Setting up a 20 gallon high tank.

[njfish77]

Well i just bought a 20 high and i was thinking a bimac octo since ive read they last pretty long and they really have to much of an escape record. Heres the set-up.

20 high tank
20lbs of fiji pink sand
20-25 pounds of rock with plenty of hiding places,caves and pvc coneccted around the system for artifficial caves
5 gallon refugium
not to much flow
temp at 78
Overflow box with safety so he doesnt climb over
versa top so he doesnt sneak out.

Any suggestions on what else i will need? Also does anyone know an online dealer i can buy one from thats reliable?
Thanks

 

[bmatson]

20 gallons is too small for a bimac. They do best in a 50 gallon or above. Also if you are keeping a bimac the temperature should be lower. More like 67-72 degrees. And also any octopus is a risk to escape even a bimac. There have been bimacs that have escape so you will need a tight fitting lid. Octopets would have been your best bet for a bimac but they are now gone. Probably a LFS or a website like fish supply, though you might not know what species it is.

Good luck,
Ben

 

[William Tyson]

i would not reccomend any octo in that tank, however you may get by with a single sepia bandensis cuttlefish

 

[bmatson]

oh yes i forgot to mention that. Your only option would maybe be a pygmy octo but it might still be too small. Also most pygmys are nocturnal and are very short lived (like 6 months).

Ben

 

[wigtion420]

i have read that u can only put octos in a tank thats 50gal or bigger but every pet store i see that has one has it in a 20 gal or less tank will this shortin there life to a point where i should make them get a new one for me or is it no big deal that it has been living in a 20gal or smaller tank for 3 months?

 

[William Tyson]

AN OCTOPUS CAN SURVIVE IN A 20 GALLON TANK....SURVIVE...the same as a human in a 10x10 room. and as a lfs worker i can tell you that their are alot of things that fish stores do that are not right. the main reason that LFS put things such as octo's in small thanks, is first that the octo is not supposed to be their perminatly and most likely they want it to be visable to coustomers, also there are certain space restrictions in a lfs that would not facillitate keeping an octo in an ideal enviorment.

lastly i will leave you with a saying that was told to me on my first day working at an lfs, "this is a fish store, not an Aquarium.... we sell the animals, not provided a long term home"

 

[bmatson]

Yeah putting a bimac in a 20g would make it unhappy. I think you would enjoy your octopus more if it is happy, which it would not be in a 20g.

Ben

 

[monty]

Another frequently mentioned issue is that the smaller water volume means that the octo's considerable waste builds up very rapidly, so it would need a huge amount of filtration to maintain the water quality, and if anything goes wrong the water will become toxic to the octo extremely rapidly, with much less time to catch it for recovery by water changes before it really impacts the octo's health.

 

[cthulhu77]

All good advice! By the way, welcome to Tonmo ! I'm sure once you have read the ceph care articles on Tonmo, you'll understand why a twenty gallon tank is a little too small for an octopus...but be sure to keep on asking questions, and it won't be long before you'll have an excellent octopus setup.

greg

 

[njfish77]

Well my friend over on reefcentral owns a 150 that used to be an octo tank buts hes just been using it now as extra water volume because its connected to his 265. I was wondering if i got the octo small and made a good home for him and did weekly water changes, would it be alright to keep him for a little while and then give him to my friend when he gets to big for the tank?