texasmetal
Active Member
I haven't been on this board for a few weeks and I apparently missed the latest octopus thread. Since it's locked I thought I'd just throw my experience and observations in to try and put everyone on the same page.
Specifically Abdopus aculeatus (Indonesia) aka "Bali Octopus" aka "Bi-pedal Octopus" tends to have a peaceful disposition toward fish. It typically forages for pods and other small invertebrates in the rocks and in the sand. It is a fairly well researched octopus and it is noted that they are a "social" octopus, unlike most species which are solitary.
I have seen them kept with seahorses, scropionfish, and ribbon eels without incident for the 8 months the octopus was in captivity. I personally have kept two in community tanks without incident. My latest was kept with 3 peppermint shrimp, who outlived the octopus which built a den, laid eggs, and died after 3 months of living with the shrimp, a yellow coris wrasse, and a rabbitfish. On occasion this one would swim to the fish and take the food from them if they got it before the octopus did.
Now, that said, I personally wouldn't keep them with something as defenseless (and endangered) as a seahorse as a precaution. Besides, an octopus wreaks havoc on water quality and seahorses require superb water quality since they are highly prone to disease.
Specifically Abdopus aculeatus (Indonesia) aka "Bali Octopus" aka "Bi-pedal Octopus" tends to have a peaceful disposition toward fish. It typically forages for pods and other small invertebrates in the rocks and in the sand. It is a fairly well researched octopus and it is noted that they are a "social" octopus, unlike most species which are solitary.
I have seen them kept with seahorses, scropionfish, and ribbon eels without incident for the 8 months the octopus was in captivity. I personally have kept two in community tanks without incident. My latest was kept with 3 peppermint shrimp, who outlived the octopus which built a den, laid eggs, and died after 3 months of living with the shrimp, a yellow coris wrasse, and a rabbitfish. On occasion this one would swim to the fish and take the food from them if they got it before the octopus did.
Now, that said, I personally wouldn't keep them with something as defenseless (and endangered) as a seahorse as a precaution. Besides, an octopus wreaks havoc on water quality and seahorses require superb water quality since they are highly prone to disease.