New here, need help

[sandman10]

Hello everyone iam new to the forum and have some questions.

Iam just starting my 135gal and was wondering if i can put an octo in it, what kind , and what else can go in the tank with it?

Thanks alot

James, o and my real screen name is [email protected] i acciedential deleted the e-mail ( i know i cant spell)

 

[NickA5582]

Sandman10!
You could have an octopus bimaculoides in your tank, but not much else; only echinoderms. Look here for other things you should know about caring for your octo.

 

[sandman10]

well i dont think iam ready to dedicate my tank to one single octo, so iam having doubts of getting one

 

[Jean]

well i dont think iam ready to dedicate my tank to one single octo, so iam having doubts of getting one

 

[sandman10]

whats that supposed to mean? I cant see a 6 foot long tank with one thing in it

 

[tonmo]

Hi Sandman,

Welcome to the site! I'm no expert myself, but there are plenty here...

I do know that you can have cohabitants, but you have to choose carefully. You might want to have a look at our Ceph Care page (see top navigation) and read some of the resources available there, including our OCTO Database (again on top nav), which contains specifications on how other cephalopod owners are maintaining their tanks. Good luck!

 

[Nancy]

Hi,
If you really feel that you want a big tank with lots of things in it and lots of activity, you probably would prefer a reef tank. If you are really interested in having an octopus, then making an attractive aquascape (which your adult octopus may rearrange) should suffice.

Nancy

 

[sandman10]

i already have a 30 gallon reef and love it but i cant afford another one expesialy this size. Iam going to make it mostly aggressive and i was just wondering if an octo could go in with everything else (triggers,eels,tangs,etc.)

 

[Nancy]

Nope, leave the octo out. It will eat your other tank inhabitants, or they will eat it. Not good!

Nancy

 

[sandman10]

ok :? hmm what is the min. size tank for an octo? Maybe i could start a tank just for it! I dunno though, its hard to keep my 2 tanks going as it is, iam only in high school.

 

[NickA5582]

The minimum tank size is 50 gallons, it used to be 30 but a few octos outgrew their tanks.

 

[Jean]

whats that supposed to mean? I cant see a 6 foot long tank with one thing in it

Hi Sandman 10.....It's a joke!!! Many of us are so obsessed with cephalopods it's a case of fish........what fish ? give us an Octi any time!! I mean some are REALLY obsessed ( not me of course I work in a public aquarium part-time and the rest of the time I'm studying squid...spent 25 days of the last 30 at work..............OK so maybe I'm a Little bit obsessed ).

I can totally see that if you're in school you don't want too many tanks to look after, especially one with a messy inhabitant.

Our Octi tank (check out Portobello Aquarium Tank in the data base) does have cohabitants including fish which the octi doesn't touch but crabs are history! Still as Nancy says is you want lots of activity go for a reef tank and yes I have to admit they're pretty neat too!

Cheers

J

 

[shannen74]

Our octo tank has several other things in it, but we definitely do not put anything in there that is rare or we are really attached to. We also added all but the damsel after we had the octo about a week, so he wouldn't bumble into something dangerous. They're clumsy when they are teeny. We have a small long-tentacle anemone, a medium unidentified anemone, a sea cucumber, a lettuce nudibranch, a chili coral, some star polyps, a damsel, a lawnmower blenny, a tuxedo urchin, a fighting conch, a few other snails, some xenia, and several mushrooms. The corals were picked specifically for low lighting. The only problem we've had is that the octo is still pretty nocturnal. He would rather be out & about while we're not watching. He is getting a bit more interactive & less shy with time, it's just taking lots of it. Also, our Octo tank water supply is looped in with our 55 gal. reef tank. Water goes into the reef, then out of the reef to either the octo or to the overflow, then out of the octo to the overflow into the sump.

Hope this was helpful.
Shannen

 

[melam]

Shannen, I have a question about your setup. I was thinking about a similar setup when we aquire our larger 125 gal tank later next year, my question though is about the octo's ink. When startled (perhaps by a 2year old...) if the octo inks with this system there is a risk of damaging the reef after the loop is completed wouldn't you say? I realize that this would depend primarily on the sump operation and setup but I was mainly looking for info on these type of incidents and how you have/would handle it.

 

[melam]

I ask because although he hasn't inked yet, our 2 year old approaches the tank a bit brashly sometimes. Booger usually slinks into one of his spots to hide and stays there a long time, but Im afraid his tolerance may wear thin and he may. Just thought I would throw that in there...