[Octopus]: Pacific red octopus

[Nemcrazy]

Hey there everyone I wanted to show you all my new coldwater tank that now has a Pacific red octopus. I got a Pacific red octopus for my roommate at a large frag swap. I setup a coldwater display tank for the coldwater reefers club, to show off to all the tropical reefers. I wasnt able to stock my tank with the fish i had intended. I was sharing a table with Coldwater Marine Aquatics and since they were holding onto the octopus I decided to put it in since I designed the custom cube to be octoproofed we put it in and he was the highlight of the show!! We were gonna bring the Octo to his 60gallon but he had to leave for california and he hadn't octoproofed it yet. So he is in my tank with several occupants to keep him busy, such as 2 black rockfish, 3 japanese bat stars, 2 blood stars, stubby rose anemones ,several moonglow anemones and many shore crab well I will probably be posting pics and videos for awhile. I hope you enjoy.

 

[Nemcrazy]

just a video of the red color changing when the rockfish gets to close.

 

[Nemcrazy]

Video of some color and texture changes. I love this guy's ability to change so quickly. And actually has been quite active at times during day time.

 

[Taollan]

I would be careful with those rockfish in with your red octopus. They will, especially as they get a bit bigger, harass the octopus and nip off arm tips, if not something more. At the very least it would be a good idea to construct some sort of nook or hole that the octopus can use as a den to escape tankmates if need be. In the wild the octopuses' life revolves around denning habitat to hide away from predators. Even if there was no other animals in the tank, the octopus would likely be stressed if it could never find a place to hide away.

 

[Nemcrazy]

Initially they did great together. But yesterday I was feeding a piece of salmon to the red and the rockfish who always kept their space began nipping at the tips of the arms. I quickly fed them and that kept them away. But I plan on moving them to my lobster tank reef with the school. At least temporarily. Because now the red looks very stressed and pale. There are places to hide as I added more rock and took out the grass. Hopefully this helps to calm him down.

 

[Nemcrazy]

 

[DWhatley]

I have a standing recommendation, "NO FISH". I hesitated to say anything (thanks @Taollan) since I have had no experience with Rubys but will not hesitate now that Taollan (who has a lot of experience with them) and you have observed problems similar to what we see with the warm water animals.

 

[Nemcrazy]

I was hesitant to do so also. But after talking with people at the Seattle aquarium they keep rockfish in the gpo tank. And I was only supposed to house the octo for 2 weeks but now it's been a month. But now I really regret the decision to keep the rockfish in because the red hasn't eaten since for a couple days now and looks pale the rock fish are out as of now. I hope it isn't too late.

 

[Taollan]

At the Seattle aquarium there are a couple things that contribute that situation working: Their tanks are a lot larger than yours and in mixed tanks they make sure there is enough suitable dens for the octopuses to escape their tankmates if disturbed. Adult GPOs are generally quite a bit larger than rockfish too, which helps.
In the wild red octopuses can often fish like rockfish (though not always, as they are eaten probably more than occassionally), but there is a lot of room and rocks in the wild. The dynamic changes considerably when animals are put into a small enclosed space together. Animals that don't necessarily both each other in the wild or in a really big tank may kill each other in a small one.
If you want, you can take a video of how the octopus looks now and I can tell you if it looks like it is in bad shape or not. My guess is that it will be ok in the long run.

 

[Nemcrazy]

Thank you. I'll post a video when I get off work. I should have known better really. I was actually worried about the octo eating the rockfish and not whether the the rockfish stressed out the octo. I tried getting on here to ask questions but I had a hard time getting my account working at first.