New Octo Tank

[3000gtman]

im an experienced saltwater tank owner for about 2 years not and im setting up my third one in my bedroom. it is a 150 gal tank im going to use for an octo. currently it is cycling with some damsels and it has been up and running with the fish in it for a month. i have all eheim components. i have an eheim wet/dry filter that will do 169 gallon talk and then another eheim canister filter for 110 gal. then i have a protein skimmer and a u v steralizer. is theer anything else i will need. and i forgot to mention i have two 5inch bubble disks in the sandbed. hopefully i will get pistures soon.

everyone let me know what they think
thanx
greg

 

[cthulhu77]

sounds like a nice tank for a bimac to live in !!!
greg

 

[corw314]

Sounds like an excellent setup. How are you sealing the top? I have my tank in the bedroom also and it's nice to be able to see it especially at night! Right now Elmer (Large Bird Wrasse) resides there, but eventually, there will have to be another octo! Anyway welcome and enjoy!!!!

Carol

 

[3000gtman]

here in a few weaks once i get all the live rock in the tank and glues togeather im gonna get all the dimentions of the top of the tank then cut around the plumbing in the tank then seal the tiny cracky with silicone. then have little tabs holding down the top. it should work out i will pry have to tinker with it here and there to get it just right. also are there any otehr types of osctos that i should be interested in besides a bimac. and do u thin i would be able ot keep 2 or 3 in there all at the same time if i get them as babies.
thanx a lot everyone

 

[Nancy]

Not a good idea to keep more than one - sooner or later, one becomes dominant and eats the other. We have seen a number of examples of this.

A bimac is probably your best bet - they are friendly and easy to keep. You might think of having a starfish, too.

Nancy

 

[3000gtman]

what type of star fist can i have in there? also are there any types of fish i can put in there that will not pick on the octo or and not get eaten?
i have 80 pounds of livesand and about 70 pounds of crushed puka shells. about and inch deep. the tank is a steady 75 degrees. is that about right the ph is 8.1 and salitnity is 1.021 and ammonia spiked and is goin back down now and it is 0.1 and the nitrite/nitrates are very very little to none. anything else people should give me the heads up on i would greatly appreciate it.

 

[chrono_war01]

About huh?

I've seen starfish AND octos get along, but I don'te remeber which type it was.

 

[Colin]

Its right about the cohabiting issue...it never lasts longer than a few weeks, i have lost track of how many people have tried...

Anyway, i havnt had a problem with any species of stars in beside octos but green serpents can steal food from small baby octos

 

[Nancy]

You need to wait until your tank has fully cycled and ammonia is zero - octos are very sensitive to ammonia.

Bring up your sg for an octopus - they like full salinity (sg 1.026)

Bimacs prefer cooler temperatures but they can live at 75 degrees. I put a fan on the sump to bring down the temp a few degrees.

Put in some snails and some hermit crabs, although your octo may much on these at first.

Avoid fish - they will bother your octo, some will even try for its eyes.

Nancy

 

[3000gtman]

i just uploaded some pix so hopefully u guys will see and be able ot help me out a litle more. so be on the look out for osme new tank pix. just to let u know it is the all oak stand

 

[chrono_war01]

idiot, me!

Interesting, yesterday while I was diving, I saw a brittle star get attacked by a rather small grouper, I followed it and find it spitting the brittle star out into a small pile, where they seem to be collecting junk or food....anything kown for this behavoir?

 

[Colin]

Hi Chrono...

Although your comments are interesting they are not relevant to this particular thread. We try hard to keep things on topic and perhaps you should post this in the Diving forum or perhaps octopus den.

By all means contribute to threads but lets keep them on topic

cheers
Colin

 

[chrono_war01]

Sorry

Sorry there.
So Green serpents don;t get along with small octos?! That's special cuase I always thought that brittle stars and starfishes don't have brains and are extremly stupid. You might get a green serpeant to coperate if you stuff it with food, dunno I'll have to ask the poeple at the local aqaurium.

 

[Colin]

well, it normally doesnt take too long before brittle stars learn to keep near by to octopuses because thats where the food is. When i had a young bimac it would get pounced on by the large serpent star i had to steal its food.

Also once had a brittle star catch a fish i had put in for my cuttles to eat, the fish did swim straight into it though!

 

[chrono_war01]

well, it normally doesnt take too long before brittle stars learn to keep near by to octopuses because thats where the food is. When i had a young bimac it would get pounced on by the large serpent star i had to steal its food.

Also once had a brittle star catch a fish i had put in for my cuttles to eat, the fish did swim straight into it though!

It seems like a brainless aniaml bested a "brainful" animal. Or the fish found it interesting to die.