Interested in keeping an octopus

El Aguila

Hatchling
Registered
Joined
Mar 15, 2019
Messages
3
Location
Alexis,NC
I have a 70G tank that I presently use to quarantine fish for my reef tank. I’ld like to convert this over to use for an octopus tank.

Presently doing research on keeping an octopus. I’m probably 6 months to a year away from making the plunge. I’ll be hear asking questions and learning.

I pretty much have the essentials on the tank - 50G sump, skimmer, etc.

I may drill the back of the tank to do a closed loop for some water flow. I would think that most powerheads would be very problematic - the same for running a closed loop over the back of the tank with pipes entering from above the aquarium.

I have access locally to a good food source of hermits and other crabs.

I also have a setup where I can economically cool the tank.

I’ld love to do a coolwater tank and do a Pacific coast octo, but it looks like these octopus might be hard to locate for someone in NC.
 
:cuttlehi:Welcome to TONMO! You seem to have a good handle on getting started but you will need to consider how to octoproof the top of your existing tank. There are numerous ideas in the Tank Talk forum on the How To post

Sadly, one of the best options for a cold tank is not easy to come by as California (the primary area where they can be sourced) has banned the sale of live O. bimaculoides and O. bimaculatus. I recommend trying to source a US animal but it is usually easier to find imports from Indonesia.
 
I figured that I’ll use glass tops. In the past I have run closed loop pipes over the back of a tank. That is why I mentioned drilling the tank for a CL.

However, one could use a small strip of acrylic and drill a tight hole for the pipe to pass through as long as you can fasten the acrylic well to the glass top and the back side of the tank.

I really don’t want a nocturnal octopus. I preferred the pacific octopuses because of longer life spans. Is the East Pacific Red Octopus also difficult to locate?

I do have a pretty good source of FL Keys livestock. I believe that there is on species that is not mostly nocturnal.
 
O. rubescens requires a cold (not cool) tank and is very rare in the hobby industry. US Pacific animals of any variety are almost impossible to purchase. Here is a summary of what to expect to find.

I believe the diurnal Caribbean octopus you are referring to is O. hummelincki. It is one of my favorites and we are seeing more of them in the last year or so (we saw very few for many years). Use the search feature in the journals forum with hummelincki in the title to view some of the journalled experiences.
 

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