Suggestion for eastern, future octopus owners

[ctech]

It might be a wise idea to get your octopus via a local fishstore, particularly if you are a significant distance from the airport and/or from a FedEx delivery station. There is a good chance that the fishstore would be willing to special order a bimaculoides for you with a down payment, if they don't have one available. That way, if the octopus dies from the stress of delivery, you at least have no financial loss. I just purchased another bimaculoides from fishsupply.com, apparently the most reliable source, and it was dead on arrival. You can read about the first incident here. It might be that I have tremendously poor luck, but I'm skeptical. When both the first and the latest packages arrived, the water was visibly foul; I think the stress of a cross-continental delivery combined with a long drive may be a bit too much for them. Just something to consider.
Brandon

 

[rrtanton]

That's a second shipping-induced loss for you? Gee...major sympathies!

I might now seriously consider your advice, which has been told to me regularly...though I still have mixed feelings about it. I'm theoretically supporting my LFS this way, which is good, but if I'm having them absorb risk for me, that might actually hurt them...but then again, I should probably be trusting them to know their costs and risks better than I do. And while there's probably a greater risk of not getting a specifically requested species, I'm not adverse to a bit of adventure...except that I REALLY want a social octo next time. I guess if I just tell them very emphatically what species I want, with a photo...

rusty

 

[cephalopoder]

Sorry to hear about your loss again. Don't give up though there is hope. In defence of fishsupply though, I will say this. I have been keeping cephalopods for a number of years. Just about every single cephalopod I have orderd has come from Jack. In my opinion he is the best shipper in the business and out of all the octos ond other cephs I have gotten from him I have never had a loss. This includes some vary rare and delicate species. I live about as far away from fishsupply as a person can get with out leaving the USA. I do request early morning delivery with every order and usually have them deliverd on saterday when early morning deliveries are the only option. They usually arrive by 10am the next morning. Sure the delivery costs a few dollars more but it is well worth it. A few extra hours can make a difference sometimes.
All bags that octopuses are shipped in smell very foul after the animal has spent 15+ hours sitting in them. This is a common thing because of the ammonia they put out. Octopuses put out 3 times as much waste as the same weight in fish. However deaths do happen during shipping from time to time and Jack has been great in the past to people this has happend to.
I did check out your first post about your first octopus and what happend. It sounds like you are doing all the right things but there were a few things that caught my eye. You said your PH was 8.3 and you tested with a saltwater master test kit. I would double check your PH with a aquarium systems PH fast test. PH for cephs should be around 7.9-8.2 if you have a bad reading from a test kit and your ph is actually 8.4 or above this could mean death for your octopus. High PH levels are very bad for octos, and after a long ride, it can take its toll quick. I have never been a big fan of the all in one test kits and have had falty readings in the past from them. I am not saying this is what happend, just someting to consider.
Hopefully things will go much better for your next octopus. I wish you the best of luck in this fantastic journy of keeping cephs!

 

[ctech]

Hi cephalopoder,
Congratulations on your successful breeding!
The second set of testing equipment I mentioned in the earlier post was, in fact, FasTest. The reading showed 8.2 pH, and the other conditions were all appropriate, so the water should have been ideal. A starfish I have in there at the moment seems happy enough, so he's a good biological indicator of the water's quality. Well, then again, he does seem a bit crazed: he sometime crawls up to the top and sticks one of his legs out of the water, perhaps unintentionally. Is that an indication of anything?
I am certain that my problems are due to no fault of fishsupply.com. Perhaps you live near the airport? I would wager that a long drive from the FedEx station, along with the deliveries along the way, would amount to a longer shipping time than a direct flight into the northeast. The FedEx tracking service reports that it took around 20 hours to get here with overnight shipping. If someone reports that octopuses are generally fine after 20 hours of shipping, I'll reject my theory.

 

[jfw60]

I ordered my Bimac from Jack at Fishsupply, and it was delivered cross country to me in Tennessee. Im had them leave her at my door with no signature, came home dumped her in the tank and the rest is history. She feeds well and seems happy, scuttleling up aand down all over the tank, when ever I put my hand in the tank she lunges.

 

[cephalopoder]

ctech
In wouln't worry about the starfish, I have seen plenty reach partly out of a tank. Twenty hours is a good amount of time, but they ship lots of fish, cephs, and inverts from far away places to the USA so if shipped correctly 20 hours can be done. With cephs, shorer is always better. I would really ask for 8am delivery, if you pay for early morning shipping, fedex should get it to you by the specified time.