# blue ringed octopus



## welshgaz

Anyone know if these are available in the uk ??


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## DaveM

no as they are highly venemous

also octopus aren't really any good in an aquarium, the tinniest gap they will get out of, they also get bored very easily

I know somwone who had a small octopus, and it found away out, there was a gap of 2-3 mm on his aquarium cover and the little bugger worked his way out


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## welshgaz

yeah was watching a program on them yesterday and just wondered if they were even allowed ... pure nosyness more than wanting one (although that would be super cool as they are wicked creatures)

thing is we are allowed to keep king cobras so why not these ? assumign you have the correct documentation


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## sparkle

why would u want one of them gaz.. unless u had a death wish...

*World's most poisonous octopus the size of a golf ball*

First you will feel nauseous. Your vision becomes hazy. Within seconds you are blind. You loose your sense of touch. You cannot speak or swallow. Three minutes later you are paralysed and unable to breath.
You knew that the *blue-ringed octopus* is extremely poisonous but how were you to know that this was one when its tiny parrot-like beak bit through your wetsuit. The last thing the victim sees are the blue rings - visible only when it is about to attack.
The blue-ringed octopus is the size of a golf ball but its poison is powerful enough to kill an adult human in minutes. There's no known antidote. The only treatment is hours of heart massage and artificial respiration until the poison has worked its way out of your system.
The poison is not injected but is contained in the octopus's saliva, which comes from two glands each as big as its brain. Poison from the one is used on its main prey, crabs, and is relatively harmless to humans. Poison from the other gland serves as defence against predators. The blue-ringed octopus either secretes the poison in the vicinity of its prey, waits until it is immobile and then devours it, or it jumps out and envelops the prey in its 8 tentacles and bites it.
There are two species of blue-ringed octopus: the _Hapalochlaena lunulata_, which is the larger and grows up to 20cm (8 in) across its stretched tentacles. The other, the _Hapalochlaena maculosa_, is small and more common, weighing a mere 28 grams (1 oz). They are found in the shallow coral and rock pools of Australia. And they're rather cute, being brown or yellow in colour. But don't pick one up - by the time you see the electric-blue rings, it's too late!


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## DaveM

they have sometimes come in in specialist orders, someone setting up a tank for an octopus, but that is so rare that you wont see them in a shop


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## welshgaz

sparkle said:


> why would u want one of them gaz.. unless u had a death wish...


Never said I did :Na_Na_Na_Na:

Point is we are allowed to keep hots so why not these ? Daves pretty much answered it... You are allowed but on specialist orders only and probably with a DWA licence i imagine !


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## DaveM

I know you don't need a DWA for Lionfish, and if you get stung by one of them they will put you in a whole world of hurt, and you don't need one for red bellied piranha either, so I would imagine you don't need one, but they aren't kept for practical reasons


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## welshgaz

i had a red bellied once... and not just a pet shop sayign it was one, it was one ! He was cool but had to give him away once he got a little big and I left for uni...

Lion fish are superb and have often thought about buying one and settign up a tank for it... at the moment don't have the time so will have to come later on in life


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## King Of Dreams

I know a guy in Australia who used to keep some. They don't live all that long, 7 months max IIRC. Certainly not for the faint-hearted.


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## Tops

I know a place you can get them in Manchester.

Sapporo Teppanyaki Ltd


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## mike515

no license needed to keep them. But no real point, they are expensive don't live long and yeah are pretty dangerous.

the thing with red bellies and lionfish is that they aren't really that dangerous. Yeah a lionfish sting hurts like hell but they aren't very aggressive, only attack in defence. And with piranha they aren't that dangerous, a bit of common sense and awareness and you have nothing to fear. Not once have my red bellies tried to attack me, they are a naturally shy fish (except when feeding) but as long as you keep them well fed and don't provoke them then they are fine


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## SiUK

you can get pretty much any animal I dont think they are DWA either, I cant see them on the list at all but I suppose because they are rare in captivity the need has never arose


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## welshgaz

I guess they are very rare cause they don't live long... guess you'd need a breeding pair hey ! :lol2:


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## Art_Gecko101

I would love to own an octopus, i;d spend hours watching it. but theyre so intelligent i would be cruel housing it in anything less than a room sized tank!

