(M) Octopus
krw...@ucdavis.edu
(william f. smith) writes:
>Though I'm not a marine aquarist, I've recently noticed octopi (fairly
>little ones) for sale in several shops and was intrigued. What's the
>story on keeping these?
>
Carniverous, voracious, escape-prone, and highly intelligent. Need space and
cover to be happy. Generally not recommended for the hobbyist. Tasty, too!
Just opinions, mostly based on seeing them in the wild. I've never kept one
myself.
Ken Weiss
krw...@ucdavis.edu
mar...@lccma.bos.locus.com
>In article <1991Aug31.0...@cs.ucla.edu> wfs...@oahu.cs.ucla.edu
>(william f. smith) writes:
>>Though I'm not a marine aquarist, I've recently noticed octopi (fairly
>>little ones) for sale in several shops and was intrigued. What's the
>>story on keeping these?
>>
>
>Carniverous, voracious, escape-prone, and highly intelligent. Need space and
>cover to be happy. Generally not recommended for the hobbyist. Tasty, too!
>
True octopus story:
A friend of mine who studied marine biology in college kept two salt-water
tanks, one on one side of the room with an octopus, another on the other side
of the room with assorted fish.
Not long after she got the octopus, she noted one morning that one of her
fish in the other tank was missing. She figured one or more of the other
fish devoured it. The morning after that another fish vanished. This
went on for several mornings until late one night she heard heard a "plop"
followed by the sound of a "splash". When she went to investigate, there
was the octopus in the other tank helping itself to yet another fish.
Fascintated, she observed the octopus devour the fish, climb out of the
tank, "plop" to the floor, crawl back to its own tank, and "splash" back
in.
Clearly, not only is "cover" a good idea for the octopus' mental health *in*
the tank, but a secure "cover" *on* the tank is an even better idea!
Marco
----------------------------------------
E-mail: mar...@locus.com
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Mike Van Pelt
>In article <1991Aug31.0...@cs.ucla.edu> wfs...@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (william f. smith) writes:
>>Though I'm not a marine aquarist, I've recently noticed octopi (fairly
>>little ones) for sale in several shops and was intrigued. What's the
>>story on keeping these?
>Carniverous, voracious, escape-prone, and highly intelligent. Need space and
>cover to be happy. Generally not recommended for the hobbyist. Tasty, too!
A few months ago, in a pet store in Fremont, CA, I saw an Australian
blue-ringed octopus for sale. No kidding. I think it was about $40.
They didn't have it the last time I looked, so either they sold it, or
it died.
(This is the critter that, if it bites you, and they get you to a
hospital quickly enough to get you on a heart-lung machine for a few
hours until the neurotoxin wears off, you might survive.)
Who would want such a thing in their tank?
--
Mike Van Pelt I would like to electrocute everyone who uses the
Headland Technology word 'fair' in connection with income tax policies.
m...@hsv3.lsil.com -- William F. Buckley
...ames!vsi1!hsv3!mvp
Rich Braun
>True octopus story:
>When she went to investigate, there
>was the octopus in the other tank helping itself to yet another fish.
>Fascintated, she observed the octopus devour the fish, climb out of the
>tank, "plop" to the floor, crawl back to its own tank, and "splash" back
>in.
This I find rather incredible! If you can provide verification, maybe
this should go into some sort of archives of weirdest.net.stories...
And I thought my story about a swordtail jumping out of a tank and falling
about 3 feet into a one-quart orange-juice bottle full of baby brine was
amazing...until now.
-rich
Duncan Elkins
>In article <27...@oolong.la.locus.com> mar...@lccma.bos.locus.com writes:
>>True octopus story:
>>When she went to investigate, there
>>was the octopus in the other tank helping itself to yet another fish.
>>Fascintated, she observed the octopus devour the fish, climb out of the
>>tank, "plop" to the floor, crawl back to its own tank, and "splash" back
>>in.
>
>This I find rather incredible! If you can provide verification, maybe
>this should go into some sort of archives of weirdest.net.stories...
I've heard this kind of story before, maybe in an old (and great) book
by Craig Phillips called _The Captive Sea_ about the founding and
initial operations of the Miami Seaquarium. When I used to work in a
shop, Blue rings were often available, but generally didn't survive. We
had a few vulgaris (I think) that did pretty well, though I always
weighted the top of the tank with a lot of rocks and sealed all the
holes with plastic. I can vouch for their ability to escape :-( and
their strength. We had one that would take goldfish from the end of a
furnace lighter- essentially an alligator clip on the end of a stick-
pretty well. One day I was feeding it and it grabbed the stick- I
pulled back and the octopus held on- two tentacles attached to the
stick, six to what had to be a 10 lb. piece of coral- until I its body
broke the surface, when I twisted the stick away.
In general, the ones that acclimated to tank life were
exceptionally interesting and did pretty well, although I wouldn't put
anything else in the tank and wouldn't use less than a 55 since they
grew pretty quickly. Provide *lots* of cover, esp jars and caves- even
if the critter disappears for days on end, it won't settle down if the
tank is too bare and will starve. We had good luck with feeder
goldfish, the one above eventually learned to hide on top of coralheads
and 'parachute' down as the goldfish swam by, and frozen shellfish.
Kind of tough to acclimate, though- they kept crawling out of the
shipping bags...
