New octo nano> blue ring

[caferacermike]

About 3 weeks back I decided to make an attempt at starting a nano octopus tank. I started with a new Oceanic 8g Biocube. I added some blackish sand, a couple of pounds of live rock, I sealed everything good and tight. The octo was late in arrival so I began buying small corals for some color. These are pics of the results.

Well you get the idea.

Then I traded for a small chiller and I decided to drill the tank and plum it all together with an Eheim 2213 canister filter full of carbon and phosban. This will be done sometime after Thanksgiving as the bit did not arrive in time.

AS A DISCLAIMER I MUST STATE THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT DO AS I DO. THIS CREATURE WILL KILL YOU!! THERE IS NO IN BETWEEN! Once bitten death is all but certain. Do not imitate. I spent 2 years preparing for this and I know your 8g biocube did not set you back $1,000. ARC does not endorse the idea of keeping a blue ring octopus, nor does your Mom.

Edited November 26, 2008 by caferacermike

[caferacermike]

Then I made a trade for a small chiller and I decided to drill the tank and plumb it all together with an Eheim 2213 canister filter full of carbon and phosban. This will be done sometime after Thanksgiving as the bit did not arrive in time.

However my octopus finally arrived on Monday. Some of these pics are from Monday and Tuesday (today).

Well let me know what you think so far.

AS A DISCLAIMER I MUST STATE THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT DO AS I DO. THIS CREATURE WILL KILL YOU!! THERE IS NO IN BETWEEN! Once bitten death is all but certain. Do not imitate. I spent 2 years preparing for this and I know your 8g biocube did not set you back $1,000. ARC does not endorse the idea of keeping a blue ring octopus, nor does your Mom.

Edited November 26, 2008 by caferacermike

[blindside]

That is ridiculous! Keep the details coming!

[AndrewT]

very nice... what kind of preperation went into this??? ive read about these. Very intresting creature

[Hamp]

Very nice Mike...I hope to get together with you soon. I would really like to see that blue ring!

[+ACampbell]

Mike, this is really great. Thanks for sharing. Look forword to updates.

[caferacermike]

very nice... what kind of preperation went into this??? ive read about these. Very intresting creature

Well first thing was an offer to get one. A friend was working a lfs and I was buying all kinds of weird stuff. We were told that if we wanted some oddball stuff that we could get them at cost. He suggested the blue ring octo. About that same month Coral magazine ran an issue all about octopus. I was hooked. I immediately ran out and got a 30 cube tank with built in filtration and hood. I set it up as I felt it should be and waited. And waited. And waited. Never an octopus showed. up. Several months went by waiting for that creature. All the while I was studying the effects of using cold water to slow the metabolic rate to help keep them alive longer. Great stories about folks keeping blue rings that came in their live rock, yet having never realized what it really was. I've got several books, articles, and magazines all about keeping the critters. Of course there isn't really much in the way of species specific care, however it did take a lot more planning due to the nature of the specific species intended for display. The water from a captive blue ring can cause severe allergic type reactions upon touching it with bare skin. I've read several accounts of divers having been bit directly through their thick wetsuits. I had to make absolutely certain that there would be little to no interaction between the octo and myself. This was the hardest step as most octo in captivity become very tame and friendly. They can almost die of boredom within a tank. You must provide them with some sort of stimulus to keep their active brains from locking up like a bad hard drive. It took a bit of conditioning to realize the potential for harm just doing a routine water change. No mouth sucking to create a syphon in this tank. An entire year passed without getting my hands on my octo so I broke the tank down. Recently a very reliable source offer to procure one for me, a personal thanks goes out to the individual and his shop. I'll refrain from mentioning for now to help stave off the "I want one too" effect that such things can create.

[GKarshens]

Very cool! Sounds like you have done your homework. Thanks for sharing!

[AndrewT]

very cool indeed... good luck with it.

[princer7]

"I want one too"

Very nice!! How long do they usually live? I've heard octopus have a short life span.

[caferacermike]

My readings have indicated that the Hapalochlaena lunulata blue ring is expected to live in captivity for 6-8 months. An entire life span may be up to 2 years in the wild. They are such small creatures that by the time of collection about half of their life is spent. The current research shows them living for about a year as a juvenile before attempting reproduction. After a successful mating the female will hold eggs for up to 6 months and then die. The males have been reported to live on for about another year.

