O. joubini - CB and Mates

[Colin]

What species of clams is it???

I know of some people who have cycled tanks with oysters from the local food store

 

[neptune]

Actually I will be using damsels, but that is an interesting idea. Using Oysters in that regards.

BTW - the wife said to say thank you for making sure it was ok first before I floodd the house. The whole convo actually motivated her to "make room" for a 55 gallon.

 

[Colin]

LOL no prob... when it's time for me to wrangle yet another tank I'll get your wife to persuade my better half

also... id use black mollies instead of damsels...easier to get out, cheaper to buy, wont attack octo and will be a welcome meal!!!! i cant rec damsels

 

[neptune]

I have heard that alot, but it was one factor in getting the wife to agree. I can not figure it out, with all the sealife I have she still loves the damsels. While my wife helps you get a new tank, maybe your wife can tell mine that damsels are wretched. :P

I will have fun like I did with my reefs to get them out. Fast little buggers.

 

[Colin]

oh well, cant win them all!!!! a small price to pay

 

[joel_ang]

Well I guess it would be ok if you could catch them out later and then transfer them to the other tanks?

 

[neptune]

I have just the culprit. 1 Red Emperor Snapper to do his calling in life, is a lot easier to physically catch than 12 damsels. This bad boy is licking his chops for the day I can let him do his 3 minute munchdown.

Sometimes I wonder why I have kept this monster, but he has helped me "remove" damsels why to many times.

Luckly he has not gotten to large, yet. He must eat about 20 rosies a week atleast himself. Not to mention the ghost & brine shrimp my agressive tank also recieves.

It actually is quite funny to see this hog pick brine off one at a time from around the tank but, he still goes for it.

 

[cephjedi]

I think the debate in the science realm about Mercatoris and Joubini being the same animal is the result of scientists just making noise because they like to hear themselves make noise. There's a body of evidence supporting the fact that they are two very different octos. It's just that nobody has tallied the information and published it yet.

True Joubini's base coloration is a deep mustard yellow, and they are a deeper-water octopus, typically frequenting the dark muddy bottom of the gulf coast where divers just don't go- 50-80 feet, if I remember correctly. A small-egged octopus, it lays 1/4 grain-of-rice sized eggs in the thousands. It also has smaller eyes than merc.

Mercatoris is a gray-brown octo that haunts the shallow reef. haunting the shallow reef has two disadvantages for merc: I entertain about 2 dozen emails a year from Floridian beachcombers who picked up a seashell/beer can/coke bottle/piece of coral and out popped a small gray-brown octopus with big eyes and a head about the size of a walnut.

The other disadvantage is that it's easy for collection divers to find. I don't know who started naming it Joubini, but the pygmy octopus found in the pet trade ain't joubini. Across the board it's Mercatoris. Take it from a guy who tried like hell for a year to get a real Joubini in the name of assembling the data for the aforementioned unpublishment.

They're cute, and hardy enough to be a first octopus, but Mercatoris ranks low on my list of octopus pets. I've never tamed one, and they're so small that they can and will hide in the tiniest crevice in your tank, and you'll never ever see it unless you watch your tank at 2 am with a red light. Plus they only live 6 months to a year. They lay 40-60 large rice grain sized eggs, which does make them a strong candidate for home aquaculture (which I attempted once) but with Bimacs leading the pack for both the aquaculture and interesting Octo Pet lists, there's little demand.

Don't let that dissuade you in your new octopus adventure! With your enthusiasm and your wife's permission, I'm sure you'll creat a great home for a mercatoris or two. It's always good to have someone come over to the good ship cephalopod nut!

 

[neptune]

Wow Jedi thank you very much for all of your shared info.

I am sure there are many others out there that will be reading this that will appreicate your reply.

I can agree in the fact that it is just scientist being scientist. In the research I have done there are to many differences for them to be the same.

Do you happen to know of a captive breeder of mecatoris, or is it up to me to start? LOL

 

[cephjedi]

Thanks and you're welcome!

Unfortunately for your endeavors, nobody I've heard of cultures Mercatoris. I'll go out on a limb here, but I suspect the Merc's introversion is a substantial barrier. My first merc was a formerly pregnant one: I bought it, the eggs, the piece of coral and the whole hamstercage it did all this in. Read about it at my webpage:

http://www.jimbolouislabs.com/eggjournal.htm

Boiling it all down, the same thing happened to me that happened to everyone: the Momma Merc, stressed out by all the human intervention, harassed the eggs and they hatched prematurely. It's hard enough to rear regular inklings, making it impossible to raise preemies.

Bimacs tolerate our interaction far better than any ceph I know, making them the ceph of choice for aquaculture. (well...maybe officinalis cuttles are in there.....)

You may have more success with O. mercatoris than I did. May the Force Be With You!

 

[neptune]

Nice jornal. Very entertaining!! Regardless of the results, the experience obviously was well worth it.

It looks as if we are approcahing 5 years on your endevour. Any more attempts with anything mentioned?

Thanks again for the link.

 

[neptune]

BTW - do you have any pics of your set-ups while doing both the linked tanks and food chain?

 

[cephjedi]

I've tried on and off to get some more octopus eggs, to no avail. I have, however raised some cuttlefish eggs. Sepia officinalis, from the NRCC. Raising cuttlefish is a piece of cake, provided you have food for them.

 

[cephjedi]

I didn't have a digital camera at the time, so there is no photographic record of either the linked tanks or the food chain. It's easy to replicate the tank linkages and the Jimbo Mk 3 Food chain system consisted of 2-liter bottles aligned vertically.

Take 3 bottles, and cut the bottom off. invert them, as if you would use them as funnels. Replace the plastic cap with a drinking bottle pop top tha tcan be opened and closed. Mount them like this in a row and put a florescent grow lamp against them. That's your greenwater level.

Right under the greenwater level, you make the same contraption, and mount it so that the bottles line up. i.e., if you open the spout of one bottle, it spills into the one below it. This level also needs flourescent lighting. This is your rotifer culture.

The bottom level is another bank of three inverted bottomless bottles with pop tops. Here you can culture Artemia nauplii or instead use a 20 gallon breeder with lysmata larvae. Use guppy breeders attached to the side of the 20g tank to isolate pregger shrimp. They hatch their eggs, the eggs fall into the main part of the tank, and daily infusions from your running rotifer culture feeds them.

Feed the rotifers to the shrimp, top off the rotifer culture bottles with green water, and add fresh, sterilized water as needed to the greenwater and let nature run it's course. It's the lowest maintenance system I could come up with.

Except amphipods. Order one order of amphipods from FAF, put them in a bucket of seawater and put a strong light on it. in two months you'll have a billion amphipods.

Good luck! Ceph Jedi.

 

[neptune]

I figure no pics but thought I would ask. Thanks for the breakdown though that would be a simple effecient way to go.

I noticed you were looking for some octo eggs. Just read a post where someone said they found some. Was looking again for it will let you know if I come accross it again.

Any particular species?