new to octos!

[Itz Irish]

i have always loved cephalopods, they have been some of my favorite organisms in the ocean. my LFS (im on good terms with the fish manager) and said he could get me an octo if i want. any type, even a blue ring! now i am not sure what type to get, i have a 15 gal but i also have a 55 and a 30 (the 55 is the only thing that is set up right now) what type of small octos would be best? my LFS always has a good supply of fiddlers, cheap as well. any input??

 

[Animal Mother]

You don't want a Blue Ring. Even if kept responsibly (they can kill you) buying them only encourages the collectors to get more, and perpetuating the market of a an animal that is deadly is ridiculous.

That being said, there are several different species that can be kept in a 55 gallon tank that show beatiful colorations, textures, and patterns.

Look for Bimac, Briareus, Abdopus aculeatus, or the Caribbean Two-Spot O. hummelincki. Lately the most common dwarfs in the US seem to be O. mercatoris. They are very nocturnal and shy, but have been kept together in small communities successfully, as well as bred. As for other species though, keeping them with other octos is not recommended. They are very territorial and live solitary lives.

Be aware that some octos are solely nocturnal and you may never see them out in the daytime. They shouldn't be kept with fish as fish will only become prey or harrass the octopus into hiding, stress the octopus, and lead to its death. Some people do successfully keep them with fish, but in order to enjoy the full nature of the creature, it should be kept alone. Non-carnivorous starfish make good tankmates, and are about the only other creature that won't harm or be eaten by an octopus.

Seal the top of the tank and any filtration so that the octopus can't squeeze into any spaces that might lead to certain death. They can easily squeeze their body into the most unbelievable places.

Run heavy filtration as they are much messier than a similar sized fish. 3 times your tank size is the most commonly recommended goal for octo filtration.

All that said, dwarfs are only going to live 6-8 months, and most other commonly kept species are only going to live 1-2 years at best. This is from birth, not collection, so unfortunately you may quite possibly end up buying an octopus that only has a week or two to live. Bimacs are the only species currently being offered as captive bred.

 

[Itz Irish]

wow thanks for all the info. i am still very unsure about what type, i have to choose between a cuddlefish or an octo. i want something that is somewhat diurnal (active during the day), that is colorful, and somewhat hardy. i will leave for college in a little under 2 years, so i think an octo is a good choice for now, the reason why i like octos more than cuddles are there personality. i read that you can make mazes and such for them, like "toys" and place a piece of shrimp or some food in it, and the octo will find it. which octo do you think best suites those standards?

 

[Animal Mother]

Avoiding nocturnal species, you probably don't want an A. aculeatus or O. briareus. Bimacs are typically day active assuming you can find one. I got 2 great octos from Saltwaterfish.com and they were O. filosus/hummelincki (Caribbean 2-spot octopus). They were very active. One of them would play tug-of-war with my fingers, even come to me when I splashed my fingers in the water. The other one wouldn't have anything to do with me, but was always out in the open where I could see it. Unfortunately both of them were very short lived in my care for unknown reasons. Could very well have just been their time.

Cuttles are fun too. I haven't gotten to keep any, but they are absolutely amazing creatures. From my observations they don't appear to have the personality like an octo, as you said. But, each individual is always going to be different. Cuttles are nice because you don't have to worry about them climbing out of the tank, and you can keep them with corals.

As for being hardy, I think they are all relatively hardy ONCE ESTABLISHED. The hard part is pretty much out of the keepers hands; collection and shipping methods. I've passed quite a few octos lately because of "missing arms" due to the method the animals were collected by. Some people who offer them online buy them dirt cheap from trappers after they've been mangled by the lobsters and whatever other fish they catch in their traps. I had to cancel and get a refund on a baby Briareus I won on Ebay a while back, because the animal "mysteriously" disappeared after I won it... and then was found missing all of its arms in the filtration of the tank. I would avoid Ebay for octos.

You should join TONMO.com since you're so interested. There are a ton of octo/cuttle keepers on the board there, and it's a very active ceph forum. There are even a few marine bio folks with lots of interesting information.