Ethics of keeping the blue ring octopus.

[Anonymous]

As for poison animals...licenced folks only IMO. I don't want some idiot taking up ambulance time when it's my turn to have a heart attack.

If your drinking and poor lifestyle choices caused that heart attack, you're no different than the person whose poor hobby choices led them to keep a blue ring.

I was going to say the same thing about some dopey surfer getting bonked on the head with his board or being chomped on by a shark but your example works too.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah . . .

 

[Anonymous]

As for poison animals...licenced folks only IMO. I don't want some idiot taking up ambulance time when it's my turn to have a heart attack.

If your drinking and poor lifestyle choices caused that heart attack, you're no different than the person whose poor hobby choices led them to keep a blue ring.

I was going to say the same thing about some dopey surfer getting bonked

I like getting bonked, lace teddies come to mind.

<----- Dave in the early stages of bonking!

 

[Anonymous]

Yes no keeping these creatures unless you happen to live on your own island with a ton of beautiful women for servants/workers and have a name like Octopussy or something similar.

 

[Anonymous]

An LFS of mine wants to keep one in a nanocube on the front counter.. - I keep trying to get the image in his head of some little kid getting curious and opening the lid and sticking his/her hand in... - And he keeps saying he'll have the lid secured. - And I keep not going there anymore.

 

[Anonymous]

Oh, and I agree with David.. - I don't think total restriction is the answer either.. - I think licensing would be a good way to go.

Laws are made for people who follow laws. - There will still be idiots no matter what laws are put in place but it would be nice for those who follow laws and wish to do so can still keep them.

 

[Anonymous]

As far as the ethics of keeping them, my first impulse is to let Darwinism take its course.

Mine too, but my concern is that after the foolish owner gets killed, there would be no one to watch over the blue ring that just did what it does in nature. They should not be sold to a hobbyist at all. Anyone doing valid research should be able to get one, but only with a license.

 

[Tackett]

Ok, here is my take on issues like this:

Ethics comes into play with ANY animal that you get, from birds to fish to Hippos. If you buy a clownfish and cant take care of it, dont know how to take care of it, never learn, and MOST IMPORTANTLY.. never care, then I question your ethics. We should all have a measure of responsibility when taking another animals lives in our own hands, we do it with our children, why should any other animal be treated any different? What is the value from one life to another? who decides?

So my view on blue ringies? If you have the means, the will and the way, I think you should have the chance to keep them. I love blue rings, they are some of my favorite critters, but I have never owned one, and probably never will unless I get the resources to do so. It is only irresponsible and unethical if your motives are irresponsible and unethical. I think some people need to step back and remember, that these are living things and have just as much right to be here as we do. Killing any creature without remorse or reason is unethical regardless of the method.

 

[Anonymous]

An LFS of mine wants to keep one in a nanocube on the front counter.. - I keep trying to get the image in his head of some little kid getting curious and opening the lid and sticking his/her hand in... - And he keeps saying he'll have the lid secured. - And I keep not going there anymore.

You should probably let him know that the back overflow section will be easily accessible from the main tank. I've had fish jump into it (Candy basslet, thought it died---phew) but the octo would almost certainly climb back there looking for a dark place to hide and shake hands with Mr. Pumpo. There is probably a way to block it off if he's determined. Besides that, there is not room for a skimmer unless it's heavily chopped up and modified. Skimmers (and preferably carbon) are an absolute necessity on any octo tank to remove ink if it happens. I guess he could fit some carbon in there, but all in all it's a terrible tank for any octopus.

Also, a small octo puts out THREE TIMES as much waste as a similar sized fish. I wouldn't put one of these guys in anything less than 30 gallons.

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah, well, thats just the tip of the iceberg with that particular LFS.. - Which is why I don't go there anymore.

Nothing I say goes anywhere with him except in one ear and out the other.

 

[Tackett]

Agreed buddy.

 

[Anonymous]

Let's see how much he pays attention when a little kid falls over dead in his store. :|

 

[Tackett]

Ive found that most people wont listen to you unless you tell them what they want to hear.

 

[Apophis924]

Natural selection will answer this question, If a knuckle head owns a blue ring octo sooner or later he will f*ck up and get bitten, he is removed from the equation. a trained hobbiest or bilologist has a blue ring octo, he is careful and respects it, no problem,. so it is only a matter of time before all those knuckleheads that buy Blue ring octo's evenutally get taken out by them. I say this is America If you got the $$ and there is a seller you have every right to aquire the animal. But the responsibilty of the animals care and your own sefety is up to you, I really dont care for some wimpy cry baby tree hugger telling me what animals i should or should not own.

 

[Anonymous]

Natural selection will answer this question, If a knuckle head owns a blue ring octo sooner or later he will f*ck up and get bitten, he is removed from the equation. a trained hobbiest or bilologist has a blue ring octo, he is careful and respects it, no problem,. so it is only a matter of time before all those knuckleheads that buy Blue ring octo's evenutally get taken out by them. I say this is America If you got the $$ and there is a seller you have every right to aquire the animal. But the responsibilty of the animals care and your own sefety is up to you, I really dont care for some wimpy cry baby tree hugger telling me what animals i should or should not own.

I think I will stay away from them then.... :lol:

 

[Tackett]

I really dont care for some wimpy cry baby tree hugger telling me what animals i should or should not own.

Tree hugging is one thing man, but mass importing something so retards can kill them. (notice I dont give a crap about the RETARDS getting killed.) I think we should all preach preservation, and I dont see anybody tank raising these guys anytime soon.

But thats only if you dont believe that humans are factored into natures equation.

 

[K9coral]

I wonder if the poison is neutralized during cooking????

 

[Anonymous]

I don't think it is, but I'm guessing. There were several people that died in SE Asia this year from eating some.

 

[JohnD]

I went to a GrimReefers board a number of months ago and followed links about the blue-ring. One site I went to was by a marine biologist reporting on his research in the western Pacific.

In one of his collection buckets was one of those blue-rings. It must have climbed into one of the shells he collected for his research. He noted he was lucky because he checked the bucket just before his daughter was to put her hand in the bucket.

He is a fellow that knows what he is doing. He accidently collected this octopus, but it was his lucky day.

IMHO it is okay for a researcher or professional aquarium keeper to have these, but the average person doesn't need to keep them.

 

[Anonymous]

I wish all collected species were this deadly. It would make for interesting newbie posts.