Wunderpus 2 - a nice ethics story

[mucktopus]

I hope the meeting was great. Fantastic burrowing pics!

 

[Thales]

Hey Guys,

Back from 29 hour travel days.

The conference/frag fest I am speaking at is on May 3 and 4 in Rockford Il. Anyone in that area?

Medusa has been doing fine according to the ceph sitter. She has moved the burrow away from the glass, but she is still living in it. The good/bad news is that she is carrying eggs. So she is on her way out, and we'll see what happens with the eggs. I can't see eyes yet, but I am pretty tired right now. Pics tomorrowish!

 

[DHyslop]

I have family nearby and might try to make it.

 

[kurt72]

hey, newb here. just want to say nice thread. i have never owned a ceph, but i see one in the future. here in san diego, i have only seen one octo for sale in one of many LFS. it was horrible looking, and on the verge of death. either it did die, or someone bought it.

again, nice thread. it's nice to see there are actually some ppl out there who don't care so much about making a buck. the fact that the store owner wouldn't take money, just wanted medussa taken care of, is great. as i said, i have only seen one octo for sale in my LFS, but the treatment of fish i have seen in stores is sometimes appalling. there is one store i will refuse to go into ever again. selling a small rare purple tang in a 24 gallon nano cube is just ridiculous. what happens when it grows out of it? same store sold a remora for crying out loud. Home anyone have HUGE tank with a shark.

 

[Thales]

She ain't looking too good today, and the eggs don't look fertile.

Here is a pic from the housesitter.

 

[shipposhack]

Bummer :\

 

[monty]

sorry to hear it, although I'm glad she found a nice home where she could burrow, at least.

are wunderpus eggs small or large?

 

[Thales]

Thanks guys.

If it wasn't clear to everyone before, it should be now. These guys make terrible pets. Not only do they hide most of the time, but if you are lucky enough to get one to burrow you will be mostly looking at an empty tank. Even worse, this one is lasting only a month or so and I am betting the eggs are not fertile. It would have been so much better to leave her in the wild.

Anyway, here is a pic of the eggs. She is very much on her way out.

 

[dreadhead]

Sorry to hear it.But I'm glad you are able to give her a good home for her last few months.

 

[DWhatley]

Richard,
Can she eat while incubating her eggs? It looks like they are blocking her beak, I guess she can move them around but since many octopuses stop eating, the picture made me wonder if she can eat.

 

[Thales]

She moves them around, though she is not at all interested in food.

 

[monty]

sorry to hear she's on her way out. Looks like small eggs, unless she's bigger than I expect.

Did Fontanelle have the tan coloring on the oral surface and sucker stalks like Medusa does? Or is that a trick of the light (I see some tan in the "whites" of her stripes, too). I'm getting the impression from that pic that Medusa seems to have long, almost squid-like stalks on her suckers, more than most octopuses, although it looks like they're morphologically stretched octopus suckers more than really stalked squid-suckers.

 

[Thales]

Monty, Fontanelle had the same kind of stalks. Some, nearer the head, were longer than others. I'll try to find a pic - feel free to bug me about it.

Medusa is dead. One leg was removed from the body. I have some of the eggs but they don't look fertile.

While to burrowing was fantastic, she should have been left in the sea.

 

[monty]

RIP Medusa. At least it sounds like that LFS and collector are discouraging further collection.

 

[shipposhack]

Sorry for the loss. She had the best captive home possible.