- Joined
- Nov 9, 2003
- Messages
- 8
Hello,
A few of you have asked how I go about catching my bimacs down in Mexico. This is basically how I do it. At low tide, I venture out to a coral reef that basically is devoid of living polyps. This "reef" is essentially comprised of rocks that are covered with algae, barnacles, mussels, and various gastropods. Nonetheless, I wade trhough various tide pools and along the edges of this reef armed with a 5-gallon bucket and an 8-inch hand aquarium net.
I basically lift these rocks up and look underneath them for octopus. I usually find all kinds of ghost shrimp, hermit crabs, snails, and small drab-colored gobies and blennies beneath them and hiding in their crevices. Occasionally, I'll find brittle starfish, nudibranchs, sea cucumbers, feather dusters, and sea anemonies. But if I am lucky, really lucky, I'll lift up a rock and I'll spot something sliding down the vertically-lifted stone like a blob of jell-o....an octopus!
I then quickly try to net the octopus. Oftentimes, the octopus will ink when I lift up a rock its hiding under and then I have to carefully watch for any attempted escape!
It is very exciting collecting your own bimacs in this way. Plus, I always collect some other creatures for the bimacs to pal up with. One IMPORTANT note,
I ALWAYS carefully turn all lifted rocks back over to their origional positions. If rocks are left overturned, any living elements upon them will die and the rocks will appear "bleeched" white in color. If you collect from the wild you have to be careful to leave as little disturbance as possible when you are finished. Sadly, I have come and gone to this particular reef for over 20 years, and at times I have found entire tide pools lifeless, with all rocks having been overturned and not replaced properly.
On my last trip to this location, which was July 2003, I caught the two bimacs whose pictures I have been posting in approximately 2 hours time, and I was alone. On other trips, I have taken friends or relatives down and we have caught 2 or 3 bimacs in half the time, as there were more hands turning over rocks. And back when I was in junior high and high school, we collected as many as 12 bimacs on one particular weekend trip to stock our 4,000 gallon salt water pond we built in our backyard in Arizona! My father also built a 10-foot long aquarium back then that had 10 bimacs living in it!
I hope that answers your questions about collecting wild bimacs down in Mexico. And yes, after catching one, I place a lid on the 5-gallon bucket and aerate the water using a battery operated bubbler whose airline is fed through a small opening I previously drilled in the lid. And no, I have never had an octopus die on me at the beach or during transport back to the USA. They usually live from an average of 6 months to about 18 months in my home aquariums. Typically, I'll catch a bimac or two each July in preparation for the upcoming school year. I'll keep one in the class, and one at home as a reserve just in case the classroom bimac dies during the school year. However, that has only happened twice in five years, and again, it was after 6 or 7 months.
So, I hope you now understand the process of how I go about collecting wild bimacs. As a final note, I would just like to say that I know there are critics who oppose the wild collection of any animal, and they are entitled to their opinions, just as I am to mine! And I love collecting sea creatures for my aquaria!!
Regards,
Dr. Idso
A few of you have asked how I go about catching my bimacs down in Mexico. This is basically how I do it. At low tide, I venture out to a coral reef that basically is devoid of living polyps. This "reef" is essentially comprised of rocks that are covered with algae, barnacles, mussels, and various gastropods. Nonetheless, I wade trhough various tide pools and along the edges of this reef armed with a 5-gallon bucket and an 8-inch hand aquarium net.
I basically lift these rocks up and look underneath them for octopus. I usually find all kinds of ghost shrimp, hermit crabs, snails, and small drab-colored gobies and blennies beneath them and hiding in their crevices. Occasionally, I'll find brittle starfish, nudibranchs, sea cucumbers, feather dusters, and sea anemonies. But if I am lucky, really lucky, I'll lift up a rock and I'll spot something sliding down the vertically-lifted stone like a blob of jell-o....an octopus!
I then quickly try to net the octopus. Oftentimes, the octopus will ink when I lift up a rock its hiding under and then I have to carefully watch for any attempted escape! It is very exciting collecting your own bimacs in this way. Plus, I always collect some other creatures for the bimacs to pal up with. One IMPORTANT note,
I ALWAYS carefully turn all lifted rocks back over to their origional positions. If rocks are left overturned, any living elements upon them will die and the rocks will appear "bleeched" white in color. If you collect from the wild you have to be careful to leave as little disturbance as possible when you are finished. Sadly, I have come and gone to this particular reef for over 20 years, and at times I have found entire tide pools lifeless, with all rocks having been overturned and not replaced properly. On my last trip to this location, which was July 2003, I caught the two bimacs whose pictures I have been posting in approximately 2 hours time, and I was alone. On other trips, I have taken friends or relatives down and we have caught 2 or 3 bimacs in half the time, as there were more hands turning over rocks. And back when I was in junior high and high school, we collected as many as 12 bimacs on one particular weekend trip to stock our 4,000 gallon salt water pond we built in our backyard in Arizona! My father also built a 10-foot long aquarium back then that had 10 bimacs living in it!
I hope that answers your questions about collecting wild bimacs down in Mexico. And yes, after catching one, I place a lid on the 5-gallon bucket and aerate the water using a battery operated bubbler whose airline is fed through a small opening I previously drilled in the lid. And no, I have never had an octopus die on me at the beach or during transport back to the USA. They usually live from an average of 6 months to about 18 months in my home aquariums. Typically, I'll catch a bimac or two each July in preparation for the upcoming school year. I'll keep one in the class, and one at home as a reserve just in case the classroom bimac dies during the school year. However, that has only happened twice in five years, and again, it was after 6 or 7 months.
So, I hope you now understand the process of how I go about collecting wild bimacs. As a final note, I would just like to say that I know there are critics who oppose the wild collection of any animal, and they are entitled to their opinions, just as I am to mine! And I love collecting sea creatures for my aquaria!!
Regards,
Dr. Idso
Ten bimacs in the same tank :o wow, did they manage to coexist?
That is SO not fair!!! :P 
) which is cool in itself, but you can't beat a bimac!
)
