Fluval Flex 32.5 Small octopus

[Bill Walton]

I had originally thought to buy am larger aquarium, but decided to start smaller and get some experience with a salt water aquarium before getting an octopus.

I have a Fluval Flex 32.5 US Gal Aquarium. https://fluvalaquatics.com/us/flex-32/

The aquarium has been cycled and has 4 Blue Green Chromis. I will be adding several fish for the grandchildren. The fish will be removed before I get an octopus. I also have a terrarium with several Fiddler crabs in waiting.

All this is in preparation for an octopus. The Fluval Flex 32.5 comes with a built 3-stage, two chamber filter area.

To the built in filter system I have added a felt Filter (sheet) as a new first stage.

The first built-in filter is a large foam mechanical filter. This is followed by a carbon filter. The last filter before the protein skimmer is a Fluval Biomax filter.

The protein skimmer is a Fluval Sea PS 1 Protein Skimmer

At present the 50 watt Fluval Heater keeps the tank temperature at 22° C

The circulation pump is 214 US Gal/h.

I have been using the ATC refractometer as well as the Hanna HI98319 tester to measure salinity

I also use a “Saltwater Master Test Kit” to measure the Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and ph values.

Temperature: 22° C, Salinity: 28, Ammonia:0.1, Nitrite:0, Nitrate:0, ph: 7.8

I have a 40 gallon RODI system to provide water for water changes.

To prevent the octopus from escaping I have added reinforcement around the filter area and filled any gaps with “Square Large Foam”.
The attached pictures show the aquarium and a top view showing the Skimmer.

 

[tonmo]

nice setup, and thanks for sharing all the specs! Traditionally 32g is considered too small for an octopus, but I do understand it depends on species so there are exceptions... The problem with this is that it's very hard to get a confirmed species from an LFS -- they'll often attempt to identify it, but almost just as often get it wrong.

 

[sedna]

Looks like a great set up for dwarf species! As Tonmo points out, it’s hard to get a good ID from suppliers, but as long as you stick with dwarf species you should be fine. You’re off to a great start. I love my smaller Fluval EVO tanks, so I’m really going to enjoy following your progress with this one.

 

[Bill Walton]

I decided to wait a while before getting the octopus, so bought a Cleanup Crew online from a reputable dealer, But!

I could not tell if all were alive. The dealer told me that it can take up to three days for all the critters to acclimate. That was surely correct for the Astraea Snails which took a long while to show movement. The Blue Leg Hermits and Nassarius Snails were all very active.

I waited; many of the Astraea Turbo Snails were dead and several of the Scarlet Reef Hermits. The Blue Leg Hermits and Nassarius Snails all seemed to live or at least most of them.

The crisis came when I removed the dead ones, Boy what a stink, Boy what a stink!

I measured the chemistry. I have been monitoring the chemistry every day and all the values were low.

Now the Nitrate was sky-high. I did a 40% water change to get things back to normal.

All the fish survived, but two Scarlet Reef Hermits died, I’m still waiting to see how this crisis ends.

I’ll buy all my critters local in the future, where I can see they are alive from the get-go.

 

[sedna]

I decided to wait a while before getting the octopus, so bought a Cleanup Crew online from a reputable dealer, But!

I could not tell if all were alive. The dealer told me that it can take up to three days for all the critters to acclimate. That was surely correct for the Astraea Snails which took a long while to show movement. The Blue Leg Hermits and Nassarius Snails were all very active.

I waited; many of the Astraea Turbo Snails were dead and several of the Scarlet Reef Hermits. The Blue Leg Hermits and Nassarius Snails all seemed to live or at least most of them.

The crisis came when I removed the dead ones, Boy what a stink, Boy what a stink!

I measured the chemistry. I have been monitoring the chemistry every day and all the values were low.

Now the Nitrate was sky-high. I did a 40% water change to get things back to normal.

All the fish survived, but two Scarlet Reef Hermits died, I’m still waiting to see how this crisis ends.

I’ll buy all my critters local in the future, where I can see they are alive from the get-go.

I know it can be disheartening, but you’re making the best choice in waiting! If it’s a Caribbean species you’re after, it’s better to wait until April, anyway- when the younger ones are available!

 

[Bill Walton]

The brown Pacific Octopus arrived today.

The arms are about 1 ½ inches long when stretching out.
The acclimation was done in 1 1/2 hours and the octopus, in its pipe, were put in the aquarium.
After about 10 minutes the octopus moved out to find a new home under one of the rocks.
11:32 still in pipe, getting ready to leave.
11:45 in the new home under a rock.
The octopus has stayed under the rock and is moving the substrate to make more room and possibly to make smaller entrance.
I gave the octopus a small piece of raw shrimp from the supermarket.
So far the octopus has rejected the shrimp.
I have ordered some small Blue Leg crabs and ghost shrimp for the next feeding.

 

[sedna]

Congratulations on your new friend! Sounds like things are going well. I’m not surprised it didn’t want to eat right away, that’s not uncommon. You could try some shrimp again tomorrow. Keep us updated!

 

[Bill Walton]

I set up a small webcam last night. The octopus came out as soon as we went to bed and surveyed the aquarium. I have some poor videos take in almost no light.

This morning the octopus was not to be found.

I received the Blue Leg Hermit crabs and the Ghost Feeder Shrimp from the Salty Bottom Reef Company this morning, so I have something to feed the small critter.

I now I’ll see if I can raise the food for the octopus as well: 1. Fiddler crabs, 2. Blue Leg Hermit crabs and Ghost Feeder Shrimp.

 

[Bill Walton]

It has taken two months but Harley finally has been out so we can see her.

I have started putting up the Harley videos on my YouTube channel.

YouTube search 'keithelkin channel' then hit the name keithElkin to see just my videos.

 

[sedna]

Yay! Looking awesome, what a fun little octo!

 

[Hadla]

Congrats! I love seeing them “walk!”

 

[Bill Walton]

Harlie (changed spelling) has laid eggs! Harlie had disappeared for 4 days and We feared the worst.
We started looking under the rocks, rock one, rock 2,rock 3, rock4 WOW, there was Harlie and about 400m eggs. I started a conversation to find out what to do. We decided to wait a week and then look again.

 

[Bill Walton]

The eggs were all white, we asked ourselves, are the eggs fertilized? Now after a week we took a close up. You can the white eggs. We were not optimistic, We have had Harlie a little over two months.

 

[Bill Walton]

Well after another week we looked again. Every time we looked Harlie swam away as fast as she could (we not know Harlie is a female). As you can see in the picture, black eye spots are starting to appear, Hurray, the eggs are fertilized.

 

[Bill Walton]

During this time we had been advised not to change the water, but the chemistry was getting very bad. The Nitrates were high 80 and the pH was continually going down to at least 7.9. We added a buffer on regular intervals and decided to change a very small amount of water.
With this small water change the chemistry was still very bad, so we decided to do a water change. We also decided that lifting the rock to see what was happening was not the best way to follow developments. I started asking around for what could we feed the babies. We were told congratulations but they would all die of starvation. No one had kept these small eggs alive for more than 21 dayws.