• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Pygmy Tank Size

Joined
Feb 28, 2008
Messages
2
Hi!
I'm new to this site and very new to saltwater tank and octopus care. Me and my friend are gonna buy a 24 gallon nano cube soon. Is there a specie of octopus that could live in this size of tank? Would the pygmy be happy in this tank?
Thanks for your help!
PS22
 
yeah

yeah there is one octo you can get called O. mercatoris. they are dwarfs. but they are nocturnal and very shy. if you upgrade to a 40 gallon you can get a hummelincki which is diurnal and are very personable. the mercatoris would be happy in the 24g but you would need to do frequent water changes about once a week. i've heard of people putting hummelincki's in 28g but because they are bigger octos they will pollute the water quickly.
 
:welcome: to TONMO! Yeah, a 24 is small for octos... as fishkid says, maybe a dwarf, but really, we find that the larger octos make better pets, and that small water volumes can be very risky, since they can go bad quickly for cephs much more than fish... if you have a choice at this point, getting a larger tank would be preferable for ceph-keeping.
 
ok cool! thanks guys!
its hard to get a bigger tank because its for in my dorm room, but i dont know how much fun a shy octopus would be...
how long do u need to let the tank sit with salt before putting in an octopus? and how do u get the water right quicker when changing it once a week?
 
we recommend cycling a new tank for three months with the live rock before putting introducing the octopus.
 
hi

when i start a new tank i put my live sand in there and nothing else. then i put a raw shrimp from a supermarket or w/e. i let the shrimp sit for about 3 weeks and that gets alot of good bacteria. but this will make it smell really bad. idk if this speeds up the cycle but thats what i've been told to do by a few hobbyists in my area.
 
yea, every aquarist will tell you patience is the most important thing. tanks need to cycle properly to get the good bacteria like fk said, and achieve steady levels within whatever range is acceptable for the specific kind tank you want to set up. salinity, ph, calcium...to be honest there is no specific "correct" level for each but ranges that are acceptable and its whatever you acclimatize your bioload to. quick fluctuations are the real problem within a tank, which is why the long cycle period is necessary. your water needs to adjust to the bacteria and levels set by the sand, live rock bio load etc. i'm by no means an experienced tank keeper but ive kept two very sucessful reef tanks for about 9 months. i mixed my water, put the sand and LR in, waited a couple of weeks, then i put a couple chromis (cheap but colorful fish $4/ea) in as suggested by my lfs just to get the tank used to some bio bacteria, same idea as fishkid's shrimp (just means theres no one way to do it). then i put my cleaning crew in (handful of snails and scarlet hermits) and waited...and waited....and waited some more for a total of a couple months. The chromis helped a lot, they're survival let me know the tank was doing O.K, and if not, then I knew to take action and i only lost a couple of bucks instead of a more expensive fish.
Checked standard levels every other day and made necessary adjustments but for the most part....let the tank be and be patient. it will work itself out given enough time.

this method worked for me both times and ill stick to it again. the next guy with have another method that works for him and so forth...but it all revolves around patience. good luck and do it up!
 
sorry for the long winded-reply but when I started I appreciated and wanted step-by-step "to-do" lists. it was all brand new and confusing to me so thats what i needed. just tryin to help :smile:
 
There are very few shortcuts with ceph tanks. They produce way more waste than a similar sized fish and are VERY messy eaters (they also eat ALOT). This means that your water chemistry needs to be very stable and your filtration (over-filtrate for the size of the tank with a ceph) needs to be running well before you introduce your octopus.

read the articles on this forum, it will give you a very good idea of what you're in for!!!!

J
 
Water changes are critical, I'm doing 10 gallons for my 28 gallon tank weekly. Needless to say, a bigger tank is easier to maintain because of more stability and more room for "error". If your diligent about your water changes, a merc would be excellent in a 24. Also on ebay there was a joubini (spelling?) they appear to be very small also, but check more out about that species.
 
also you need to be careful because a nano cube is going to get warm quickly... you may have to see what you can do to mod it so that you can keep it cooler
 

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