Duncan Elkins
d...@leland.stanford.edu
Mark A. Rosenstein
|> In article <27...@oolong.la.locus.com> mar...@lccma.bos.locus.com writes:
|> >True octopus story:
|> >When she went to investigate, there
|> >was the octopus in the other tank helping itself to yet another fish.
|> >Fascintated, she observed the octopus devour the fish, climb out of the
|> >tank, "plop" to the floor, crawl back to its own tank, and "splash" back
|> >in.
|>
|> This I find rather incredible! If you can provide verification, maybe
|> this should go into some sort of archives of weirdest.net.stories...
I've heard a better one that that. During the behind-the-scenes tour of
the New England Aquarium, they described a similar problem where an octopus
got out of its tank with a supposedly octopus-proof cover, into the next
tank, and ate a whole lobster before returning. The amazing part is that it
was able to squeeze back into its tank after consuming a good sized lobster.
They were unable to figure out where the lobsters were disappearing to since
the cover on the octopus tank was supposed to be secure. But one morning
after several lobsters had vanished, they found the octopus on the floor dead.
It was apparently unable to get back into its tank that time. Now why such
an intellegent creature didn't just go into another tank instead of suffocating,
we'll never know.
-Mark
Tony Travaglini
>this should go into some sort of archives of weirdest.net.stories...
>
Well I don't know if this qualifies as verification but Steven Spotte
describes a similar situation. Evidently some public aquarium had a
couple of octopi and they were caught climbing out of their tanks and
into other tanks to have a bit to eat. When they were done they
climbed out and went back home. He says not to be embarassed to put
bricks on top of your tank cover because these babies are strong as
well as smart.
Tony Travaglini
te...@ucf-cs.ucf.edu
Brent Allsop
A long time ago I heard of an octopus climbing out of a tank
in a pet shop, crossing the street to help himself in a fish market
with live lobsters and other such goodies and then returning. Going
through mail openings or something. It did this several times and the
fish market owner finally caught the culprit by staying up to see who
was taking his goods. No I don't remember where I heard it or the
location along with all the details but it makes a great story!
Brent Allsop
MILLIGAN, KENNETH BRYAN, JR
>>/ hpldola:rec.aquaria / te...@cs.ucf.edu (Tony Travaglini) / 10:15 am Sep 11, 1991 /
>>In article <1991Sep05.1...@kronos.com> ri...@kronos.com (Rich Braun) writes:
>>>In article <27...@oolong.la.locus.com> mar...@lccma.bos.locus.com writes:
>>>>True octopus story:
[several octopus stories deleted...]
>
> A long time ago I heard of an octopus climbing out of a tank
>in a pet shop, crossing the street to help himself in a fish market
>with live lobsters and other such goodies and then returning. Going
>through mail openings or something. It did this several times and the
>fish market owner finally caught the culprit by staying up to see who
>was taking his goods. No I don't remember where I heard it or the
>location along with all the details but it makes a great story!
>
> Brent Allsop
Crossing the street ?!? Next I'm sure we will hear of an octpous
that took the BART from Oakland to San Francisco in order to get to
Fishermen's Wharf for some good crab. These stories are getting to be
a little unbelievable.
b.
____________________________________________________________________________
Bryan Milligan br...@aero7.tamu.edu (Sun3/60)
Department of Aerospace Engineering KBM...@ZEUS.TAMU.EDU (VAX 9000)
Texas A&M University (409) 845-0714 (Panasonic Easa-Phone)
College Station, TX 77843
Paul A Prior
>>>>True octopus story:
>>>
> A long time ago I heard of an octopus climbing out of a tank
>in a pet shop, crossing the street to help himself in a fish market
>with live lobsters and other such goodies and then returning. Going
>through mail openings or something. It did this several times and the
>fish market owner finally caught the culprit by staying up to see who
>was taking his goods. No I don't remember where I heard it or the
>location along with all the details but it makes a great story!
>
I used to have an octopus that would crawl out of his tank and
get into my 65 mustang (automatic transmission), and then jaunt
right down to the fish market, where he would shoplift. I only
caught him after he left a half eaten fish head in the back
seat....
C'mon... this is getting rediculous! <g>
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul A. Prior "I spent four years prostrate to the higher mind,
2nd Year Med student got my paper, and I was free"
ppr...@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu --Emily Saliers--
K. Rogers
>get into my 65 mustang (automatic transmission), and then jaunt
>right down to the fish market, where he would shoplift. I only
>caught him after he left a half eaten fish head in the back
>seat....
>
>C'mon... this is getting rediculous! <g>
Hey, I met the same octopus! I was hanging out the other night when
this space ship landed a little ways off. I must admit after all
these octopus stories I wasn't at all surprised when an octopus
silthered out the door and plopped to the ground. However, I was
surprised when it when into the Pizza Hut instead of the Fish n' Chips
place next door. So I went up to it and asked why pizza instead of
fish n' chips? It said it already had its fill of fish at the fish
market in a heisted '65 Mustang but now it had to pick up a pizza for
Elvis. True story. I just submitted it to the National Enquirer.
--
Keith Rogers
Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp.
kro...@javelin.sim.es.com
cpbu...@miavx1.acs.muohio.edu
ordering dozens of fish, crabs, clams, etc and paying for it all WITH MY CREDIT
CARD!!!
After I scolded it, it also confessed to helping those two 60 year old british
guys make strange circles and patterns in cornfields tricking people for
decades into believing UFO's made 'em!
A few days later I heard it on the telephone again plotting to stage a coup
d'etat against Gorbachev!
--Dennis (Cogito cogito, ergo octo sum.) :)