the body) so if the victim can get to a hospital and put on a respirator, they can recover, so that's the urgent treatment.

Fortunately, these animals aren't usually aggressive, so if you're careful, you hopefully won't need the medical information, but it's important to have it.

As far as the animal itself is concerned, normal octopus care applies, pretty much, plus the obvious precautions. I'm inclined to think you should express concern (and possibly anger) to the supplier who sent it, and make sure it isn't sold to anyone who doesn't know what they're doing. Do what you can to escape-proof the tank: maybe put heavy things on the lid, etc., if the tank isn't octo-proofed. You probably don't want to do extensive octoproofing that would involve getting too close to the animal, though.

I'm moving the thread to the "exotics" forum (with a redirect), which is where you can find other discussion of blue-rings, and hopefully some of those experienced with this species will chime in with more thoughts, ideas, and information.

oh, and :welcome: to TONMO, and thanks for being so responsible about this animal!
 
Do not even stick your hand in the water. There is evidence that if the toxin is released in the water (without a bite), you can have a reaction to the toxin. The reaction is not as severe as a bite, but it is a reaction nonetheless.
 
Yes, it certainly does look like a blue-ringed octopus.

It seems like you're an experienced aquarist, so you should be able to keep this octopus, with some care and precautions. We do not encourge people to keep blue-ringed octopuses, but it's a more difficult choice when one is sent to you. You might try to donate it to a public aquarium.

If you keep it, be sure to seal the tank (duct tape works!) so that no escape is possible. Be careful when feeding - you either have to drop in the food or use a feeding stick. And make sure that no one else has access to the tank.

Nancy
 
Dear Friends ,

Thanks alot for your replies . Time being it is the 5th day and it is going on well till now .

Of course i did not design or organized the tank for an octopus . But when i made the aquarium , i put carrying glass on the edge . it seems it is not easy to leave .

I bought last summer Dunlop & King s Cephalopods while preorder at Amazon . I get too much info from that book .

The rule "Hands are out from the tank " is active since it arrived .

Cuttlegirl , you mentioned toxin release in the water . How can i get it out . Is Active Carbon a solution ?

I have my own sales shop and breeding mainly clownfish and mandarin . I am in the hobby since 1983 , proffesional since 1989 .

You can see my tanks from below links;

http://www.reefmerkezi.com/showthread.php?t=1418

http://www.reefmerkezi.com/showthread.php?t=1555

I believe my experience will help on the octopus .

By the way i lost 5 cardinal fishes out of 6 , after it arrived . Is there any relation with the blue ring?

What is the best food offer , in the beginning ?

I put 2 cleaner shrimps , several hermit crabs and crabs to the tank already .

Below , you can can see the pictures from last night .

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Cuttlegirl , you mentioned toxin release in the water . How can i get it out . Is Active Carbon a solution ?

See post #15 of this link...

OMG, picture of a bluering on someone's finger...

From Neogonodactylus
I have twice felt to effects of TTX poisioning from putting my hand in water than contained a dead H. lunulata and I know one other researcher who had a similar experience. There is still some debate whether TTX can penetrate the skin or whether the animal must bite and puncture the skin, but a couple of ER reports that I have read could not find wounds. Most do.
 
johnjohn;131849 said:
By the way i lost 5 cardinal fishes out of 6 , after it arrived . Is there any relation with the blue ring?

What is the best food offer , in the beginning ?

Did you find the bodies of the cardinals? Might have been eaten.

Offer it a variety of snails, hermits, crabs, and shrimp. You'll figure out what does and doesn't appeal to it.

Like your pictures. Cute little thing.
 
That is a beautiful blue ringed! I don't need to remind you to don't stick your hand in the water because many before me have :smile: I would love to see an update on how well it is doing :smile: If they were not toxic as well as rare I would definitely get one :smile:

And welcome to TONMO :smile:
 
Welcome to Tonmo.

Like a loaded gun, a blue ring is a constant threat, but if you are careful around it, you can observe them for a few months. It looks like the one you have is an adult, and they have a short life span.
Word of caution, if it looks like it is dead, use a net to scoop it out of the tank. Sometimes they will "play dead" and wait for a small crab to come by.
Blue rings are one of my favourite octopids, I do have to say, though, that yours looks a little stressed out. You may want to back off on the bright light levels a bit.

Best,

greg
 

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