4 Gallon Tru-Vue

[sanosuke689]

Hello, I heard of this website only a few days ago and it looks really helpfull. I've owned an octopus before when I was about 12 Years old in a 4 Gallon TruVue tank. Nothing special, just a live rock and some sand. I didn't know much about octopus besides the fact that it was cool so naturally im sure it didn't last as long as it could have. My question is that if i were to start up that small 4 gal agian, would it be sufficient to have a 1. the size, 2. heater, 3. internal pump, 4. flaurescent lights? I'm sorry for my "newbness."
thanks, Nate

 

[corw314]

Nate!

Please read up on our Cephcare articles. As you will see the bigger tank, the better as there's less chance of something going wrong. We really don't recommend that small a tank for any type of octopus.

Enjoy the site!

Carol

 

[nini]

Yes, the ceph articles are very helpful!!!! but, if you want my advice i would definatly say no to the 4 gallon.Octos are very sensitive to their enviornment and if you want to keep it alive you need a large a aquireum atleast a 50 gallon if your wanting a bimac and i think 30 is the minimum for a pygmy octopus. Keeping an octo is not cheap and it takes some time and research to make sure you are doing things right
I have never owned an octopus and i probably wont intill November or december.
PeACe
Tif

 

[nini]

oh im just curious.....how long did your octopus live in the 4 gallon?

 

[sanosuke689]

oh im just curious.....how long did your octopus live in the 4 gallon?

It lived for about a year and a half, it was brown, i know its vague but i had picked it up at a wholesaler in San Francisco, CA. When i found it one morning it actually had what resembled a cut as if the rock had crushed it and felt a mark.

OOOkay, so save up for a BIG tank before trying anything agian. hahaha, thanks for the help!

 

[nini]

LOL wow it actually lived for a long time! thats actualy how long they r suppose to live....im surpirised Still i would definatly invest in a larger tank did you have any experience w/ octos or saltwater creatures before you got an octopus, and what did u feed him?
PeACe
Tif

 

[sanosuke689]

i had about 4 years experience prior with fresh and saltwater along with my dad having fish since i was born. I've been around both types for as long as i can remmeber but didn't have a SINGLE clue how to care for an octopus. hahaha, i fed it gold fishes about once every 5 days. i honeslty only bought for the "exotic" nature...just like my jellyfish....

 

[nini]

WOW......OMG....THATS CRAZY...did it really live for a year and a half? wow im amazed i guess gold fish really arent that bad for a octo after all...wow and then u only fed it once every 5 days! wow maybe keeping octo's is not as difficult as we all make it but i dunno lol thats just wierd! oh how big did the octopus get once it was fully grown? was is to big for the tank?

 

[Jean]

WOW......OMG....THATS CRAZY...did it really live for a year and a half? wow im amazed i guess gold fish really arent that bad for a octo after all...wow and then u only fed it once every 5 days! wow maybe keeping octo's is not as difficult as we all make it but i dunno lol thats just wierd! oh how big did the octopus get once it was fully grown? was is to big for the tank?

Well actually I think he just got lucky. By keeping these animals out of their natural environment it is our responsibility to keep them to the very best of our ability. Which to my mind means the biggest tank we can afford, the best quality food (which for a marine animal means marine food!)and often. Octopus need fed EVERY day as they have little ability to store energy as fat. While this octi may have lived out a normal life span, it may not have reached it's full size due to the feeding regime 1 day food (freshwater at that....not enough nutrition) then a number of days of starvation isn't ideal I'll get off my soap box now!

J

 

[nini]

LOL i jus think its wired that some ppl keep octos in a large tank but they didnt live as long as this octo that has been kept in a 4 gallon and fed goldfish..wow...thats just crazy lol....how big did your octo get???
PeACe
Tif

 

[sanosuke689]

if i remember correctly it didn't get that big, and i don't rellie have a measurement i could use... i guess you could say the head was about the size of an m80 when it died. as for the goldfish, the store (not the distributer) that i usually went to he had told me to feed it every day and if it didn't eat the fish (which it didn't) than i should start to skip days so i did. it wouldn't even skin the fish just nibble at it, as i had to remove the body in a few hours with was basicly unscathed yea yea jean i probably did get lucky, but hey it was a year and a half...it was interesting.

 

[Jean]

Tis a wee hobby horse I get onto!!! Didn't mean any offence! The problem with the goldfish....and it not eating is that it's not a natural food for them, many species don't eat fish and wouldn't know what to do with them! Also many won't touch dead food (the species we have on display want food that is live and kicking!!!!!!). Live and kicking crabs and marine shrimps are the best food (or freshly frozen then thawed, if you have a species that will eat it!). But it does beg the question is it OK to keep an octopus for a year and a half in less than ideal conditions? BTW many pet store and LFS owners wouldn't have a clue about how to keep an octopus! Isn't it nice to have Tonmo?

J

 

[sanosuke689]

hahaha, no offence taken. but yea when i would give it the fish they were alive (for about 5 min) and it would be really interesting how they catch it but yea, i just think it was a unique octopus haha, yea NOW i know of tonmo so i'll keep posted on what tank i decide to get and the species...time to do more research thanks

 

[nini]

BTW many pet store and LFS owners wouldn't have a clue about how to keep an octopus! Isn't it nice to have Tonmo?

Lol very true, i went to the local salt water store and i asked if he had any crabs or shrimp i could feed to a octopus, he told me to feed it gold fish because they were cheap, so i told him they were to fatty and not good for an octopus, and he rolled his eyes at me . good thing he didnt try to argue with me
anyways yes keep us posted and let us know what type of octo you r getting i would recommend a bimac though
PeACe
Tif

 

[sanosuke689]

alright, so a bimac and a 30 gal tank...here we go...hahahaha