mating bimacs, or love at arms length

Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
51
2 of my bimacs in a tank at my dads office were observed mating today.the right 3rd arm of the male was inside of the female's mantle for 2-3 hours. they sat relatively motionless during that time although they were doing some color changes. a staffer took some pics. they're not great but if i can figure out how to post them at least you'd get the idea. my dad said it was amazing. you don't see octopus sex everyday. zyan
 

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You're right, Zyan, we have very few pics of octo mating posted by Tonmo members who are home aquarists.

How many bimacs live in his tank, and how large is it? He seems to be having success keeping more than one in a tank.

Nancy
 
I'll bet work production was shot for the duration! I wonder if it has hit everyone that they have seen something very, very few people will ever see in their lifetimes.

Please do let us know the tank arrangement and temps for keeping the pair together.

I assume you are monitoring your others for similar behavior :wink: . We expect to be able to acquire a chiller by the time this generation is ready.
 
i have 5 large aquariums, several of which are plumbed together. they are 250,130,125,125,55g. also several 30g. there are about40 bimacs left from my initial 100 or so. the rest have been sent around the country. recognizing mating now makes me suspect that this is not an isolated event.i suspect that soon all the females will have spermatophores to be (hopefully) used for future use. all of the larger tanks have at least 6 animals. i hope to have a complete lifecycle occur in my system. i have found that this species ,given adequate or readily availabe food and enough dens, more than tolerates conspecifics. if there was any cannabaliism it was very rare. of course for the first 3 months they were all isolated. i dont see any true territorial behavior. are they asocial? well some seem to compete with each other for my attention. maybe raised in captivity they dont have the usual concerns of wild ones- they seem to make great pets.i would make the analogy of parrots. we breed macaws and a handfed baby will reciprocate a love that a wild caught adult will never be able to come close to ,not in a million years. they think they are more human than bird. i wouldn't say the octopuses have come that far, but they are fun. i cant wait for the june issue of TFH. the 2 bimacs pictured are among the very smallest.i would say mantle length is 2in. they are 3 in that tank kept at room temp. most are in chilled tanks. the size range is tremendous. some are easily more than twice that size. i was looking at the mother(in formalin) and noted that some are bigger than she was. they were born the week of august 5,2006. i'll be off to college in the fall but my dad will pick up the 'project' so he will keep everybody informed. Zy
 
Very interesting, Zyan! Can't wait to read your article!

Does this mean that they will be more bimacs for sale from you and your dad? I hope so!

Nancy
 

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