dwarf octopus

[team2jndd]

I am interested in keeping a dwarf octopus and have heard that they are the only ones that can be kept successfully together. Can anybody provide me with some more information on them. I am particularly looking for the scientific name so I can do my own research as well. Thank you.

[Gonodactylus]

There are dozens of species of dwarfs and pygmies, but only a few ever find their way into the trade. Right now the most common dwarf showing up is O. mercatoris, a species common along the Florida coast. This is a big egg species that has a breeding spike in March and most of the females being shipped are large and ready to lay eggs. (I got six two weeks ago and all are now brooding.) This species is usually incorrectly identified as O. joubini, a small egg species. There actually may be more than one "O. mercatoris". I have seen similar beasts from the Texas and Belize coast.

O. mercatoris is not the best species to keep. It is highly thigmotactic and will immediately squeeze into the smallest cavity it can find our bury in the gravel. They do come out at night and can be observed with red light, but even then they don't do much - although I find their mating behavior and defensive displays interesting. A plus - you can rear the babies since they do not have a planktonic stage. A minus - if you get an adult, it will only live a month or two. If you rear them from hatchlings, they last a little over 6 months at my lab temperature - 77 F.

As for keeping two or more together, it is possible in a big tank with lots of places to hide, but you can still expect some loss due to cannibalism.

Roy