Begining with octopus

[J.Alberto]

Hello everyone,

Firstly I apologize because my English is not too good.
I Have experience in maintenance of fish and corals but I am new to the world of cephalopods.

I begin with a 10-gallon aquarium for a small animal.
I've been thinking about the flamboyant cuttlefish and the blue-ringed octopus. Finally I opted for Hapalochlaena lunulata.

The aquarium has an overflow grate protected and the decor is based on a single piece of cement-like live rock with multiple caves.

The system will be connected to the main reef (192 gallons).

Do you know any other species of small cephalopods part of Sepia bandensis, Hapalochlaena and Metasepia?

This is a picture of my current aquarium:

Greetings!

 

[DWhatley]

J,
TONMO tries hard to be careful about discussions for dangerous or endangered cephalopods but does want to be able to discuss them among members so there is a special forum that can only be found if you log in as a member but it cannot be found through the search engines. I have moved your thead to this forum.

In the case of the blue ring, the lethal danger of keeping one is compounded by the high death rate during shipping (it is estimated that 10 die for everyone shipped live) makes it doubly undesirable for most home aquarium setups. Fortunately, they are plentiful so extinction is not one of the concerns.

There are other dwarfs but finding them is likely difficult in Spain. In the US we see primarily mercatoris, followed by the imported blue ring and on a rare occassional other small species. A 4 gallon tank is considered too small for any of the species we discuss as it gives no room for the animal to move around (I understand that your reef will keep the water clean).

 

[J.Alberto]

Sorry, I was wrong to put the tank capacity. It's 10 gallons.
Obviously the water in my aquarium is in optimal conditions to maintain corals and marine invertebrates.

I asked about Octopus burri but it is impossible to achieve.
Here are other common octopus O. Briareus and Mimic octopus, but are too big for me.


Can I put LPS corals in the octopus aquarium? I have seen recently in another forum that I frequented a Cynarina eating a sea horse but don't know if it's dangerous for an octopus.

 

[DWhatley]

You need to understand that you should never put your hands in the tank, even to clean it. Blue rings are not known to be aggressive but most octopuses do get territorial and moving things about may aggravate it so anything you add to the tank must stay where it ends up or be moved with tongs. There is very little time after being nipped to get help. I have not kept a BR because of the toxin. Having been attacked by my lion fish that had always been docile in the past taught me that I will never be the kind of aquarist who keep anything with significant poison.

Most soft corals are low stinging animals and can be kept with the warm water species of octos I am familiar with (briareus, hummelincki, mercatoris, aculeatus). Leathers, short tenecaled polyps or low stinging zoes, Kenya, xenia should not be problematic but may require more light than your octopus likes for daytime activity.

No one has kept a seahorse with an octopus for very long. A seahorse can't hurt an octopus but they have no defenses or escape ability and won't survive.

It is interesting that O.briareus is on your list. Do you know if they are native or imported from the Caribbean? You are correct that it grows too large for your tank but if octopuses are being imported from the Caribbean, look for one labeled joubini or mercatoris. These are nocturnal dwarfs. Both names are used but it is typical to find that, regardless of name, the animal will be mercatoris.

It is most likely the octopuses labeled mimics are wunderpus photogenicus, both are suspected dwindling species that we encourage people not to keep.

 

[J.Alberto]

I know I should not manipulate the aquarium after entering the octopus. I have a pair of tongs if is necessary move something.

I do not want to keep seahorses with the octopus. I want to introduce large polyp corals who in some cases can eat seahorses.

The coral in the photo is a Cynarina, one of the most aggressive corals

Coral species that I have are Acanthophyllia, Lobophyllia and Traschiphyllia.

This is the Briareus that I saw. Now in he's owner in aquarium

And this is an other octopus in the shop installations:

I think it's O.aculeatus.

I will ask for Mercatoris, but do not think can get it.

 

[DWhatley]

Sorry for my misunderstanding. There is a journal that talks about an octopus eating a seahorse and I assumed that is what you were referencing. I read too quickly and thought you referred to cyanea (large Hawaiian octopus) and not the Cynarina coral.

Octopuses skin is delicate and we recommend NOT putting in corals that have the ability to burn/stink. Even if the coral cannot capture the octopus (some can), skin damage can cause infection and ultimately death. Soft corals are the safer choice.

There is also another abdopus related to aculeatus A.abaculus but finding and identifying one would be difficult. We see them on a rare occasion (none in the last 3 years).

 

[KateDesiraeReid]

Agree with dwhatley..We should not put our hands to clean the tank.You may get hurt

 

[DWhatley]

Somehow, I don't think that quite agrees with my methodology.

 

[J.Alberto]

Hi,

I've finished the tank and the table.

Testing the tank:

Artificial rock

Tank + table