Is this a crazy idea?

Pandora

Premium Member
Hi, I've never kept cephalopods before, but would love to try one if this idea is feasible. I have just set up an Aquafuge HOB refugium (about 20gal) on the back of my 55gal reef tank. I obviously can't keep octopi in the main tank with all the fish and inverts in there. But the refugium just has some live rock, live sand, grape caleurpa and various amphipods in there, not much macrobiotic except the macroalgae. Would it be crazy to consider keeping a dwarf octopus or other cephalopod in the refugium if I make sure that it is escape proof? I have heard of others successfully keeping mantis shrimp in their invert-free refugia. Any suggestions or ideas?

Also, any good links, I have been using James Wood's Cephalopod Page at http://www.nhm.ac.uk/hosted_sites/tcp/ for info so far.
 
Hiya Pandora
Thats one big fuge 20Gs. I would recommend against it. Fuges usually have lights running 24/7 and most pygmy species you will find are nocturnal and hide alot. Do you have pis of your set up? All the fuges I have seen I would not recommend putting a octo in.
chris
 
Hi Chris, I should say that it is an "Aquafuge" *style* custom built fuge and not a real Aquafuge, and that I did miscalculate the volume... I did it again and it is about 10 gallons, not 20. Unfortunately do not have pics. I was not planning on keeping the lights (55W actinic PC) on all the time, only about 12-14 hours, just about an hour overlap with the main tank. Thanks for letting me know though. Does the main problem that you foresee with keeping octopi in such a setup mostly concern the lighting or the volume of the fuge?
 
I think ten would be too small volume wise like Pat says. One thing to remember is octos have long strechy arms and if the can touch all sides of the tank with out moving it won't be much fun for them. They do need some room to swim as well.
chris
 
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