• Join the TONMO community and connect with fellow cephalopod enthusiasts! Register now (it's free)
  • Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

WHAT SHOULD I DO

marineboy

marineboy

Wonderpus
Registered
Joined
Dec 30, 2005
Messages
184
Reaction score
3
OK, i was at the tidepools today and took home couple shells for my cousin who collects shells. When we got back to the house a small bimac slipped out of one of the shells and into the bucket. We have no idea what to do and I do not have a tank that has been cycled enough to support it. We do have a lot of left over sea water from the beach that we could keep it in but wont it die? I checked all the shells to make sure this wouldnt happen (because the type of shells she likes are a well known octopus "home" in my area). It is to late to let it go tonight but we can let it go tommorow morning. PLEASE HELP ME. can i put it in my tank for just one night even though it is not cycled? I really do not want it to die! ALL HELP APPRECIATED!
 
Some questions...

How much sea water do you have left over (about how many gallons)?

How long has your tank been up and running? I think I remember you had a 55 gallon...
 
I think you might be able to keep it in the seawater until you can take it back tomorrow morning, if it's small and you have enough water. Can you add oxygen in any way, or do water changes? I've noticed that shaking the water in a gallon jug, half full, seems to add a lot of oxygen.

If your tank is cycling, it may have ammonia and nitrites, both of which would be bad.

Nancy
 
YAY! I went down to the beach with my dad and released the little guy into a tidepool. He looked so relieved and so was I! thanks for all ur help guys!
 
So glad this story has a happy ending. Special thanks to your dad for acting promptly to take you back to the shore so that the little bimac could be released.

And now a couple of questions - how did you keep him overnight, how much water did you have? This is good information in case this happens to someone else.

You say that bimacs are found in a particular sort of shell. Do you know what kind that is or could you describe it? It might be a good shell to put in our bimac tanks.

Nancy
 
I have answers to all your questions. First off, the octopus was a two-spot (bimac). He was kept for a good amount of time in a bucket full of about 7g of water. I kept it oxynenated through nancies comment and then released it later that night. The shell that he was in was a particularly large wavy-top-shell. I want to post pics of it but dont know how. This is one of many times that I have found small bimacs hidden in these shells. I collect them for the bimac I plan on getting in the future. If you are interested in having some yourself I could send some. They are extremely common in my area. Oh yeah, and my dad was more than willing to let the little guy go. I HAVE TO show a film of what goes on in my "octo-bucket" at the tidepools, we get the strangest actions out of them, they all have there own personality. The funny part is is that we had a lot of these shells in a bucket with other octopus I had found and one of them was acting very odd by just putting one tentacle in and out of the shell that we later found out was the one with an octopus in it. LOL, we thought the octopus was sick until we got home and found the little suprise locked up in its inner chambers. I do believe they would be SPECTACULAR in a bimac tank. Also, I dont know how to post videos, we are planning on shooting one of the octopus in my bucket, you guys would get a kick out of it. thank you!
 
where are these tide pools?

This sounds like a great place for tidepooling-- could you tell me where it is? I'd love to take a road trip to check them out sometime. I imagine that if you're seeing bimacs you're down by San Diego?

Thanks!

- M
 
You can have your videos posted by sending them to tonmo (Tony).

Thanks for all the information! I'd be very interested in the shells. It seems like they would be excellent for young bimacs.

Nancy
 
I have a couple hot spots that I visit routinely for octopus. One is swami's beach in san diego county at encinitas. the other is cardiff state beach which is just down the road where I find full grown adult octopus in enormous reef caves. If your ever down here give me a call at (760) 942-9259 and ask for michael. I would love to meet some of the experts on this site. :)
 
The shells are Lithopoma Undosum and they look like -
915232490

They are common off of the California and Baja coast.
 
marineboy said:
I have a couple hot spots that I visit routinely for octopus. One is swami's beach in san diego county at encinitas. the other is cardiff state beach which is just down the road where I find full grown adult octopus in enormous reef caves. If your ever down here give me a call at (760) 942-9259 and ask for michael. I would love to meet some of the experts on this site. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks... I'll get in touch if I'm heading down that way, although I can't claim to be an expert, just an obsessive amateur... but I'd love it if you'd show me around the local tidepools!
 
Yeah those are the shells. Yeah, so anytime your near I can show you around. It is quite exilerating on the hunt of wild octos!
 

Trending content

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top