It was out crawling around today when I got home. When I peered into the tank for a look-see, it noticed me. After a few flashes of blue light (this is the first warning of danger) it began flashing entire body color changes from light to dark. There was a point when it looked lime green with blue spots. Within seconds it changed to a dark black with a tiny red dot at the very top of it's head before jetting off through the tank. It appears that it has eaten one of the tiny damsels I added to the tank last night. I'm hoping to find a good source for small live shrimp or crabs that won't be to expensive, my frogfish already eat $20-25 worth of damsels/chromis a week as it is. If you know of a place to buy live mysis shrimp I might be willing to make group orders and set up something to keep them alive.

[princer7]

When I was trying to entice the dwarf eel I had to eat, I put in some ghost shrimp I picked up from RCA. They can live in a saltwater environment for a few days. I think they were something like 10/$1 . Not sure about a cheap supply of mysis though.

[caferacermike]

Ah yeah my days of buying $20 of ghost shrimp a week are over. They really aren't that nutritious for the critters. Plus they die within a few hours. This can quickly foul an 8g tank. That's why I feed live snails, crabs, shrimp, and fish. They stay alive until eaten. I was planning on using live mussels from HEB until I learned about them being phosphate factories. Last thing I want to do in this tank is begin releasing phos into a small environment.

BTW: (off topic alert) I used ghost shrimp for a few months scented with garlic to create a feeding response in several blue ribbon eels. After a couple of months I began scenting frozen silversides with garlic and placing them in the tank with the ghost shrimp. They wouldn't take the silversides unless I hand fed them. After a few more weeks I had 3 blue ribbon eels eating as many silversides as I would give them everyday. I no longer needed to scent them with the garlic after that.

[princer7]

How much does the octopus eat?

[labrown]

Very cool. Good to see you, Mike.

[Hamp]

I ordered from aquaculturestore.com(sachs) when I had an angler, and was real happy with the shore shrimp. shipping is really cheap and I only lost a few after aclimation. Plus Paul is a really cool guy and I like supporting cool businesses. Check it out.

[+ACampbell]

Hey Mike, can you get a video of some feeding action?

[caferacermike]

Only if I'm ever lucky enough to see it feed. It found a little hole in the rock work and has been kind of anti social as of late. I'm going to wait about a week and try some peppermint shrimp. If I get a response I'll contact you to see if we can film it. The fish was eaten during the night.

[+ACampbell]

Agh cool. Any video would be awesome. YouTube it up!

[barderer]

very cool specimen choice Mike. If only they lived longer! I would to come by and see this some time if you will have me.

Nick

[caferacermike]

I'd be all for having you come by to check it out, however as Hamp found out yesterday, there isn't much to see. It hides constantly. I knew in the beginning that I probably would never see it again, and decided I was comfortable with that. Some folks mentioned that I should not put much in the tank for it to hide under. I felt that such a highly intelligent creature might become fully stressed in that type of situation and decided to give it some cover. It has taken up residence within a tiny little hole. The 1/4" hole seems to open up into a cave about the size of a golf ball. I can just see into the hole and watch it tense up when the light from a flash light hits it. I'm hoping that within a few weeks it might feel safe within it's little domain, being free from predators, and come out to visit.

[cheetum]

Nice !!

[Hamp]

have you seen your little friend out at all lately, Mike?

[caferacermike]

Nah it doesn't come out. However I seem to be missing a peppermint shrimp, good news.

[landfish]

WOW that is SWEET!!!!!! I have wanted to keep an octo or cuttle for a long time. Both proved to be very hard to keep and have short life spans. I would not keep a blue ring though...... Wow you got some serious guts........... I had a friend in Houston that had one for a while. He feed his clams and damsels. There was a lfs in Houston that carried salt water malies. You might see if any of Austins lfs would caries them as they were cheep feeder fish. Once I sell my House in Houston so I can get one in Austin I might rethink about keeping one. I am curious to see how long yours lives as most of the stories I here is the ones that are collected are near the end of their life cycle. There used to by a guy in cali that was breading them called some thing like tomotoocto or something like that. But I think he shut down his operation.