Looking for dwarf octo/small bimac

[MikeFrueh]

Hello,
My name is Mike. I Own Mike's Aquarium Maintenance in Las Vegas, NV. I am currently maintaining a 300 gallon reef tank for a client. Recently I accidentally introduced a harmful, nuisance crustacean. This pest (about 4 or 5 of them) are eating a handful of the mushrooms corals in the tank. I have been unable to capture them as it being a 300 gallon reef, it has upwards of 600 lbs of live rock in it and the said crustaceans (peppermint shrimp) are very elusive and have only been coming out nocturnally. I do not want to tear down the rock as it is a very mature tank and it would have drastic effects on the current stability of the ecosystem of the tank.

My idea is to introduce a small bimac octopus or a short lived dwarf octopus of some kind to prey on the "varmints". My problem is availability. Locally I have no octopi sales. The wholesalers I traditionally go through out of Los Angeles, CA have nothing currently and can't have me any for possibly weeks. In the meantime, these pesky shrimp are destroying corals and my client is in serious woes as she watches her corals melting away from the chewing advances of these shrimp.

Once the octopus/octopi have done their job, I have a personal friend that is into the hobby pretty ferrociously and I will trap the octo and give them to him.

If anyone reading this might have a 3 inch, or relatively small specimen of suitable relative size, can you please contact me asap. I would love to purchase one. You can post me back here, or at my email address [email protected].

Thanks to anyone involved and also any suggestions are invited.

Mike

 

[monty]

Hello,
My name is Mike. I Own Mike's Aquarium Maintenance in Las Vegas, NV. I am currently maintaining a 300 gallon reef tank for a client. Recently I accidentally introduced a harmful, nuisance crustacean. This pest (about 4 or 5 of them) are eating a handful of the mushrooms corals in the tank. I have been unable to capture them as it being a 300 gallon reef, it has upwards of 600 lbs of live rock in it and the said crustaceans (peppermint shrimp) are very elusive and have only been coming out nocturnally. I do not want to tear down the rock as it is a very mature tank and it would have drastic effects on the current stability of the ecosystem of the tank.

My idea is to introduce a small bimac octopus or a short lived dwarf octopus of some kind to prey on the "varmints". My problem is availability. Locally I have no octopi sales. The wholesalers I traditionally go through out of Los Angeles, CA have nothing currently and can't have me any for possibly weeks. In the meantime, these pesky shrimp are destroying corals and my client is in serious woes as she watches her corals melting away from the chewing advances of these shrimp.

Once the octopus/octopi have done their job, I have a personal friend that is into the hobby pretty ferrociously and I will trap the octo and give them to him.

If anyone reading this might have a 3 inch, or relatively small specimen of suitable relative size, can you please contact me asap. I would love to purchase one. You can post me back here, or at my email address [email protected].

Thanks to anyone involved and also any suggestions are invited.

Mike

Mike!

marinebio_guy has some baby bimacs right now, but they may be too small for the task. Of course, some other questions come to mind: are the other corals and fish and powerheads in the tank octo-safe? Is the tank escape-proofed at all? how will you catch the octo after it's done eating the varmints? I guess with a bimac, it'll eventually get big enough it'll be easy to catch, but it may need a lot of food until then...

I certainly like the aesthetics and creativity of the idea, but it certainly seems to raise some questions, too. If you've got that all handled, I'm all for the "bring in the professional shrimp exterminator" approach! But if it's a risky proposition for the octo, I'd think that it might be best to use an adult dwarf near the end of its life rather than risk a tank-raised bimac baby, since those are pretty few and far between these days (although they come in big batches, so if Zyan's dad has a "crop" right after marinebio_guy's are all sold, we might have a glut).

just my

Maybe we need a smiley of an octo with an exterminator's cap!

 

[MikeFrueh]

Hey Partner,

I sure appreciate the input. The tank is definitely octo proofed. The water level is fairly far from the top of the tank as well as a inward glass lip on the top of the tank. It also has a weighted mesh top. The drain to the sump is also protected with mesh. So as far as I can tell, it is "octoproofed". My ideas for catching the octopus would be using a trap. Similar to a minnow trap. I would, over a short period of time, train the octopus to eat out of the trap, leaving food in a glass container with a very small hole in overnight every day for probably up to a week if need be. No other food would be introduced into the aquarium. Once it is trained to eat out of the container, catching it would be as simple as removing the container once the octopus has entered it.

But, alas... I have obtained 2 dwarf octopi. I claim them on monday. I appreciate your input. Thank you.

MIKE

 

[monty]

let us know how it turns out...

 

[DWhatley]

It sound like an entertaining, viable and ethical plan but I am not sure your new little guys will catch and eat the shrimp. I removed (with much ado) my lone aptasia control pep from my 15 gallon juvenile dwarf (O. Mercatoris) tank because I am hoping my octos will mate. I am afraid it would attempt to eat the eggs and know it would eat new hatched young (they have been known to get to baby seahorses through a breeding net). The octopuses, however, never paid any attention to the pep. Best of luck with the attemp though and let us know if your tank becomes shrimpless or if the tank owner gets captivated and joins our forum

 

[joefish84]

hmmm 2 dwarf octos, 300 gallons, 600lbs live rock, peppermint shirmp... i see a large population boom of DWARF OCTOS perhaps in the near future in las vegas nevada... this could turn out rather entertaining. one of three things will happen, A) the plan will work B) the plan will not work and the octos will eventually die C) the plan will work so well that in fact the octos happen to be same species and opposite sex resulting in around 500 more octos in the tank to take out the remainder of the inhabitants after the shrimp are gone...

 

[AD2U]

Hello,
My name is Mike. I Own Mike's Aquarium Maintenance in Las Vegas, NV. I am currently maintaining a 300 gallon reef tank for a client. Recently I accidentally introduced a harmful, nuisance crustacean. This pest (about 4 or 5 of them) are eating a handful of the mushrooms corals in the tank. I have been unable to capture them as it being a 300 gallon reef, it has upwards of 600 lbs of live rock in it and the said crustaceans (peppermint shrimp) are very elusive and have only been coming out nocturnally. I do not want to tear down the rock as it is a very mature tank and it would have drastic effects on the current stability of the ecosystem of the tank.

My idea is to introduce a small bimac octopus or a short lived dwarf octopus of some kind to prey on the "varmints". My problem is availability. Locally I have no octopi sales. The wholesalers I traditionally go through out of Los Angeles, CA have nothing currently and can't have me any for possibly weeks. In the meantime, these pesky shrimp are destroying corals and my client is in serious woes as she watches her corals melting away from the chewing advances of these shrimp.

Once the octopus/octopi have done their job, I have a personal friend that is into the hobby pretty ferrociously and I will trap the octo and give them to him.

If anyone reading this might have a 3 inch, or relatively small specimen of suitable relative size, can you please contact me asap. I would love to purchase one. You can post me back here, or at my email address [email protected].

Thanks to anyone involved and also any suggestions are invited.

Mike

Try a spiny blue lobster. I have had no problems with it eating corals or anemones. It will eat shrimps and crabs. Then pull it out when it is done or keep it in their, just keep it well fed. It won't eat fish unless it's dead. Good luck!