I've seen video footage of an octopus eating a fully grown shark. Live. It was honestly one of the most impressive and gob-smacking things ive ever seen! It just wrestled it and wrapped it and squeezed it for about 10minutes until it didnt move any longer...


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## Tops

Even non venemous octopus can kill an unwary snorkeler quite easily


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## DaveM

the big uns can, I have heard of them pulling masks and breathing equipment off


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## Mez

Aye. Ive looked into it.
CUTTLEFISH, however, adapt very well to captivity and there are thousands of CB cuttlefish available to aquarium stores every season.
Squid i think are harder to get hold of..
IMO, if you want somethig 'bizzare' and as a single species in a small tank, get a *Mantis Shrimp*.








Mantis shrimp are one of the most colourful animals in the world -they get their name from their huge 'claw'.
*Mantis shrimp* or *stomatopods* are marine crustaceans belonging to the order *Stomatopoda*, one part of the class Malacostraca, the largest class of crustaceans. They are neither shrimps nor mantids, but receive their name purely from the physical resemblance to both the terrestrial praying mantis and the shrimp. They have been known to grow as long as 38 cm, although this is exceptionally large, and the longest stomatopod one can usually expect to find is about 30 cm [1], and their carapace covers only the rear part of the head and the first three segments of the thorax. Mantis shrimp appear in a variety of colours, from rather dull browns to stunning neon.
Called "sea locusts" by ancient Assyrians, and now sometimes referred to as "thumb splitters" by modern divers — because of the relative ease the creature has in mutilating small appendages — mantis shrimp sport powerful claws, formed like jackknives, that they use to attack and kill prey by spearing, stunning or dismemberment. Some pet mantis shrimp have managed to break through their double-paned aquarium glass with a single strike from this weapon.
James: victory:


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## Tops

DaveM said:


> the big uns can, I have heard of them pulling masks and breathing equipment off


Its not so much that as them getting hold of you. they can quite happily hold you underwater long enough to drown. 
I got careless once and luckily only lost a flipper but it could just have easily been my leg it was holding.


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## Art_Gecko101

We have mantis shrimps in our aquarium at uni, theyre wierd looking things in person, VERY painful too! wouldnt recommend them as a pet. The 1st ones that were captured were put in a regular aquarium smashed the glass with their appendages, so now you have to keep them in doubled pane ones... and even thats not totally safe


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## Mez

art_gecko
i had over 10 mantis shrimps at one point, most small ones that had smugged in some live rock and destroyed someone's precious reef system...
They make great observatory (sp?) animals but not pets.
Yep, they can smash normal aquarium glass just as easy as we can light a cigarette. i kept mine in thick, double-pained glass tanks. 
If you know what you're doing (and know the dangers) they are great species to work with, just not for the newbie who likes his/her fingers and thumbs!:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## Art_Gecko101

Yea thats what i meant lol! they are amazinng creatures! just imagine if someone bought one and didnt realise what it could do though! water everywhere!!!


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## darkdan99

The only sea creatures on the DWA are snakes. The others pose little threat to the public if the escape. 

they will dry out, and die quickly. 

Blue ringed can be obtained, but there, as said, is little point in going to all that trouble for a potentially deadly, and shortlived animal.


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## Mez

TBH thats how i aquired most of mine.
People saying they just bout 5 kilo of live rock last week, all their snails go missing with a big "smash" in the middle of the night - leave a trap and catch a mantis shrimp!
My favourite is the peacock mantis, i had to pay for those, most of the free ones were small, dull looking ones.


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## Art_Gecko101

One of my absolute fav marine oddities are Nudibranchs. Some of them actually preserve the nematocysts from the cnidarians they feed on and display them on their backs for protection!


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## YELLOWFISH

Am I correct in thinking that nudibranches can annihilate an entire aquarium by secreting toxins? 

I've always liked mantis shrimps. Bit of trivia is that they have the best eyesight in the animal kingdom. And I really don't get why they seem to be kept in glass aquariums. Haven't you guys heard of acrylic and perspex? :Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## serpentkid100

i'm sure they are on dwa list, but even then is it worth it if they can get out the tank with ease??.....:lol2:


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