• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

G'day - First time posting, long time Hobby

Kharn

O. vulgaris
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Jun 16, 2008
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83
G'day

I have been an Aquarium Hobbiest for over a decade now starting of with Mouth brooding Cichlids then making a move to and all the way through the Australian natives selection ranging from Bass, barras, Saratoga and more. I had kept a marine tank in the past but the expenses of running it (at the time) were to steep for me to handle.

However the time has come for me to tackle (what I consider) one of the most interesting and exotic creatures to be housed in any aquarium, an Octopus. I have done LOADS of re-search (fanatically) printed off information like your Ceph Care Checklist and Equipment list (Cephalopod Care ).

I also sourced some books from the Marine Aquarium stores however these books are quite limited on information in regards to housing an Octopus in a Home Aqarium.

I have also found an interesting website that supplies "Octopus Filters and Aquariums" designed specifically for these animals. ( here is the site http://www.reefoctopus.com.au/v2/pub/range.cfm?category=5EF3AA65-C7AE-411A-9D2BE8FE975382A3 )

I just had a quick few questions that i couldn't find answers to any where else. Firstly as you may have guessed I do live in Australia, Queensland and the most commonly available Pet Octopus here is the Deadly Blue Ringed, now the question is aside blue Rings is there any other species of octopus that is commonly available in Australia, Queensland area.

I ask you guys this because I have been to the best exotic marine aqariums around brisbane and NONE can give me solid information on species or How to Keep an octopus, any help here please?

Secondly I am going to give this octopus the chance to absolutly THRIVE hence, tank size is yet to be determined but I do believe it will be in the +200Gallon range. Is there a general "rule of thumb" for finding filter sizes to the ratio of Tank water volume ?

Thirdly is there ANYTHING ( and I am sure there are, but not sure as to what ) that can live happily in an Octopus Aqarium. Anything that will not disturb the octopus and anything that the Octopus himself will not disturb/kill/eat.

Its just that I've heard rumors of Octopus tanks being somewhat "Graveyards" as much as i'd like to avoid tat Aquarium look, if that is what is required for my Octopus to thrive then I won't prevent the Aquarium from turning into a graveyard state.

Thanks in advance for your Info

P.S. Ill be posting pics of this Project rite through from tank installment to Occi Swimming :P
 
:welcome: to TONMO!

There are quite a few octo species that aren't deadly around Australia, but I don't know how often they're sold as pets... you might want to see if there are local collectors who know the local octos. Some of the NZ folks will probably know what species you might find locally, too, but I'd have to break out the books.

200 gallons will give you room for quite a number of species larger than what we normally see on TONMO... most of the species commonly kept are happy in 55-75gal. 200 would be good for vulgaris, or a similar sized local octo. Usually, the cephs need much more filtration than is rated for "water volume," I think one of the care sheets recommends filtration rated for 3 times the water volume, but I could be wrong on that.

While octos are messy eaters, most people find that they can clean up after their octos without much trouble, and that tends to be better for the water quality, too.
 
Thank you for the response Monty, most informative.

It's Perfect!

A Vulgaris :bugout: ,wow that would of been one of the last Octopus I would of thought of being able to keep in a +200Gallon tank. Now that I know I can house a Vulgaris I am really keen on getting one, or maybe even a Cyanea (Day octopus).

As far as sourcing the wholesalers out I have looked into some of the really exotic pet stores around my area and none have given me help on sourcing wholesalers for Octopus :sad:. However there is a pet store that gets octopus in often, they also do specific requests for Octopus but never know what species they have, unless its a Blue Ring.

The problem with keeping an Octopus in Australia is the scarceness of information available to us on Octopus in Home Aquariums. Its one thing to surf the net for information on a Octopus species but is the Octopus you have (even though its the same species) from the same climate zone as the one you have all the information on.

The amount of information found on the net about Housing an Australian octopus is excessively small or Non-existant :banghead:. I have gone though pages and pages of forums and threads in search of "Hard facts" and have only come up with very insignificant posts like "yeah Octopus is Kewl it goes all funny colours and strage shapes." :bonk: Umm....

Keeping Octopus as pets in Australia is rare, so naturally so is the Information on Housing them. If there is ANY australian Octopus holders here PLEASE send me somewhere to get some good facts on our Aussie Occi's :read: or If there are any books I can purchase online that would be good for helping me out that would be Awesome to.

Thank You again :smile:

P.S. This may just be me and my paranoia of wanting things to be "Perfect" for my pet octopus but, for example all Vulgaris all around the world MAY share the exact same water qualities im not sure, that is where you guys come in.
 
Welcome to Tonmo, it is great to meet someone who is truly concerned for the octopus pet !

Greg
 
I am also interested in keeping a Vulgaris (hopefully next year) in addition to my Hummelincki and Mercatoris and have found that they are:

1. very often misidentified.
2. live around the world and come from different water temperatures.
3. vary significantly in size.

The Mediterranean version (larger than the Caribbean it seems) were studied heavily in Europe at one time (60's - 70's I believe) but I have not seen recent info. I have purchased a used (out of print I think but readily available) copy of Jacques Couteau's Octopus and squid, The Soft Intelligence (1978) but won't start it until I finish Cephalopod Behaviour , Roger T. Hanlon and John B. Messenger (1993). Both books may be of interest and can be found used in the US through Amazon.com (I don't know how bad shipping is to Queensland).

I also happened upon this title that is out of print and not available at Amazon.com but you may find it locally:

A Guide to Squid, Cuttlefish and Octopuses of Australasia (Paperback) Mark Norman (2000)

Welcome to Ceph addiction!
 
Hello

Yeah I have already purchased that book and am actually going through it (again) Rite NOW! I managed to pick it up at one of my LFS after they told me they had NO information able to help me on Cephalopods... LOL. However I still decided to keep searching through there books and found "A Guide to Squid, Cuttlefish and Octopuses of Australasia" I thought I was going to have a heart attack when I saw it.

I also managed to pick up an old magazine from another pet store it has an article within it based on Octopuses, It was published in 2005.


I have also placed my order for the new book Amazon.com

P.S. How HOT do Octopus Mototi Look! :lol:
 
:welcome: from across the ditch!

What about O. pallidus from South eastern Australia? Or the Sydney Octopus, O. tetricus I think these are smallish species. Chat to local fishers, especially those in dredge fisheries eg scallops, they may be willing to hold an octopus for you. Be careful you don't get O. maorum, the Maori octopus, though it gets very, very large... 2m arm spread, rugby ball sized mantle (or bigger)!

J
 

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