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New Zebra O. chierchiae (now trying breeding!)

Thales

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Possibly O. chierchiae or O. zonatus, though the supplier says it came from Indo. Regardless, its another one of those "I wish they weren't collected" animals.

Got a call from a supplier they had two 'zebra' octos in. One turned out to be a 6 armed wunderpus, the other is this little guy. I wish the far looking version of ceph cert was up and running, as it could be used to place these animals. :biggrin2:

About the size of a US quarter. Acclimated, went in the tank, and is in the back corner waiting. Maybe more pics later.

PS, Roy, when are you coming over? :smile:
 
Roy, the batch I first told you about were also initially listed as Indonesian????
 
Thales;114816 said:
Possibly O. chierchiae or O. zonatus,

Looks like O. chierchiae based on the white border to the dark stripes (Roy- didn't you say that zonatus doesn't have it?). I might be in town next week- can I come check it out?
 
It just arrived yesterday, so I haven't really been able to get a good look at it for sexing. I am trying to follow up on the origin.
You guys are all invited over anytime you can come by - shoot me a pm or email. :biggrin2:

I am swamped for the next couple days, so please forgive any lack of details. :biggrin2:
 
It seems she taken up residence behind the HOT overflow, so I am not seeing much of her. She was out last night, out meaning a couple arms came out from behind the HOT overflow intake. She hasn't touched the shore shrimp that are in with her, and I added a hermit crab to see what happens.
 
Hey another little charley! that looks just like him when I first got him, although when I picked him up from the store he was a very dark color (probably because he was cranky from his long trip). He even has the little eyelashes and the little thing poking out of the back of his head! This is really great I'm glad that there is a possible second candidate for your testing Roy it sounds like you know thales a little better and are in the same area so I'm sure that is much more convenient. Oh and I know I haven't posted anything in my journal lately but charley is doing just fine, he has lost all caution of fiddler crabs and now eats them frequently. I'm going to start adding purple up to my tank so I can put some nice looking safe corals in there for him and I to enjoy. Also if anybody can help me I can't seem to get rid of these different types of bacteria that form purplish blobs in the sand and I still can't get rid of the orange colored slimy algae that grows in my tank. Any suggestions?
 
Don't use purple up - its a waste of time and money and will likely irritate your octos gills. Most additives are a waste. If you want to boost calcium and magnesium to grow coraline, use a good two part like ESV or buy additives in bulk from bulkreefsupply.com which is very inexpensive. The other algae will work themselves out with time and manual removal.

I am glad to hear charley is doing will - has he become day active at all?

Also, please do the little work after the death of charlie to get the samples to scientists like Roy and his colleagues. IMO, its the least we can do to further our understanding of these probably rare and under studied animals. From what I understood, Roy was going to send you a 'kit' to use when the octo dies, so it should be really really easy to prep the body and arm tip. I would be happy to pay for the shipping if need be. This is part of the service, along with placement of cephs into homes that can keep them, that the ceph cert idea will helpfully include one day. IMO, with animals like these, we need to be more than just consumers. :biggrin2:
 
ReefScavengers;115100 said:
Funny, our Nicaragua supplier just got in a few this week as well; said he hasn't seen them in years!

You may want to read this thread for more information:

Need some questions answered about my O. chierchiae (originally mercatoris)

It seems consistent that these octos haven't been seen for years, but have appeared suddenly. It's worrisome since this could mean that there are very few left in the wild... if you have further details, I'm sure a number of people here would be interested.
 
I would like to see any of these animals go to a breeding program, I think we have three ceph breeders in my area, so if we could get them all it would be great. PM's sent. I would hate to see these animals, at this time, get sent here and there which sadly has been happening. Getting a breeding program going could easily supply the demand for these animals while leaving the wild populations alone.
 
Thales;115105 said:
I would like to see any of these animals go to a breeding program, I think we have three ceph breeders in my area, so if we could get them all it would be great. PM's sent. I would hate to see these animals, at this time, get sent here and there which sadly has been happening. Getting a breeding program going could easily supply the demand for these animals while leaving the wild populations alone.

I second that!
Not sure now if I'll be in Oakland on Wed- but I'll keep you posted when I find out the work schedule.

C
 

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