Info on the "Bali octopus"

[Pandora]

I don't know if any of you remember, but a while back I posted my octo for ID:

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/ceciliaxchen/octos.jpg

..and no one could do it with that blurry pic. Well, I went back to my LFS and asked if they had any more info on him, and they said that the supplier they got it from shipped them in from indonesia, and they thought they were caught in Bali. I know that FFE sells "Bali octopus" but they don't have any info on them. I've tried doing a search online, and it comes up with nothing... not even the Cephalopod Home Page by James Wood has much on the Bali octo... they mention they are available, but said so far no one knows a species on them. Was wondering if anyone here had any more info or could point me in the right direction?

Thank you. My little guy is doing well in his 30 gallon tank right now. I am just curious, my friend saw my octo and he has a dwarf lionfish... he has a 40 gallon with just the lion now... would it be possible to add the octo to this tank already with one predator in it? I was thinking it would be interesting if they were both protected... the lionfish wouldn't eat an octo if it were bigger than it's mouth, and I assume that the octo wouldn't be able to eat the lion because of the poisonous sting?? Don't know if anyone has any info on this...

[cephalopoder]

The term "bali Octo" refers to any number of species that come form bali ans indonesia.
There are so many species that come from there it would be impossible to make a exact match with out knowing exactly where it came from or more info.
As far as putting a octpus in with a lion fish... Thats not a good idea. And would be very cruel to the octopus in case it should get stung.

[Pandora]

Ah, thanks cephalopoder. Was wondering particularly about the ones FFE sells, if anyone has ever had experience here with those.

As for the lionfish vs. octo, I was more wondering if the octopus would have a natural aversion to even trying to eat it, just as many animals instinctually "know" what foods are poisonous or toxic. After all, many people keep small lionfish in predator tanks, and the larger predator fish leave them alone.

[cephalopoder]

I have known two people that have orderd and kept the ffexpress bali octopus. It is a small species with incredible camouflage ability. I would suspect if you orderd 10 bali octopuses from them you would get a few different species though. As I mentioned above, there is no octopus named bali octopus, but plenty of species that come from bali.
As far as the lion fish /octo goes. If the octo never saw a lion fish before it might not have any idea it is poisonous. And if you view Mikes new video of his bimac reaching out with his arm to chase the black molly away.. It might get stung if it tried that with a lion fish. I am a firm believer that octos and cephs belong in a species only tank.
chris

[Pandora]

Thank you ceph as always!

[OctoMonkey]

Hey Pandora,
The first octopus that I kept was an individual from Bali, They called it vulgaris but a quick glance at it would prove it wasnt. That was ordered for me by a company in England.

The most notable feature was how long its arms were, for a 3cm mantle its arms were about 25cm long each.

There are some pics here.... http://www.geocities.com/octomonkeymadness/longarms.html


it was quite a shy octo but would explore with those long arms around rocks and caves, if it spotted me it would just sit and watch, wasnt a keen explorer when i was about.

If I know lionfish i reckonthey would try and eat an octo even if it COULDN'T fit in its mouth :)

C

[Pandora]

Awesome, octo, do tell me all about it!! Any info you could give would be great, as I am looking to confirm an ID or just get more info that might lead me in the right direction... looked at your pics, great. Was he very shy all the time, did he ever get to the point you could hand feed him?

And on the dwarf lion thing, those lions stay really small, I don't think they'd be able to get a 3-4" octo in their mouths if they tried... but I did tell my friend it was not a good idea for the reasons other people said!

[OctoMonkey]

Well, there is not really all that much to tell.... I got it and I asume it was already an adult then, it didnt really grow much and i think i had it maybe 4 months before it went through the normal death cycle.

It was a male, the hectocotylus was quite visible.

When i got it, it was a septopus, and during the months i had it the 8th arm re-grew to about 3/4 length of others.

i kept it at approx 74degF and it ate well on crabs and shrimps.

I could give this food by hand but it all had to be gently gently with this one, i never seen it squirt ink once.

It never seemed to try to climb out of the tank.

On my site i mention the species closest to the way this one looked, ocassionally it had a white, almost V shaped mark but it wasnt the White V species in Normans book.

....and that's about all I know about that species. I have been told they get that species in from time to time but I avoided it because they are adult on import.

Hope any of that helps?????

Any more pics of your yet?????

C

[Gonodactylus]

Octomonkey's Octopus looks very much like an undescribed species in the horridus group that is common on the reef flats of Sulawesi.

The little species that Pandora posted is still way to blurry for a positive id, but if those indeed are couple of internal dark spots in the mantle, it may be O. bocki or something close to it.

Roy

[Pandora]

Thank you Octo and Gono, all the info you've given me is really appreciated!! Let me go to the library after next week and look up some books for ID...

[OctoMonkey]

Thanks Roy, keep me updated if you here of any more info on that species just for interests sake...... and Pandora, if you run across any books worth having a look at could you give me (us) a note of them. I do have access to a university's library so even if they are papers that's okay

Cheers
Colin