How to maintain Octopus?

[wantfish?]

what kind of tank conditions that are and are not suitable for octopus? What food? water temp? salinity? nitrate lvl? What is the basic needs for octopus to be raised succesfully?

 

[Lmecher]

First off... Welcome to the wonderful world of octopus keeping. They are remarkable extremely rewarding creatures to keep and observe. They require the same conditions as a reef system. You do need a secure cover to keep them in the tank as they are prone to try and escape.

Please go to Tonmo.com there are some great folks who will be more than willing to answer all your questions. I have found it to be a vlauable resource. I look forward to hearing more about your system and octopuses. Do you know what species you have?

 

[tate1]

Thanks for starting this threat. I've been very interested in getting an octopus for quite sometime. Can't wait to keep up with it.

 

[tclipse]

My LFS has one @ about 3" in diameter, what are the common varieties available? I'm assuming most (other than blue rings) get pretty large?

 

[Animal Mother]

My LFS has one @ about 3" in diameter, what are the common varieties available? I'm assuming most (other than blue rings) get pretty large?

In general, if you find one it will most likely be called a "Common" or "Common Reef" or "Brown" octopus and you're lucky if they know which ocean it came from.

Most of the time, the Caribbean species available are O. vulgaris, O. briareus, O. hummelincki, and O. mercatoris (Caribbean dwarf). Abdopus aculeatus seems to be the most common species coming from the Indo-Pacific area but O. luteus and some unidentified species show up as well. Mimic, Wunderpus, and "Zebra" octopuses show up fairly frequently at upscale shops and usually go for a ridiculous amount of money. There are always oddballs and unidentified species popping up here and there. I imagine it will be some time before the people dealing the octopuses learn how to identify specifics. They can tell the difference between a blue tang and a powder blue tang, so I suppose there's hope.

With exception of O. vulgaris, most of them do well in a 55-75 gallon tank. An O. vulgaris should probably have a 180 or larger. I had an O. briareus in a 75 gallon that could reach from the center of the tank and touch both sides (48" OD).