Complete newbie requesting help with first octopus setup!

[Rodney Clark]

Thomas saw the picture and said I should put a speech bubble over George's head saying "OMG It's a party tank!"

Miss Katy, for a non-native English speaker, you have an awesome command of English and even humor. However, you do need to find a better brand than Smirnoff to make dear George happy.

I am a long-time lurker and first time poster that is trying hard to learn before bringing my first octo into my home. Katy, I am learning so much from your posts (and their responses) to prepare me to eventually make the plunge. Keep doing your good work and I look forward to learning from your future posts.

 

[djkaty]

Hey Rodney, welcome I was actually born in England but I haven't lived there for many years, so I have a slight advantage I also write articles for an online gaming site, in English, some of which have to have some satire, so I have alot of practice luckily! We get all the English/American shows on TV also. It is true that I mostly speak Norwegian when I'm not typing on web sites though.

Glad you find the posts useful! People nearby have started to become interested in the aquarium now and I feel it is a bit like the blind leading the blind, I'm just muddling my way through worrying about everything and blindly hoping that everything is ok and I am doing everything right. I said in another thread to a newbie that there are no stupid questions, so just ask the kind folks here.

I have been quite lethargic lately and a bit weary of what people will say about the tank on YouTube next time I post a vlog (especially about the state of the anemone), but I will try to do one soon, an update is way overdue.

 

[djkaty]

Well I woke up today and the anemone looks like this:

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Yesterday it looked fine (or, the same as normal anyway). The water parameters are the best they've been since I started the tank, the ammonia has reached zero a week or two ago.

A few days ago I managed to get hold of a turkey baster and tried to target feed some krill. The anemone was not interested so I let the fish eat it. The next day I tried again and it closed up round the krill very quickly. That is the first time I have seen him take food.

Yesterday and today the fish has not wanted to eat, which is very unusual. Everything else is as it was.

What should I do?

 

[cuttlegirl]

Your anemone looks fine, I might be a bit worried about the fish not eating though... did he get a big meal recently (or has he been sneaking off for more vodka )?

 

[djkaty]

But yesterday the anemone was pink and had 'normal' tentacles, today it has mostly turned white, some of the tentacles have become short stubs and they are facing all directions, and he is opening and closing rapidly. It is behaving much differently now.

The fish may have eaten the krill that the anemone didn't take. I don't know how to feed it properly, if I squirt krill onto its tentacles it just floats away.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Try just placing the krill, without squirting. Place it on the tip of the tentacles. Anemones don't like a lot of water movement.

 

[Joe-Ceph]

Don't krill have hard shells? Maybe the little micro-harpoons that anemone use won't "stick" to them very well. I'm guessing here, but it seems reasonable.
I found that I was over feeding my anemone, so now I let a pinch of flake food rehydrate for a few minutes in a glass of tank water until it sinks, and then I suck it up and spot feed the anemone. What the anemone misses is snatched up by the fish, so I feed two for the work of one.

 

[Fandango]

Hey Katy, I just wanted to thank you for starting this thread, and to everyone else for replying and keeping it going! I too am preparing myself to take the octopus plunge and I am so relieved that such an enormous and comprehensive thread like this is going on - I feel like I've learned so much from reading! I look forward to more updates!

 

[djkaty]

So today my question is about water changes.

Current water parameters:

Temp - 28C
pH - 8.3
SG - 1.024
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0.01ppm (which with my chart reading skills is as close as dammit 0)
Nitrate - 7.5ppm

The question is, is there any point in changing the water if the existing parameters are ok?

 

[Joe-Ceph]

Yes! The reason is that water chemistry is much more complex than the simple model that we use to track it. There are many things that we know are important but don't measure for, and probably many other things that are important but we don't know it. Water changes are a way of reset everything, not just the few things we measure, back to a stable state. It's a little like rebooting a Windows computer at least every few days, even if it hasn't crashed. On the other hand, for convenience, you can experiment with waiting a little longer between water changes, based on the good water parameters.

 

[djkaty]

Aha tyvm. I'm supposed to be going on a little trip to Romania on Monday (and tbh I don't actually know if I can be bothered or am well enough even though I paid 400 euro for the tickets). I've tought my neighbour how to feed, check for leaks, replace the evaporated water, check the fish and anemone and test for ammonia. So I want to try and make sure everything is as easy and risk-free as possible while I'm gone.. if I go. I will mix up some saltwater.

 

[djkaty]

Hrm!!

The animal shop just called me... they have an octopus macropus in.

What should I do?

 

[CaptFish]

Cool, two things. They are nocturnal, which for you might be good . And they are usually pretty small, a dwarf species. D had one

what about George?
Anyway you could get a picture or video of the Macropus?

As for as you being ready. I think you are ready but what I think is irrelevant the question is do YOU think you are ready.

Here is D's journal of Beldar who was thought to be a macropus
http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?16057-Beldar-Macropus-Complex-(-)

Sedna's Macropus
http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?15869-Artemis-macropus-complex

and another
http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?15891-Lennon-Macropus-complex

 

[djkaty]

Well, before I read those, here is the situation:

1. I wasn't sure if macropus was an appropriate species so I need to do some reading around that
2. My anemone is sick, I am in the process of setting up a 'naughty tank' for George as I've eliminated all other factors, it should be ready by Wednesday
3. My big tank is not octo-proofed at all, I had planned to worry about this later - is it a problem for octopus macropus?
4. I will probably have to borrow money to get it as I'm skint from my holiday
5. The bioload of the tank is almost nothing - 4 crabs, the fish and the anemone - do I need to wait til I have more stuff in there producing ammonia?

 

[CaptFish]

3. My big tank is not octo-proofed at all, I had planned to worry about this later - is it a problem for octopus macropus?

Yes you would need to octo proof, ie put lid and cover the return(s), and overflow.

he bioload of the tank is almost nothing - 4 crabs, the fish and the anemone - do I need to wait til I have more stuff in there producing ammonia?

I think your fine.