My first OCTOPUS

[keithohlin]

I'm new OCTOPUS's so Can some please tell me what kind of OCTOPUS this is i bought it 2 days ago put it in my 30 gallon i bought for it. i used water from my reef tank that has been up for year and a half put 35 pounds of live rock that i had for about 3 months cureing in there i bought a 205 Fluval® External Canister. let the tank run for a week. i don't got a heater in there yet. and i got a air pump with a 7 inch bubble wall on the back. the acclimation time was 4 hours drip. put it in there left the lights off for the rest of that day next day i turned the light on he came out and was swimming around i didn't know if it was hungry or not so i put 2 Hermit Crab's and 3 ghost shrimp in there he ate them all he doesn't seem to be shy at all he's allways moving around is this a sign of a healty OCTOPUS. should i feed it just live food. my LFS has frozen hole KRILL can i feed it them if it will take it. I put up some pics up of the OCTOPUS and the tank...And last BUT NOT LAST. I would like too THANK TONMO.com for haveing this web site and EVERYBODY here that SHARE there experience's and ADVICE....

.Keithohlin.

 

[DHyslop]

If the tank has only been running for a week you might have some very serious problems with your OCTOPUS.

 

[Animal Mother]

Take more pics and tell us how big he is!

Congrats and good luck.

 

[Animal Mother]

If the tank has only been running for a week you might have some very serious problems with your OCTOPUS.

Yeah... is there any way you can house him in the tank you've had running until the one you set up for him has properly cycled? If he's small enough you could keep him in a large critter keeper to keep him from destroying your livestock and escaping until you can move him back to the other tank by himself.

Even though you used materials (water, rock, etc.) from a tank that has already cycled the new tank is still a new tank and needs to have time for the beneficial bacteria to proliferate.

 

[DHyslop]

The only hope is that the octopus is small enough that the live rock can handle its waste. And to be quite honest the rock isn't the prettiest I've seen. But, hey, good luck!

 

[joefish84]

if you read the post in full you would see that all the water and the rock came from a precycled tank that was actually a reef tank so it should be fine...

 

[Brock Fluharty]

But the bacteria has to colonize the glass, sandbed, fliter, etc. I also agree though, that he will be fine, but not the best way to do things.

 

[DHyslop]

if you read the post in full you would see that all the water and the rock came from a precycled tank that was actually a reef tank so it should be fine...

The water doesn't care. This is the most fundamental thing that people choose not to grasp about cycling an aquarium.

The bacteria that eats the ammonia will live anywhere in your tank: the glass, the sand, the rock, etc. At any given time, some of them are even floating free in the water. However, the population of bacteria in most of these places (sometimes with the exception of the rock) is dramatically insufficient. Think about a family garden: Nice tomatoes, but nothing you're going to live on.

To support an animal, you need a real population. Instead of the family garden, we're looking for a farm-field. A wet/dry filter provides an optimum environment for these bacteria to grow.

Using water from a cycled aquarium does almost nothing for the new aquarium. It will provide a "seed" of bacteria, but that seed will take weeks to grow to a population adequate to support any tank (this is the cycle time). Adding good live rock will put in a bigger seed. An even better way is to move filter media from an established system. The only way to make this process instant is to transplant the entire filter from another system.

Not all live rock has good filtration potential. What we want is surface area. Nooks and crannies and places for the bacteria to live and grow. I choose pieces also based on color: coralline algae is a good indication the rock has been in a well-kept system with healthy water parameters. Green or brown rock not so much.

Even the best live rock doesn't have that great of a capacity to consume ammonia and nitrite. No one recommends live rock filtration for fish-only systems. Setting up a reef with 1-2 lb/gallon LR and a skimmer is only successful because these reef tanks don't generate much waste.

This is the foundation that makes it possible to keep an aquarium in your home. It is not rocket science. Anyone who does not understand this is not qualified to keep an aquarium.

Dan

 

[alien4fish]

set up a skimmer and congrats on your new friend! p.s. you will a mini cycle so keep a close eye ....................

 

[Illithid]

p.s. you will (have) a mini cycle so keep a close eye ....................

This is correct! Just watch your test kits, and be ready with premixed water for changes. That little octo will begin spewing ammonia like a big grouper and with enough seed it will grow the bacteria in your Fluval. Hopefully the chemical filtration doesn't stunt the beneficial bacteria bloom.

Octos (unlike a big grouper) have a huge surface area that isn't protected by scales so all the toxic elements are "mainlined" into their system.

Some live rock will definitely help in seeding, just keep a eye on it.

Beautiful tank by the way...

 

[keithohlin]

To day it ate a 2 inch red claw crab not much left.. I put up 2 more pic's.. doe's any one know what kind it is it just sed the Origin: Caribbean.. thanks everyone for your ADVICE....

..keithohlin..

 

[Brock Fluharty]

I would say briareus, but that last pic made it look a little like a blue ring. lets' cross our fingers that he's not on that one...

 

[keithohlin]

Thanks every one for your ADVICE.... My octo seems to be doing fine stays out alot and still eating good.. I feed Octo 1 to 2 snails every other day and a red claw or fiddler crab every other day of the snails.. Did a 10% water change yesterday.. the AMMONIA was 50.ppm and the NITRATE was 60.ppm...The water change drop the AMMONIA to 25.ppm and the NITRATE to 40.pp And has any one heard of useing CYCLE by HAGEN for putting (BENEFICIAL BACTERIA) in a tank and useing it once a week to keep it healthy.. And here is a pic of my REEF TANK..... Thanks Keithohlin

 

[cuttlegirl]

Please do another water change. Your tank looks good but you need to get the ammonia and nitrates down!

 

[keithohlin]

How much % shoud i do its a 30 gallon and how offten.. thanks (Cuttlegirl).....