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My Mimic
Heres a shot of my new Mimic that I have recently acquired. I set up a Octo tank and was not planning on getting a mimic because of what I have read here but my LFS got one in so what the heck. I have a lot of experience and have reef tanks (1340 gallons), and predator tank (75 gallon Rhinopias) and wanted an octopus so I set one up. He is eating well, live crabs and frozen shrimp right out of your hand. Any advice would be appreciated but I will not respond to people bashing me for having him and those posts will go unanswered. Lets be constructive.
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Jim G President Omaha Marine Society |
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constructively I think you should return him to make a stand against rare animals being collected in the wild. Thats just me though.
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If an animal really needs to be rescued don't buy it, steal it. |
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Jim, that looks like a wunderpus rather than a mimic. I suggest you become a member of www.TONMO.com to read and participate in the information/threads on rare and exotic species.
I don't think boycotting animals has ever had any real world effect in regards to their collection - the industry just doesn't work that way. I think education regarding impulse buys is helpful, as well as education regarding the realities of the animals in the wild.
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The reefer formally known as Lefty Ink is the way; the way is ink. |
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Try looking at http://ist-socrates.berkeley.edu/~ch...underMimic.htm
I can't tell from the margins of the arms which species it is, although the banding pattern seems more like a true mimic. The fact that these animals rarely seem to exhibit anything close to the natural crepuscular activity cycle that we see in the wild is disturbing. This may be due to the lack of appropriate light on-off cycles in the aquarium and/or suitable substrate for burrowing. I worry that constant exposure places undue stress on these secretive octopus Thales and I have a fundamental disagreement concerning the importation and maintenance of these animals which has been aired a sufficient number of times. From what you wrote, you are well aware of those arguments and have chosen to come down on the "What the hell, what will one more octopus matter? Besides, its already been collected." side. I'm beginning to agree that efforts to curtail the importation of zebra octopuses through public education is a very steep uphill battle that may take too long to protect these animals from over collection. It may be the time to place more effort into export and import regulation. That effort may best be aided by enlisting the diving and tourist industries. A few aquarists saying "let me have mine" and forking over a few hundred dollars a pop can potentially fuel some demand for export, but the local dive organizations in Indonesia and the Philippines, supported by environmentally aware tourists who want of observe and photograph these animals have the potential to exert a lot more pressure. Roy |
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I don't think these animals should be collected, but I don't believe that that is going to happen anytime soon. I don't think boycotting an animal has any effect. So, I am left trying to figure out a useful way to deal with the animals that are collected for potential captive breeding purposes without encouraging more collection. Quote:
IMO, asking people to not buy or talk about these animals in the trade only leads to more of them being collected and more of them being impulse bought. I think honest education and talk about the animals will lead to people not 'trying' them, much in the same way that Morish Idols aren't collected in the numbers they once were. However, not knowing the numbers of zebras in the wild, not knowing how environmental concerns are impacting those populations, and no knowing how collecting is impacting those populations is very much cause for concern. Quote:
I do think it needs to be on the side of the country of origin because if you stop the importation of zebras into the US, they can easily be shipped to different countries that don't care. At the same time, zebra occys range is very large and many countries would need to be in line for regulation to really have an effect - in other words, if Indo says no zebra collection they may still be collected in PI or eventually PNG (ech). Quote:
The people doing the collecting and the exporting are generating money and the local governments are very concerned about keeping them making money. In general, the issue isn't collection, its responsible, sustainable collection. When the collectors understand that the reefs they collect from are limited resources rather than like infinitely supplied supermarkets, they collectors tend to make sure their reefs are taken care of. The main problem in the industry is that its based on volume. I think a better overall solution would be to shift the industry away from collecting 30 so that 5-10 might survive but are inexpensive to collecting 5 so that 5 survive but are more expensive. Of course, 'eco toruism' has a plethora of significant negative environmental impacts (dredging local reefs for building materials, sewage, litter, poor diving practices, jet travel, etc) that need to be kept in mind as well.
