Looking at starting up a new tank....

[PhxRob]

I am new to the forums, but not too new to salt water. At the moment i have a 40 gallon reef setup. But the main reson i got into saltwater was to house and keep a cephalopod. I and my lady are fasinated with them and have been wanting one. I know its alot of upkeep to own them and me personally not knowing to much about these guys, but anything you want is reason to read and learn about them. I recently just purchased a 55g tank and am in the process of building a stand from another thread on RC. But am needing to know what kind of equipment is needed to keep cephalopods healthy and thriving. There might already be another thread for this so forgive me if i have overlooked that.

Any advice is appriciated
Rob

 

[Calappidae]

I am new to the forums, but not too new to salt water. At the moment i have a 40 gallon reef setup. But the main reson i got into saltwater was to house and keep a cephalopod. I and my lady are fasinated with them and have been wanting one. I know its alot of upkeep to own them and me personally not knowing to much about these guys, but anything you want is reason to read and learn about them. I recently just purchased a 55g tank and am in the process of building a stand from another thread on RC. But am needing to know what kind of equipment is needed to keep cephalopods healthy and thriving. There might already be another thread for this so forgive me if i have overlooked that.

Any advice is appriciated
Rob

Welcome to RC :wavehand:

One thing is you absolutely need a tight fitting lid. Cephalopods are very very strong and are very very smart and are very very good escape artist. They have an extremely short life span also... a cephalopod's natural life span is between 8 months to 3 years depending on species.. not to mention all life spans of aquatic life are reduced in captivity. They can ink, so carbon and a skimmer will be a good thing to have to reduce the risk of an octopus killing itself just from you walking past the tank (still need to do some major water changes and such but the skimmer will by you more time and get rid of leftover ink..)

ALL filters, pumps, EVERYTHING has to be so screened off so a fruit fly's baby couldn't even fit through... octopi are extremely flexible and can squeeze into the tiniest holes.
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Beware of what type you get... only get an octopus locally so you don't end up with a highly venomous blue ring octopus. Also get them while they are small otherwise you'll have little time to enjoy them with their live spans.
These are indeed a lot of work for the short life span they have. Definitly worth it as these are indeed amazing creatures and I'm consituring one myself. 55 gallon is perfect sized for octopus.. not too sure about cuttlefish tho..