Novice looking for Advice

[hotreefbabe]

What type of Octopus is best for a tank?
What size tank is best for a Octopus?
What kind of setup should and Octo have(i.e. Live rock, sand, tank filtration, current)?
Where is the best place to buy an Octopus?
What type of food should they be feed and how often?
How large do they get?
How long do most live?
Basically in simple as possible terms what is the best care for such a wonderful and smart animal?
Should it be housed alone or can it have tank mates?
Im inclined to have it solo, but what about corals with the Octo?
What type of toys if any do you Octo keepers have for them?
I heard that Octos can get bored fast, that they like baby/toddler toys.
I am not planning on getting one yet as I have not done enough research to feel confident about caring for such a difficult animal. But in the future I would like to keep one.
If I do ever keep one I plan on doing extensive reasearch on its behavior and such for a college paper with the help of my Marine Biology Professor.(of course no reasearch or experiments that will harm it)
Are there any really good books on Octos? I know there are lots of web sites, but I preffer books so that I can lean back not into the comp screen. But feel free to give me links also!!
Thank-you in advance!!!
Kristin

 

[Echidna09]

Go to tonmo.com. There is a lot of information found there. We have ceph care articles that will help you out a lot.

No coral with an octopus. They don't like the bright lights and could harass them.

Most information is found online. One good book that I know of is Octopus and Squid by Jaques Cousteau. It doesn't say about captive care but will give you a lot of information about octopuses.

 

[ryan_paskadi]

Bimac is a good starter Octo. House it in a 55 gallon or bigger tank by itself. If you want tank mates echinoderms are ok from what I have read. Everything else will either become food or hurt the Octopus. You need live rock but it has to be well secured so the Octo doesn’t pull it apart. The tank should cycle for 4 months or more. Water quality should be perfect. Different Octo’s grow different sizes. There natural lifespan is about a year. Do your research before hand. My suggestion is to read journal articles because the information will be more complete. Good luck!