Hi all

[yantigg]

My name is Kayla. I am new to the saltwater trade and am currently a college student. I have worked with a 55 gallon salt tank, as well as many fresh, including cichlids. I currently have a 200 gallon at the school that I recently performed a clownfish intelligence experiment in. Right now I have moved my clowns and am looking to perform a similar experiment with octopi (I know there is great controvery with the plural of octopus, and am not sure what is the agreed upon term for this forum) I am hoping all of you would be willing to help me in my quest for a successful experiment, as neither myself nor my faculty sponsor has has any experience with octopi. Thanks ahead of time for all the help you offer!

 

[Nancy]

Hi and welcome to TONMO.com!

You'll find lots of information in our Ceph Care articles (Click on Ariticles above.) You might find it interesting to read some of the jounals on the Journals and Photos forum.

We'd be very interested to hear about your octo intelligence experiments. Octopuses are certainly good candidates for intellligence experiments. How did you carry out your clownfish research?

Nancy

 

[Cephalopodia]

yantigg.
We have lots of geniuses on this site that can help you with your wish to keep octos (me not being one of them of course)

 

[yantigg]

For my clowns I had them separated by plastic door screening in the 200 gallon tank (I had 3 clowns). I made flash cards and had them laminated. The first set of cards were rectangular cards with black outlines of shapes with a hole cut out in the middle. Each fish was trained to pick out the shape that I had chosen for them. When they went to the correct shape, they received food. The second set of flashcards were actually cut out shapes with the black outline and hole in the middle. It was quite successful, and really helped those who watched realize how fish really do have different personalities. I'm really looking forward to the octopus experiment, and many in my school are looking forward to him/her too. We are setting up a live feed in the hallway outside the lab so people passing can see what he/she is up too.

 

[L8 2 RISE]

, Ill let the ceph heads answer the rest of your questions, but I think I can answer the one about the plural of octopus.

The three plural forrms in question are octopi, octopuses, and octopodes. Octopi is the most incorrect version as octopus is not a latin word, but an english word. Octopodes is the most correct as it conforms with all of the rules for this word in the English language, but most people on this forum including myself are reduced to saying octopuses as pretty much no one realizes that octopodes is even a word.

 

[yantigg]

My professor always tells me to use octopodes as well, but I always get very strange looks when using it, so it has resulted in me using it with him only. I am happy to know it is something that others know about as well though, and not something he is making up

 

[dreadhead]

I thought octopus was Greek.

 

[MsV]

According to wikipedia, dreadhead is right, it is latinised Greek - octopi is still very wrong, though, as that is treating the word as if it were a second declension noun in Latin (I quote, as it is almost 15 years since I could last pick out such a thing across a crowded room).

 

[L8 2 RISE]

Im not sure why exactly it is not considered latin, but I do know that it was derived and then changed from the original latin making it english

 

[Animal Mother]

It is of greek origin.

 

[corw314]

And

 

[monty]

to TONMO!

 

[DWhatley]

There is something that has bothered me through all the discussions fathoming out the proper plural. If cephlopod means "head foot" why is it that octopuses have arms? Shouldn't they have eight legs?.

 

[gholland]

Maybe we should just decide to use "octopus" as both the singular and plural, like fish...
I now have 1 octopus... but I hope to have many octopus soon!