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new octo

marineboy

Wonderpus
Registered
Joined
Dec 30, 2005
Messages
184
hey everybody, I have a new octopus for myself after about two years of asking for advice and info :smile:

Anyway his name is kraken and he is a little o.bimaculoides.

here is his tank set-up:

Aquarium- 30g tank
Filtration- CPR Aquatics skimmer/bio-filter combo
Structure- a stack of live rock on one side of tank with scattered wavy-top shells for dens.
Tankmates- 2 small brittles, 1 avanax, 1 small sea hare, a couple cleaning shrimp, 2 sculpins, 4 turban snails, and around 2 dozen hermits.
pH levels- "dark blue" on the test or alkaline

yeah i know its only a 30g, but he is very small right now so I will move him up into a 50g when he starts to get bigger or maybe just let him go.

the hermits, shrimp, and the turban snails are working as cleaners/food and the sculpins are very suttle and either feed off extra waste or some tablets I have.

the sea hare eats algae and the avanax is just for show. Also, I would like to know if the care for avanax is the some for sea hares because thats what I have related it to so far. If they are toxic or for advanced keepers only I will quickly send him back he was sticking onto a piece of live rock I brought in and he is very pretty so I just kept him there.

Currently kraken has found a shell to his liking and has littered its front "porch" with empty hermit shells. when we stick our heads to close he reclines partially in but otherwise he is just looking out at us from it.

he is very cool and I would GREATLY appreciate comments and suggestions! Thanks in advance! :biggrin2:


~Michael
 
thats it? OK, if there is not much response than I am going to guess my tank is good :smile:

Oh, I was also wondering if I should add some pvc pipe for him to mess with since I heard they like it.

comments are appreciated :smile:
 
Sometimes we just get very busy and don't have time to reply to all posts!

Welcome to kraken!

A thirty gallon is OK if you have the option of a larger tank later (which has to be cycled) or returning him to the ocean.

A sea hare isn't really recommended, is somewhat risky.

I'm not familiar with that particular filter/skimmer.

You should be testing your water for sg (you'll have to top off with buffered RO/DI water), pH, nitrites, nitrates and ammonia.

Yes, he might like some short lengths of pvc pipe. Try also plastic baby toys, legos, etc. Some octos like them, some don't.

Nancy
 
well I used fresh ocean water but I still have been testing pH and nitrites.

Should I have a test kit for all of them?

ya sorry for being so impatient...i see now that there are so many people posting now a days that your threads aren't immediately attended to anymore...
 
marineboy;82251 said:
well I used fresh ocean water but I still have been testing pH and nitrites.

Should I have a test kit for all of them?

ya sorry for being so impatient...i see now that there are so many people posting now a days that your threads aren't immediately attended to anymore...

Yes, you need a test kit for all of them, because even with ocean water, you are going to have a cycle in your tank with the octopus. You will still need to top off your tank with fresh water because the water is going to evaporate.
 
When water evaporates out of your tank, only the fresh water part of the water evaporates into the air, the salt is left behind, raising the salinity of the tank's water, so you need to add fresh water to compensate. To try an experiment, leave a puddle of salt water in the sun for a day, you will see the salt left behind. That is why you need to add fresh water NOT clean ocean water... Hope this explanation helps...
 
true^
that was very quick of me to judge his knowledge..we all had to learn that at some point!
im srry marineboy.. im going to edit my post.....
 
WOW I had no idea! Thanks for that Cuttlegirl!

so when and how much should I add weekly?? I just set the tank up saturday so i dont know when I should add it.
 

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