First octopus

[joesox]

I recently set up a tank specifically for a octopus. It is a 44 gal. pentagon RRcorner tank. I was planning on ordering one on line when my tank was all ready, but last weekend I saw two at the lfs for the first time ever. My question is that they tell me they are pacific octopus, although they do not know the scientific name for it, would this octopus get too large for a 44gal tank? Right now they have a mantle size of about 2-3 inches. Is there anything else special about pacific octopus? Any info would be appreciated.
THanks.

 

[Nancy]

Hi joesox,

The term "Pacific octopus" doesn't tell you much. You won't know how big this octopus will get until you know the species. Perhaps it is a bimac (Octopus bimaculoides), which is commonly sold as a pet and does come from the Pacific.

There are many photos of bimacs on this website (I have one of my bimac in the Octopus Database), so perhaps you could get a better idea of whether it's a bimac. To be safer, you can order online from FishSupply, like I did.

Good luck!
Nancy

 

[joesox]

Thanks Nancy,

I am going to go back this afternoon and see if I can do a better job identifying it. I guess I am just more comfortable buying one this way when I can see what I am getting. Have you had good luck having them shipped? I have heard that they do not ship that well. Does fishsupply force them to ink before they ship them?
Thanks again

 

[sideways]

I just got my first octopus (a bimac) about 30 minutes ago. Hes floating in the tank in his bag and I am slowly adding water from the tank. He's doing great and flashing colors and squirting water at me. He's been in the bag since he was shipped out at 6:00pm (3:00 pacific standard) and he looks like he did fine, didn't ink either. Jack at fishsupply.com can id a bimaculoides for you, he still has a couple more babies like mine if you want to order one. There small which is good, mantle about 1.5" and arms 3-4". They're $29 plus shipping and box/heatpad charge, it came to $68.50 total from Cali to North Carolina...how much are the ones at the petstore? Look for the false eyespots (sometimes bright blue)to tell if they're bimaculoides. LFS's don't usually know much about octos, even if it says Pacific, it could be a Vulgaris from the Atlantic!

 

[Nancy]

As to your earlier question, FishSupply does not force octopuses to ink - in fact, they don't want to scare them.

A number of us have had good experiences having bimacs shipped to us by going through Jack at FishSupply. My little bimac Ollie was in better shape after the trip from California to Texas than I would have been! He was alert and swimming around in the bag.

The worst part of having your octopus shipped is waiting for it to come. I had a bad case of octopus anxiety, worrying until Ollie arrived.

Hope this helps,

Nancy

 

[joesox]

My lfs wants 70$ for the octo. This seems fairly reasonable to me considering I have never seem one locally before. The lfs seems to think that this one will grow to 5-6 feet , they must be talking about the length of the arms. Maybe they will let me take a picture of it while I am there to help id it. Hmmm. the more I think about it I may be better off buying one online.

 

[rrtanton]

Well, if he reaches 5-6 feet, then for a 44 gallon tank, yeah, you probably wouldn't want him. Then again, if they don't know species, an ID would probably be very helpful. I know that my next octo will be a bimac, and will probably be coming either from Jack or from a captive breeder so I can be sure of what I'm getting.

Whatever you do get, good luck with him!

rusty

 

[Pacific Blue]

Hey Joesox

Hmmmm a pacific octopus eh? did the lfs tell you what part of the pacific? What temp is the water at? When you looked at it in the store what was the skin like was it bumpy or have skin tags? Colour might help. Problem with octos is unless I know where they where collected or I can get very close to it, it is very difficult to tell most pacific species. It might be O. vulgaris or O. bimaculoides if it is the bimac you whould be able to see two eye spots near the base of its mantle. I have never had an octo shipped because I am in canada and it would probably spend too much time at customs but many have shiped in the US with sucsess. If you can go pick it up your self. Good luck.

Pacific Blue