• 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.

Latest from Octopets

Nancy

Titanites
Staff member
Moderator (Staff)
Joined
Nov 20, 2002
Messages
5,816
Location
Dallas Texas
Hi all,

I talked for some time with Jim of Octopets today. He's been very busy with his new project: raising different species of seahorses to offer for sale. He's been the only person at Octopets all this time, but now he's hired a young person to help him out.

The California rains have made the water in the lagoon brown. They've also affected some of the livestock because the torrents of rain diluted the seawater and suddenly lowered the salinity. Some octo hatchlings were lost.

Octopets has only bimac hatchlings right now, so it may be 6 weeks before baby bimacs are available. Cuttlefish (S. officinalis) won't be ready until June. Jim will also be raising S. bandensis and another species of octo this year. And there are the seahorses.

I was talking to Jim about ceph food and learned this: his salt water guppies have been bred for generations as salt water guppies. He recommends them as food only for the cuttlefish. The bimacs in the ocean around the Octopets area eat mostly shellfish: scallops, clams and least favorite, mussels - and they never eat oysers. Jim cracks the shells and tosses clams or scallops in with the bimacs and they love it! In the wild, bimacs open the shells by drilling them. Of course, these bimacs also like shrimp and crabs. He thinks it's good to vary the type of food.

So, it will be a bit before we're hearing about new bimac pets, unless some of the LFSs still have some of the last batch.

Nancy
 
Thanks for the update, Nancy. I wish there were better news! Does anyone have a list of stores that Octopets supplies, other than FishSupply?

Dan
 
Ooh, thats a bummer. I have my tank all cycled and ready and was hoping to get a bimac soon. I hope Octopets doesn't raise their prices because of this, didn't they just raise them recently?

You mentioned the salt water guppies. What about the clams? The octopets kit comes with 200 of them. I was going to store these in a refugium. Does anyone know what the requirements are to keep them alive and happy? What do I feed the clams? Will they breed? Are these a good food source for the octo throughout its life (along with other treats such as crabs, shrimp, etc)?

What about the amphipods? Are these for octos or only for raising baby octos? What are the requirements for keeping these in a refugium? Will they breed, or will the numbers gradually dwindle if not consumed quickly enough?

My thanks in advance!
 
The clams are fine for a baby octo, but too small for an adult.

Amphipods are also eaten by baby octos - they must taste pretty yummy because my little bimac continued to eat the many amphipods in the tank until every one was gone. Amphipods breed, but an octopus can eat them faster than they can reproduce in your tank.

Nancy
 
lockburn said:
Ooh, thats a bummer. I have my tank all cycled and ready and was hoping to get a bimac soon. I hope Octopets doesn't raise their prices because of this, didn't they just raise them recently?

Yeah, I was going to order mine this week for my birthday. Since I'm moving next fall I don't know if I should even get one if they won't be available for six weeks. I've been ready to order for a couple weeks, but I thought with the rash of recent deaths I might give it a little bit. Next time I'll take the chance :smile:

Octopets price did go up at around the beginning of the year. Oddly enough fishsupply.com's prices didn't. I was originally going to order from fishsupply for that reason, but with the other things I was getting (abalones, macroalgae, etc) it was only about $5 cheaper, and at that point I'm willing to pay a little more to support the source.

Liveaquaria.com has cultured bimacs occasionally (and they will also email you when they are in stock). I don't know of any other sources, though.

Dan
 
well i have recently been to ocotpets b/c i am getting a bimac soon and they are still in stock at same price so is it true that octopets does send octos to fishsupply
 
I should be getting my OctoPet in about a week! Can't wait!

I think I'm going to have to steal a name for him from the forum, because 1) they sound pretty good, 2) I'm not that creative, and 3) my friends will never know!
 
Can you walk in and purchase an Octopus instead of going through the web site? I live about 30 minutes south of Carlsbad and am wondering if they have a storefront?
 
Some of our members have done just that, but you need to call and make an appointment. Also, there seems to be a waiting list right now for little bimacs. Looks like they will begin to be shipped soon.

Nancy
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top