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Octopus for sale/trade in chicago area

Dbatesss

Hatchling
Registered
Joined
Apr 17, 2005
Messages
6
Hello everyone,

i'm posting here today to see if anyone is interested in getting a new pet! I have my octo, Baba Jingo, who is a great pet, no doubt the best livestock available in the aquarium trade, but i no longer have room for him, because i have to turn his tank into a refugium to connect to my reef. He was sold to me as a "bali octopus", which we all know means absolutely nothing. For all the research i did about trying to find out what he is, i beleive he is part of the octopus horidus complex, because of his camoflauge abilities, (which is really cool!), and his warning patterns he flashes at me when he gets upset. he turns dark black with big white spots all over his body and puffs up, which is what matched the description and picture in a book i purchased.

anyway, he is an octopus horridus, about 5-6 cm mantle, with tentacles reaching about 6-8 inches. He has gotten very very friendly and eats very well.

i would like to sell, if not possible trade him for a 24 in. pc light, or halide, anything i can put on a 20 gal. tank., also interested in an overflow box.

questions or comments, post away, and i will answer what i can.

dbatesss
 
he is actually closely related to octopus aculeatus, which is also a part of the octopus horridus complex, but along with O aculeatus, there are about 9 or 10 other identified but unnamed species, from what i gather he is octopus sp. 2 of this complex.

but generally speaking, yes, he is very closely related to an octopus aculeatus, the differences between each actual species is very slight, i beleive mostly geographic.

I purchased him about 6-7 months ago, and at the time he was a little bit smaller than he is now, so while i can't be sure how old he is, i think he is about fully grown.
 
So really he probably has less time ahead of him as behind? Most of the octo-keeping research I did was for bimacs, so I have a bit of a learning curve for other species.

Would you entertain a few questions?

What are his favorite foods? Will he accept frozen shrimp?
Does he come out much during the day?
Do you have any pictures of him?
Do you currently have him in the 20?
What do you think would be a fair price? Unfortunately I have little to trade.
I'm just up I90 in Madison...are you on the near side of Chicago?

I'm interested in learning more, but I don't know how serious I am about getting him, so don't let me lead you on just yet.

Dan
 
its no problem, im happy to answer any questions you ahve about him.
Yes, while it is always hard to tell with octopi, his lifespan and age are a question, but i beleive if given proper care, a new owner would be able to enjoy his company long enough to be worth the transaction and then some.

the diet i have had him on has been entirely live food, which he loves. I go and buy feeders for him every week or two and keep them in sperate bowls and tanks. I switch off feeding him goldfish, freshwater mini crabs, crayfish, and an ocasional batch of rosies or guppies, more as a hunting game and snack rather than a meal. He eats very well.

He has displayed notorious octopus behavior in the fact that he started out very shy and would freeze or hide every time he saw me, but he got more and more comfortable as weeks went by and he now spends almost all of his time outside of his den, either dancing around swimming, and he has recently become so comfortable as to sleep outside of his den just in corners or on the glass curled up in a ball.

I unfortunatly dont have any pictures, because of the fact that i dont have a digital camera or scanner. I have tried to look for pictures of his species online, but have not had any luck. actuually, the picture at the top of this websight of the octo with white spots resembles him somewhat, he flashes that pattern to me regularly when he wants to be left alone, usually after just catching a meal.

He is still in the 20 gal. i originally put him in, which seems perfectly fine for him. He has never really tried to escape (no attempts i witnessed at least) and has plently of liverock and cover to move about in.
 
I am flexible on pricing, like i said a trade would have been preferable, but thats totally fine if you dont have very many items to trade for. I bought him from my LFS for about $75, and i beleive that he is definitly worth more than that, being a rare species to find in the trade (the more available being dwarf octos or bimacs) so would around $60 seem reasonable keeping in mind that he stay in good health?
 
I'm interested, but I need a little while to mull it over. Money is a little tight right now (I did just spend a hundo at Octopets...), and if I got this guy I'd probably have to buy a heater, too. And of course, the great state of Illinois is now charging non-Ipass users (read out of state drivers) $1 per toll on 90...

I'm 50/50 right now. Let me talk it over with my girlfriend and get back to you in a day or two.

Dan
 
sorry guys, i've been a little busy, havent been online for a day or two. let me adress from the start. I run the tank at a range of 74-78. Generally within those temperatures he will be fine, the only reason it fluctuates is because of season, so there are no dangerous changes that would affect his health. While we all know that temperature effects metabolism, which is a very big issue for octopi, i would reccomend running a tank for him as cool as possible, not to freeze him, but slowing down his metabolism will give you a much longer lifespan and allow the octopus to adapt slowly to new environment.

That sounds great if you are interested. ONce you make your decision or if it will help you to do so, let me know what you want to do about exchange, if you would want to come here to get him, or what. I dont know if i would be able to make it easily to any swaps, i usually have to work on the weekends. Let me know whatever would be easy for you and we could work out for both our schedules.

If equipment is a problem at all, i also can cheaply include things you'll need, i have a strip light, heater, all sorts of filters, air pumps, etc... everything short of a tank.
 
give me a call if you still have the octopus, i noticed the date was old i have some equipment you may be interested in for a trade i live in chicago. please call at (708)636-9033 thanks
 

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