Greetings from South Dakota

3Watt

Hatchling
Registered
Joined
Jan 27, 2012
Messages
6
Hello.

I've been addicted to the aquarium hobby since I was around 7, so that would make my career about 37 years long. The last 5 have been strictly on the marine side of the fence. I set up a 55 gallon FOWLR but when new life started popping up out of the rock I seriously lost my mind and became completely addicted to the hobby.
Currently I have a 75 gallon SPS dominant, and a 90G macro display. The "spouse factor" resulted in a tear down of around 400G of prop system, a mixed reef and the sale of my beloved female O. havanensis and male G. glabrous. Long story short: with too much time on my hands I kept "getting into trouble" w/ the wife and she got fed up with my moping so I've been "allowed" to begin rebuilding.
From the beginning I've understood that research is the key to success and I've pushed that onto every newcomer I've helped. Nothing in this hobby comes easy and if a person doesn't take the time to read and learn, failure is imminent or frustration will drive you out.
I was toying with the idea of keeping a ceph before the big meltdown and had researched a little. Now that I am back with a clear path of relatively apparent smooth rolling I've decided it truly is something I would like to attempt. Hence joining TONMO :smile:
I recently picked up a 150 gallon RR AGA and that will be the home to probably the most fascinating and challenging animal I will ever keep. It will be a very slow build and figure that actually purchasing the species I end up feeling will be the best match for my level of understanding still is months away. The hardest part will be maintaining a tank with no visible life in it while it matures and fighting off the urge to turn it into another reef.
In the meantime I'll be reading threads, articles, blogs, any thing that will help me provide the absolute best environment for a truly amazing animal.
Suggestions to books and links are welcomed and appreciated. Thanks in advance.
 
:welcome: 3Watt,
MTS is always a concern when you start or restart this hobby :sagrin:

Two of our staff members (Nancy King and Collin Dunlop) have written a book that might interest you, Cephalopods Octopuses and Cuttlefished for the Home Aquarium (there is also a link on the home page). Another book I recommend, if you can find a copy (out of print) is Cephalopods A World Guide by Mark Norman. Finally, a book I always like to recommend that is out of print but easily available second hand is Octopus and Squid The Soft Intelligence by Jacques-Yves Cousteau

about the,
It will be a very slow build and figure that actually purchasing the species I end up feeling will be the best match for my level of understanding still is months away.
part of you post though, I recommend that you build out your tank without a specific animal in mind. The octopuses we can keep at home only live about a year so building out a flexible system allows you to experience different species over time. A 150 will comfortabley house most of the species we keep (although really too large for the dwarf O. mercatoris). There are exotics that need specialized environments but we strongly suggest not attempting these. They have not done well in aquariums and their numbers are dwindling in the wild as their environment shrinks.

Your base setup should include filtration to handle large fish bioload. I prefer lots of live rock for this and denning solutions. The only cold water animal we see (and they are hard to come by) is O. bimaculoides (commonly called a bimac) and for this animal you will need to consider a chiller (a considerable expense for a 150). You will need an octoproof cover and a skimmer. Both are best accomodated by using a sump but we do have keepers not using them.

There are a couple of build out examples in the stick entitled Tank Buildouts at the top of the Tank Talk forum that might give you some ideas and I invite you to journal your 150 set up as it progresses.

If the reef bug gets too strong, an alternate to an octopus would be to consider housing several cuttlefish. Cuttles can be kept with more reef type animals (with limits) than an octopus so you might read through some of the journals to see if they interest you.
 
Thank you for the welcome and the links! Ceph's for the home aquarium will be in my hands sometime next week. I look forward to reading it. And I'll keep an eye out for the other two as well.
I've done a bit of reading through the write ups found on this site and finding there is more info here than I imagined. You've posted up some pretty decent builds yourself. :smile: I would like to have seen more of the 150G in the cuttlefish build section.
I'll most definitely document the build and hopefully all will go well enough to continue documenting my first cephalopod.
 
I would like to have seen more of the 150G in the cuttlefish build section.

As would I but I can only highlight what I am given :wink: I am glad you are looking at the cuttlefish side. If your wife is a little squimish with the idea of an octopus, cuttles might be something that both of you are attacted to. I am an octopus fan but we allow keepers to switch between the two (provided you build out an octo tank which is compatible with both. The allowed corals and no top requirement for the cuttles negate putting an octo in the tank). I assume you saw Paradox's tank?

As old as the Cousteau book is, much of it is not out dated and it is well worth the read. You can easily find it on eBay or used on Amazon. Mark Norman's book is a must have for staff and divers but is becoming almost impossible to find. You might put an on-going search on Amazon and eBay and get lucky with a used copy.
 
Yes it was Paradox's thread I was referring to. It would of been nice if he would have extended it a bit, at least until there was a few cuttlefish in it but I did still get some good ideas.

I was able to pick up Cousteau's book for $19 on amazon. Gotta love amazon! :smile: New hard covers list for $120!
 
I saw that price but also saw some for $5 + shipping :biggrin2:

Paradox did an article for a now extinct magazine but the article is still on line. He also has his own website and there is more on the tank under his Cuttlefish army heading. Both are referenced in this post. Sadly it appears motorcycles are his current infatuation and he has not mentioned his tank in awhile.
 

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