interesting idea...

[oceanbound]

hey guys what about instead of all the fancy glass locks and plexiglass fittings we use a strip of astroterf on siliconed to the walls of the aquarium. as im told the public aquariums use it to keep hungry octos away from prey. of course in the home aquarium it might not look very nice but supposedly the octo cannot suction to it and it is tough on their sensitive skin. tell me what you think!

 

[monty]

hey guys what about instead of all the fancy glass locks and plexiglass fittings we use a strip of astroterf on siliconed to the walls of the aquarium. as im told the public aquariums use it to keep hungry octos away from prey. of course in the home aquarium it might not look very nice but supposedly the octo cannot suction to it and it is tough on their sensitive skin. tell me what you think!

Although it's known that large octos like GPOs and maybe adult vulgaris can't grab onto astroturf with their suckers, I don't know that anyone has tried it with smaller octos such as folks around here keep. It's possible that they can't grab either, but I can imagine that smaller octos have suckers that are small enough that the "blades of grass" seem are big enough to get suction, so it might not work for them. Does anyone know if this has been tested for small octos?

I'd want to know that it's been confirmed for small octos as well as GPOs before telling people it'll work for their pets... which maybe it has, but I haven't heard it yet.

 

[oceanbound]

i totally agree..it was just a thought. anyone else have any ideas or comments??

 

[Jean]

We've used astroturf, in fact we have an octi in our 5000L open tank now with astro turf on it. But in our experience it is a very short term solution. This will be set up for just 2-3 weeks (school holidays ). The problem is that it soon slimes up and the octo then just wanders over it quite comfortabley! Also as the octi grows it learns to reach over it!

Here's a pic, the grey at the top is the astroturf, it is on the inside and outside of the tank.

J
oops sorry forgot to rotate it! the pale blue is the bottom of the tank!