• 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.

Tank sizes for bimacs?

Hippo

Hatchling
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Apr 3, 2005
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1
(regarding this thread)

I've read just about everywhere that a 50 gallon tank is the minimum for a bimac; is a 30 gallon like Pandora has set up fine for a bimac? If not, is a 55 gallon (roughly 48"L*12"W*20"H) okay, or should I aim for a taller/deeper/... tank?

Thanks a lot in advance!
 
Hippo said:
(regarding this thread)

I've read just about everywhere that a 50 gallon tank is the minimum for a bimac; is a 30 gallon like Pandora has set up fine for a bimac? If not, is a 55 gallon (roughly 48"L*12"W*20"H) okay, or should I aim for a taller/deeper/... tank?

Thanks a lot in advance!

It really depends on who you talk to.

1. This page, for example, recommends a minimum of 30:

Advanced Aquarist

2. The keepers here at TONMO recommend 50 or 55 as a minimum.

3. This page says 15-30 gallons:

http://www.dal.ca/~ceph/TCP/octokeep.html

4. OctoPets says 25 gallon minimum:

This species can be kept very nicely in aquaria from 25 - 55gal.
http://www.octopets.com/Merchant2/m...ts&Product_Code=OctoPet&Category_Code=Octopet

Personally I tend to agree with OctoPets and my own experience with the same species of bimacs back in the late 80's/early 90's. As long as you keep them from getting bored, 30 should be fine. Remember Octo's sit in their den most of the time, and are bottom dwellers. They don't need a ton of room like Cuttles or Sharks.

Now that's a blanket statement that might not hold true for some people, because A) They don't give their octo enrichment items, B) They overfeed their octo and it gets huge, C) They don't monitor water quality well enough, D) They don't oxygenate their tank well enough, etc, etc. I good go on for awhile. Any one of these factors WILL cause problems in a tank under 50 gallons. So to be on the safe side, if you have the space for it, go with at least a 50 gallon tank.
 
Several years ago, about the time we began the Ceph Care forum, it was believed that a 30 gallon tank was plenty large enough for a bimac. I believe this recommendation originally came from research labs with flow through systems (seawater constantly flowing through the tank, therefore no problem with filtration) and a mostly bare tank, offering the maximum space for the octo.

But, after watching our first generation of bimacs, it turned out that a fair percentage that survived 10 months with their owners were large - large enough to be cramped in a 30 gallon and to overwhelm the filtration. We also learned more about how bimacs swim and jet around and how much space they need to live a somewhat natural life. One of the most successful bimac keepers I've talked to (17 consecutive bimacs) noted that the larger tank he used (90 gallons, I believe) allowed you to see how the octo set out everyday to check certain points in the tank. Octos in larger tanks take advantage of the room in the tank as soon as they grow up a bit.

So out of this came the recommendation for a 50 gallon tank as a minimum. A 30 gallon tank is better suited to a dwarf octo or smaller species.

There have been people who've kept a bimac in a 30 gallon successfully - and some bimacs have stayed small, even in big tanks. And some stay small because they don't live as long, sad fact.

A long tank is better than a tall tank because it gives your bimac more room for swimming and more bottom to explore. If you have a choice, go for a longer rectangular tank and I would strongly recommend a 50 gallon or more.


Nancy
 
Yeah, it is odd that so many people seem to feel that keeping octos in cramped quarters and underfeeding them is "ok"...just don't understand that mentality...?
I would say that a 50-55 is a MINIMUM size for a bimac, and a 125 would be a much better purchase...once you see them carousing around a big tank, you will go back to your house and see your little guy and feel quite guilty...I hope.

On the other hand, dwarf octos do quite well in 30's (have had lots of those), but don't live anywhere near as long, and are somewhat more aggressive than bimacs...not quite as ideal for a positive octo encounter, if you catch my drift...
Go with the biggest tank you can...you will be a lot happier (as will your ceph) in the long run...
greg
 
At TONMO.com the ceph care team try very hard to keep the cephalopod husbandry information up to date and at a level where both keeper and octopus are healthy and in optimum condition.

Hippo, I'm sorry if there is a lot of conflicting information out there for you, it wasnt that long ago when they was virtually nothing either in writing or on the web that had much at all about cephalopod husbandry. So for a 'hobby' in its infancy its only likely that there wil be conflicting information out there. I hope you can reply on the experiences of ourselves and other past members of TONMO.com to set up a octopus tank as best you can.

Gradually, bit by bit, more has been learned and what we offer at TONMO.com is up to date information through a lot of experience, and i dont just mean the team, we have had many members keep octopuses over the years.

I am utterly perlexed at the heel digging and kicking and screaming witnessed to being dragged into more modern ceph keeping. Let me say it officially, 'keeping am Octopus bimaculoides' in a 30gal tank is bordering on animal cruely and no where near close enough to satisfying its demands.
 
Of course there are. There are a lot of webpages that say that you can keep animals in little glass jars too (room to move, who needs it?)...some pages even suggest keeping dwarf octos in 12 gallon tanks...Oh, they only live for a few weeks? Hmmm...must be the octos, it certainly couldn't be the tank and filter set up...right????

Whatever...
greg
 
clownfish said:
hey Id say that there are alot of web pages that say that a 30 gallon thank is fine

They are unfortunately grossly misleading and have no doubt accounted for a large proportion of bimac deaths in the last couple of years.

Look in the past at what people used to think was okay for crocs, boids, nurse sharks, big cats in the home and a lot of the old information is way out!

Dont think 'what is the minimum?' think 'what is right for this living creature to live healthily in my care?' There is no cheap and easy way to keep cephalopods
 
Colin said:
They are unfortunately grossly misleading and have no doubt accounted for a large proportion of bimac deaths in the last couple of years.

Look in the past at what people used to think was okay for crocs, boids, nurse sharks, big cats in the home and a lot of the old information is way out!

Dont think 'what is the minimum?' think 'what is right for this living creature to live healthily in my care?' There is no cheap and easy way to keep cephalopods

Oh thank you I was just wondering if any octopus could be cept in a 30 gallon tank and what size woulde be the avrage for a bimica
 
Now Colin, you know they only grow that big if you FEED them...as long as you starve the hell out of them, they stay small...
 

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