buying

[vaughn]

i am wanting to get a octopus but i dont want to rush in to it so first what king of dwarf octopus is best for starters
and second were can i buy one over the internet

 

[Castor]

8 s to you! There is a tonne of information here for you to perues, not to mention a wealth of knowledge that would make Noah Webster feel awfully small. What kind of saltwater experience do you have?

Squishly yours;
Felix

 

[cuttlegirl]

Start reading here...
http://www.tonmo.com/cephcare/cephcarejump.php
You might want to start with a different species than a dwarf.

Oh, and

 

[vaughn]

Thank you for your warm welcomes

Right now, I don’t have any experience with salt water aquariums.
I am just reading up and getting facts at this moment. It will be possibly years before I even attempt to get one. This is just preparation. I definably don't want to rush in and risk killing an octopus out of carelessness. With that being said, when I think I have found a sufficient amount of information I then will begain to experiment with just controlling the salt water with some fish allowing a couple of months to get use to maintaining the water. Asking about the best starter was to have a bases for searches ,I am wanting a dwarf because I have little space and only have room for a 45 gal.
right now the only experience I have is in herpetology (reptiles).

 

[Illithid]

Welcome,
Sounds like you are going about this the right way. So many people want to jump in and end up getting frustrated and killing something.

I have herps too. I would equate cephs to poison dart frogs or chameleon species. Short lived, suseptible to environmental conditions, and you don't know they are sick until they are really sick or just die. BUT.... just like the dendrobates azureus and chameleo pardalis -nothing is cooler. Part of the satisfaction to me is knowing I have the knowledge to properly care for these animals, but it takes time.

Scour the articles on this site. They are the best I have ever seen in one place. I had octos 15 years ago and was flying by the seat of my pants. It was very frustrating and definately a learning experience.

Another good resource is "the cephalopod page" by James Wood.
http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/tcp/

Ask lots of questions on these forums too. Everyone here has different ways that they do it-so you may not get the same answer, but they all will work.

Happy Herping and Cephing!

 

[cthulhu77]

All of the above is correct...there are many articles here on getting into keeping cephs in captivity. You might want to think about starting with a natural reef tank, it provides a lot of entertainment, and gives you a lot of experience with the myriad fluctuations in a saltwater system.
Welcome to Tonmo !
greg