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The reefer formally known as Lefty Ink is the way; the way is ink. |
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OH - the eyestalks in the pic look much more like wunderpus than mimic, but a better pic would make all the difference.
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The reefer formally known as Lefty Ink is the way; the way is ink. |
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Roy |
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Also, do we know if collection has reduced the numbers in Lembeh or if the animals have moved or if they are being killed by other factors? Quote:
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The reefer formally known as Lefty Ink is the way; the way is ink. |
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I can definetly appreciate your educated debate on this creature and both of you seem very educated on the subject. I very much enjoy a spirited debate where the participants put out there arguements and challenge each other with out getting childish. I knew that when I put this here I would get some grief and negative opinions. But I agree with Thales in that boycotting the LFS has little effect on this type of thing. I would consider myself more than a novice and given the choice of someone getting this octo that has limited experience and resources or taking him home myself I like the animals chances with me. I am currently interested in providing this guy with a good habitat, diet and care and hopefully discussing with you all a year from now how he is doing and sharing some ideas.
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Jim G President Omaha Marine Society |
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Just to be clear again, , I would like to see these guys not show up at the LFS. Buying them can reinforce the market, but not buying them from won't stop their collection. Rock, meet hard place.
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The reefer formally known as Lefty Ink is the way; the way is ink. |
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what a battle of wits!
you 2 are intense, there needs to be more people like you 2 |
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its good to see an intelligent discussion without any flames...and i am glad that someone who cares and desires to understand the needs of the animal has found him....albeit the discussion (here)of all the politics involved seems so moot to those of us who truly do care....i do hope your relationship with your octo is as long lived as possible.....send more pics
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shaun golden- reef aquarium society of charlotte-www.rasoc.org |
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Shaun,
If I am reading you right, I think if we rally do care we need to all care about the politics of the industry. Animals have been decimated in the wild by the industry, collecting them till there are no more. Unless we can do something about it, more animals can vanish in the wild because of us. If I misunderstood your point, I apologize.
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The reefer formally known as Lefty Ink is the way; the way is ink. |
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i think we are on the same page.....in my reef club i do all i can to educate people on how their purchase lends to the collection of these and other animals.. i even try to educate the retailers (i asked a saleskid to slap the guy who orders the fish, when i saw a possibly mated pair of orange spot filefish...for "only $20 each" and the went on to explain why they would surely starve, and why they should never have been ordered....but as you probably know ...buyers often get many other things than what they order...so i dont know who to blame......anyway....my point was more to the effect that we here understand the impact of such issues...and its the people who arent reading this that need to understand...
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shaun golden- reef aquarium society of charlotte-www.rasoc.org |
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I keep octopuses i find off the reef in my tank, they dont seem to do well in fresh water, I have tried feeding them little pieces of cheese like the pet store said but they wont eat it...any ideas?
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Why would an octopus do well in freshwater, and why would you feed him cheese?
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hcity, how old are you? 100yrs experience? octo in freshwater? cheese? do you have nothing better to do?
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"Even if animal research resulted in a cure for AIDS, we'd be against it." -- Ingrid Newkirk, President of PETA --- these people are INSANE! |
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Ummm, Obvious trolling is it not?
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Wazbot |
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Dan
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This laughter is ill-informed! "Sanity? What would I do with something as useless as that?" -Kennpachi |
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You had better move it to a bucket of Bleach, preventsinfection you know.
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If an animal really needs to be rescued don't buy it, steal it. |
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cool pet. i would NEVER feed my octo anything that wasnt from a coral reef. i didnt read all the posts but WTH are u guys talkin about octos in fresh? and various human food for them? whaaat?
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FYI,
huskerreef's wunderpus, the subject of this thread, died a couple of weeks after his last post in this thread.
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The reefer formally known as Lefty Ink is the way; the way is ink. |
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