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Octo tank help

Thanks alot, I do my own acgrocrete so I'll add about 1lb per gallon plus the caves I personaly construct for the littel guy...

About the heat and cold. I live in michigan! So its a little crazy. Gets down to -10 in the winter and 95+ in the summer. So I'm sure I'll have heat and cold issues on either side. But I think I'll be able to keep it at one constant tempterature, and if its winter or summer just turn one or the other off. That seems simple enough! I've always had heat issues with the majority of my tanks, but this is my first time putting a fan over the sump, so I hope it works out!
 
squall7733 said:
Thanks alot, I do my own acgrocrete so I'll add about 1lb per gallon plus the caves I personaly construct for the littel guy...

Be prepared for him not to like them!! We spent a considerable amount of time creating dens etc for our octopus at work and only one has ever used it consistantly! The others much preferred to do their own home decorating!

J
 
Jean is super correct here...we do concrete casting also, but I don't use it in any of the ceph tanks...they really have much more fun moving around the live rock on their own, even on the wild reef.

greg
 
I intend to go the agrocrete method, what if I make a den, then add extra small rocks aswell, to allow for re-arranging.

Is this doomed to failure?
 
I know we tend to think only of rocks for den making, but shells are good material for dens, too. Younger octos live in the shell and older octos can use them for doors. It's good when you can encourage your octo to concentrate on moving smaller things in the tank, not always huge rocks!

Nancy
 
Really, like conch shells? No clue where to get some of those really. Only Conch shells I've seen are currently occupied by a snail :P

I'll try to track some down before I oder my little buddy.

One sudden question that came to mind is this liveshrimp.com thing. How much do you feed them a day once theyve gotten to a decent size?
 
Haha, just thinking some more after reading a few more articles....

Say you open the lid for feeding, what if your bimac decides he wants out... And crawls up into the opening... Assuming you could grab him and try to put him back in the water, but lol what happens if he latches onto you and wont let go?

Thats my real question, what do you do if he gets a hold of you and doesnt want to let your hand go? Will that ever happen or are they too shy. I've been reading alot and it sounds like a person and a octo could get into that sort of close relationship eventualy. I always thought those suction cups caused damage if they latched onto you, well thats what I was taught as a child anyways.
 
I've been reading a book by jaques cousteau and for o Vulgaris they turn the mantle of the octo over, and they aparently release. However this is while diving, so dont try it !!!, unless one of the experts here can confirm this?
Great book btw, J C is quite a writer.
 
squall7733 said:
Thats my real question, what do you do if he gets a hold of you and doesnt want to let your hand go?

Hello again,

I see on another thread that you're most likely going to get a bimac. If that's the case, you've got little to worry about. Bimacs don't have a reputation for biting so if one grabs you all you have to do is wait a few minutes till the octo has learned what he wants to know about you after which he'll let go and move on to some other activity. Even though they've got pretty good eyesight an octopus gets the bulk of its information from its suckers which are sensitive to both touch and taste. When an octo grabs you it's usually just trying to figure out what you are and if you're edible (you're not and they can figure that out).

OTOH: KNOW YOUR SPECIES!!!

There are some species of octopus that seem to use biting as a first line of defense. In my area we have O. rubescens witch is an absolute biting fool! Further, they have a toxin that makes their bite seriously painful. And, of course, there are the various 'blue-ringed' species that bite fairly often and that can kill you!

As far as the suckers causing any injury to you - don't worry about it. So long as you let the octo let go on its own terms there ought not to be any aftermath whatsoever. The priority is to let things progress at the octo's pace. If you try to force it to let go you could end up with several minor 'hickies' but the real concern is that you could do some damage to an octo that's just being curious.

As an aside, the other octopus we have around here is the Giant Pacific Octopus and I've heard a number of funny/scary stories about GPO's causing serious problems for scuba divers. I've never heard of one of these being actually aggressive toward a diver but they are very curious. A local marine biologist who studies octo behavior has had numerous instances of a GPO wondering about some piece of scuba gear and forcibly removing from him for closer examination - he's lost swim fins, gloves, face masks, and even mouthpieces. Another aquaintance once allowed a GPO to crawl onto his head so that his wife could photograph it. While there, at a depth of about 60 feet, the GPO got to wondering what might be inside the air regulator. When it started feeling around inside the housing it managed to jam some part of the mechanism such that he suddenly had no air. Fortunately they were able to coax the octo into going away so that he could start breathing again.

Pacifistically yours,

Alex
 
Thanks :) Well my questions have been answered I'll just let it do its thing. As long as it doesnt decide it wants to eat me I have no problem with him grabing onto me lol
 

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