Thinking about Octo

[greenwolf52]

I've got a 30g tall that is currently running freshwater with a pleco and a fairly large oscar. Was thinking about converting this system to salt with some sand (2-3" LS bed) and about 50lb LR. Wet/dry filtration rated for 125g and a skimmer of some sort.
Anyone have any thoughts on how an octopus would fair in a setup like this. I know I will need to keep water quality at a premium with frequent water changes, and I know I will need to spend some time "octo-proofing" the tank so the creature will not be able to escape. I was thinking of a dwarf bc I know that most likely anything else will grow to be too large for this system (Dimensions: 24" high, 24" across, 12" back)
What kind of lighting will I need? Anything special? Not planning on putting anything else in this system. No fish, other inverts, or coral. Maybe some hermits or snails.
Thoughts?

 

[greenwolf52]

I've never had a ceph , but have been researching and know I am ready. I know that it is tough, but if I am going to do it, I have to star somewhere.

 

[caz2022]

I'd say go for it!!!!
I 've had 2 and I love them. They are extremely intelligent and fascinating creatures.
You're definitely going to have to go with a dwarf in a 30. Unfortunitly most of the dwarf species are nocturnal and rather timid.
As far as your setup goes; the filtration,sand, and lbs of LR are great. I wouldn't worry about lighting,they don't like alot of light. If you go with a dwarf you should look into red lights,it doesn't seem to bother the nocturnal species.
Octo-proofing isn't as hard as it sounds. What I did was use eggcrate with fiberglass screen (HomeDepot $5.99 a roll) ziptied to it. Anywhere it had to be cut (overflow box,return line) I ductaped more screen to cover it.
If you havn't already been there I recommend you check out TONMO.com.
I almost forgot. You could get away with a serpent/brittle star,chocolate chip star,or a pencil urchin just to keep your ceph company. Anything else will just end up being food.

 

[deadmanschest]

I really want one but i need to do alot of more research before i think about it. can you give me some info on care and feeding. i want the info from someone experienced with octos.

 

[jon321]

It sounds perfect to me. What I would recommend for octoproofing is the thick plastic wrap that you can use as tablecloth protectors, etc. Cut it a little larger than each opening, then duct tape around it. I kept brittle stars, choclate chip stars, a pencil urchin, and a large conch with mine. No problems. They are however completely incompatible with anything small and edible. Mine even sifted through the sand to find ever single one of my nassarius snails. Id highly recommend a refugium of some sort, or grow large amounts of caulerpa in the main tank. My octopus would look sickly if nitrate readings were detectable and considering the waste load they produce, maintaining 0 nitrate conditions can be tricky in such a small system (I had 20g). What I recommend is ordering 400 snails off of our favorite

[hr]
site for like $10 and use those as food until the octopus is acclimated and eats frozen.
Jon

 

[greenwolf52]

thanks for all of the great advice. glad to know that i am on the right track.
how does everyone feel about me going down to the ocean and scooping up some sand from the beach? it's some pretty fine stuff with that "natural cycle" going on. not necassarily to speed up the cycle bc i am very patient but moreso to kind of cut down cost a little.
also, can i use ocean water?
hope these aren't stupid questions. i may have missed something along the way about using natural components to start a salt system.

 

[mike22cha]

You can use ocean water if there isn't any water in there already.
I have a dwarf and there are very interesting. They are nocturnal and I only see mine when coming in from a late night. The only pics i got were on my camera phone and that was pretty bad quality. Get a lot of hermits or snails, thats what i feed mine, so you don't have to find some every other week. These animals have a very short life. At least you will get yours for free, I spent a lot on a animal that lives only 2-3 months. Good luck!

 

[jon321]

I wouldnt use anything from the ocean myself. Possible pollution contamination.
Jon

 

[mike22cha]

Yes that is the reason you don't want ocean water in an established tank, because of diseases. Never thought about pollution. Just read that you could get ocean water from the Marine Aquarist Consistence and never took too much thought of it because there is no ocean coast in OK.

 

[thirty6]

if you didnt already check it out, coral mag has a feature on octo this month. good luck

 

[greenwolf52]

bumpsky

 

[805puffer]

you can put astroturph on the inside of the lid, thats what i did with mine and he didn't get out. they are verly cool though.

 

[05xrunner]

well they are tricky at first but after you have it for a while they are not that hard.
Personally i wouldnt get a dwarf..their normal captive lifespan is around 6-8months and who knows how old it is when u get it so it might live 6months or 1month.
I have always had bimacs and they live around 1-1.5years and are very active. you will see it all the time crawling around the tank. Unlike dwarf where you will never see it unless lights out.
Right now I currently have a Bipedal octo. I have never had one of these before and its what the wholesale sent my LFS who i ordered it from.
http://socrates.berkeley.edu/~chuffa..._octopuses.htm
Make sure you add things to the tank they can play with..To keep mentally stimulated since they are soo smart. Things like lego blocks, bioballs, you can put the crab in a small jar to let him figure that out as well.
here is mine right now

Ohh and about the nitrates..they dont really have any affect on them. Some have had readings up in the 50's and no problems. tis the ammonia that is the big one to make sure zero.

 

[krazekajin]

Originally Posted by thirty6
if you didnt already check it out, coral mag has a feature on octo this month. good luck
I got a subscription to Coral for Christmas. The Dec/Jan issue was a frogfish issue with no octo in it and I just got my Feb/March issue which is dedicated to Damselfishes.
Did I miss an article or an issue. I love reading about octopuses and I would have caught that.

 

[murray bmf]

Heres a pic of the octo I had. I was really scetikal about getting one, but my wife really wanted it, so we did some research and took the plunge. I think you should go for it.

 

[bugapash]

I have a 46 reef set up, but was just given a 150 for free--I'm considering dismanteling the 46 for to use the larger as an octo tank. Can you briefly talk me through what you'd recommend for keeping a (larger) octo, and the best place online to order them? I've heard that cockles are the best thing for them; but I don't know where I can get them en masse. (I'm trying to look into my budget for one, but my desire is that it will be easier to focus on caring for just the octo than a whole tank of fish and corals).