RE: moving day for zeus

[elusya]

Hi everyone,

We had originally set up a 7 gallon tank with pump, filter, carbon and extra bubbles for our first octopus which we had been told would be really small..and would fit great in this size tank..and when we got him we were surprised (and delighted) to see that the little guy, zeus, was not so little and had arms 8" long... and was just stunning...
we do water changes every couple of days to keep the levels at 0...but of course the tank is too small for him

we quickly wanted to remedy the situation and got a 30 gallon tank, with a protein skimmer and extra pump, and it has been cycling for awhile.. we live in la so the fish store we go to sells pacific sea water, which we have, and of course we have lots of live rock and live sand..
we are trying to speed up the cycling process due to the situation...(and zeus is growing too!!!) and it has been recommended for us to use bacter vital..(is this safe for octopus?)..

we had put it in our little tank and he seems to be doing fine with it...but i wonder if anyone had experience with this stuff?

and we are worried about the actual day of moving him...he has a favorite cave in one of the rocks and we figured we could get him while he was asleep and put him in a baggie filled with the tank water and then transfer him over and acclimatize him by letting the water filter in slowly..
but we are worried about shaking him up like this and were wondering if anyone had done this before and if there is a better way.?.

sorry for the long post

 

[joel_ang]

Yes bacter-vital is safe for octo use, maybe you can put some bait in a plastic bag once he's in pull the bag out (make sure theres water in it). Then acclimatise him to the new tank.

 

[cthulhu77]

You should be fine...octopus, for all of their eccentricities, are rather hardy souls, and take changes (especially for the better, bigger tank!) quite well...your plan sounds fine.
good luck!
Greg

 

[joel_ang]

Do tell us the outcome, By the way, I was just wondering what you were going to do with the 7 gal tank. Maybe now you can get the small lcto?

 

[elusya]

thanks, thats wonderful to hear..
we put the tanks close to each other and zeus has been eyeing the other tank..i'm sure he will be thrilled when he finds out it will be his new home..

we are not sure what we are going to do with the 7 gallon...thinking of perhaps making it a mini reef tank..but

getting the small octo is something to think about
although i worry that zeus would get jealous..he's such a character and such an AWESOME first octo that ....hmmmm...

we'll let you know either way...