why do octo's need 55 gallons?

[nemo135]

hello everyone on TONMO!!!!!i was just wondering why the some of the smaller species need 55 intead of like 20 or 30 and how i could make it so they couldnt get out of there tanks thanks,nemo135

 

[Nancy]

Hi and welcome to TONMO.com!

You don't have to have a 55 gallon tank for a dwarf octopus, such as O. mercatoris. (However, these are nocturnal). These can live in a 30 gallon tank. Other members have had - and do have - other species of dwarfs, but it's just because their local fish stores happened to be carrying them at the time.

It's not so hard to make the tank escape proof. If you have a smaller tank, you most likely will not have a sump (smaller tank for your filtration equipment). You can make a lid out of acrylic or plastic screen, filling in any small openings with other materials such as duct tape. Look at the Tank Talk forum for examples.

Nancy

 

[nemo135]

Hi and welcome to TONMO.com!

You don't have to have a 55 gallon tank for a dwarf octopus, such as O. mercatoris. (However, these are nocturnal). These can live in a 30 gallon tank. Other members have had - and do have - other species of dwarfs, but it's just because their local fish stores happened to be carrying them at the time.

It's not so hard to make the tank escape proof. If you have a smaller tank, you most likely will not have a sump (smaller tank for your filtration equipment). You can make a lid out of acrylic or plastic screen, filling in any small openings with other materials such as duct tape. Look at the Tank Talk forum for examples.

Nancy

how big is a dwarf octopus???

 

[nemo135]

and would a 24 gallon aquapod work?????

 

[shipposhack]

The aquapod will be fine, but you need to close off any areas that the octopus could get into. I can't remember exactly how big they get; I think mantle size about an inch or inch and a half full grown.

 

[nemo135]

whats the biggest species thet could fit in a 55???

 

[simple]

probably a bimaculoid or A. Aculeatus, im sure there are others though.

 

[monty]

Nemo135! Yeah, bimacs do well in 55 gallons, and I think that's OK for briareus as well. 55 would be too small for vulgaris, but for most other octos people see commonly, 55gal is fine. Some dwarf species can do well in smaller tanks, although one of the problems is that IDing these animals is tough, so it's not uncommon for a "dwarf" to turn out to grow a lot. I'm not sure if we've established that aculeatus needs 55 gallons, but experience has shown that it's better safe than sorry usually.

There are two main reasons why larger tanks are recommended for cephs: space and water quality. Some cephs grow rather large, and need space to jet around... large bimacs in smaller tanks run into walls a lot. The main issue, though, is that cephs produce a lot of waste. In a small tank, the biofiltration may not be able to keep up with the ammonia output of a ceph at all, and even if it can, there's far less margin for error if anything goes wrong, so it's very common for the water quality to get bad so rapidly that the ceph dies before the owner even realizes there is a problem. A tank with a lot of water volume changes more slowly, so it's less likely the ceph will die before a correction can be made. Of course, sumps and extra filtration can help with this, but it's generally been found that the survival rates of octos in large tanks is a lot higher.

 

[nemo135]

ok sounds good what species do you suggest for a 55 gallon??

 

[simple]

probably a Bimac since they are diurnal, and more commonly tank raised, though you will need to keep the water in the low 70's for them.

 

[nemo135]

probably a Bimac since they are diurnal, and more commonly tank raised, though you will need to keep the water in the low 70's for them.

diurnal??????and how could i keep the water in the low 70's????

 

[Animal Mother]

Diurnal, opposite of nocturnal. Day active.

A chiller is the most effective way to keep water temperature low.

 

[nemo135]

ohhh could i just blow a fan over the top of the tank and what do they eat where could i buy it and how much$$$$$$$$$$$$

 

[shipposhack]

Yes, you can also do evaporative cooling. They will eat almost anything. Crustaceans (snails, hermits, fiddlers, and the like) are best for them. You can check the octopus availability thread at the top of this forum for online sources, or look around locally. You can usually special order an octopus in. When you do that you are rarely guaranteed the species that is listed, if the supplier decides to take a stab at IDing it at all. You need to have the tank running for 3+ months before you put your octopus in to make sure all the parameters are stable. The setup should run you about $1000 new, if you look around for used make sure no copper based medications were used in the tank because the copper will leach onto the glass, rock, and sand. If you decide to do a chiller, it will probably run you $250-500. The octopus shouldn't cost more than $80.

Hope I helped

 

[nemo135]

i know its kind of a dumb question but...........what makes it cost so much,if you could name what i didnt that would be great. . . . a tank filter and lights and stand 180-220$a skimmer about 160$ octopus from 40-80$ and live rock?????????????thats all i know