Should I buy this octo?

[408mike]

Local fish store has 2 dwarfs and I want to purchase one. I have a 12 gallon nano and a 20 gallon acrylic, the nano just has tons of live rock and sand, some hermit crabs couple of other things only one fish. I was going to spend the next couple weeks building a tank specifically for an octo, just don't want to pass up this chance to get one and get started on housing them etc. Couple questions.

Can I keep it in the 12 gallon for the time being? It's a baby dwarf, I plan on having the other tank ready in a couple weeks

If I get it, how do I check the water quality? What will kill the octo? Also whats the right temp for these little guys?

Is moss bad for them? The tank has some moss in it, not much but I'm new to the whole saltwater fish thing and falling in love with it, still learning.

Just lay out for me what would be my best course of action and everything, going tomorrow to check the little guy out. REALLY want to get him.

Oh one thing if I do buy him, how do I acclimate him to the tank? You can't just dump them in the tank correct?

 

[Echidna09]

How big is the baby dwarf? I doubt they are babies, dwarf babies are very small. 20 gallon is best long term, and it would be best to keep in one home for the duration of his life.

Dwarfs are nocturnal, so you will probably rarely see your octo unless you use red lights all the time. Temperature depends on species, but if it is a dwarf offered in the US it is likely O. Mercatoris or O. Joubini. Both are from FL and need tropical temperatures. Algae is fine, but I would check water parameters if you have hair algae. You either have too high of a phosphate level or sub par cleaning crew.

Water quality needs to be up to reef standards. Drip acclimation is best for about an hour.

Octopuses are not recommended for the beginning aquarist. They are tough to take care of and can be boring (especially dwarfs). Cephalopods are very interesting pets but nothing can be kept with them so when they are out of sight it can be boring.

tonmo.com may have more answers for you.

 

[Animal Mother]

You should acclimate by putting it in a bucket with the water it came in, and using airline tubing to drip water from your tank. Tie a loose knot in the tubing and you can tighten it to adjust the flow. It should only be a few drips per second, not a steady flow, but not a single drip every few seconds.

Dwarfs generally only live 6-8 months, total lifespan, so buying one you might have it for a few months but most likely only 5 or 6 at most. From my own experience as well as others the O. mercatoris' don't tend to try and escape tanks but I would take precautions as you just never can know for sure. One plus is that their eggs are large and you can raise the offspring, provided lots of tiny food, like live mysid shrimp and small blue leg hermits.

Some people have successfully kept multiple O. mercatoris' in one tank together, as well as bred them, so you could potentially perpetuate a cycle of generation after generation. Of course eventually you are going to see the effects of inbreeding, but it has been observed that inbreeding doesn't have any adverse effects in cephalopods until many generations later, after continued inbreeding. This could be fixed by introducing new wild caught octos or octos bred by someone else.

In the long term this kind of project could result in octos that are more adapt to aquarium life and more likely to switch their nocturnal, shy behavior into more interactive, and even possibly diurnal behavior. My theory on that is that captive bred clownfish tend to lose their instinct to have a symbiotic relationship with an anemone, so it's possible the octopus offspring would lose their tendancy to hide from its owner after being raised in captivity. Other octos learn from each other... so the response could be passed on octo to octo pretty easily. Again, just a theory.

My O. mercatoris was relatively boring. He only came out late at night, and I could only observe it under a red light. I had him for 4 months. He ate fiddler crabs every few days. It was very entertaining to watch him conquer crabs his own size, very impressive. But most of the time he was hiding in a large snail shell.

Check out TONMO.com as already mentioned.

 

[408mike]

Cool I got him last night, cute little guy. Drip acclimated him (very boring). It was cool while he was in the bucket he turned white to match it, when I put him in the tank he instantly turned the color of the live rock and vanished. Haven't seen him since lol hoping he starts eating soon.

 

[Animal Mother]

Good luck with the little guy.

If it truly is a dwarf, you should buy a low-wattage red bulb, incandescent or LED, although you should dim the incandescent with some screening of sorts. This way you have a night light to watch it with. They don't see red very well, if at all.

Any information as to where it was collected? This will help narrow down what particular species it is.

If it is usually a reddish brown color with tiny white dots, it's probably an O. mercatoris. They seem to be the most common dwarf octo these days.

 

[408mike]

It's the one you said I believe. I want to watch him so bad! How many days will he hide before he gets used to his new home? ALso should i put in a cup or something for him to hide in? There is plenty of live rock, caves etc for hiding purposes.

Oh and also, I am not particularly happy with the spot I got mine, the other one they have is still sitting there in a clear cube totally exposed, I don't think he' being treated well or happy.

If I don't see him for a couple days, should I move the rock around to make sure he's alive?

 

[Animal Mother]

Keep your hands out of the tank for now. If you move stuff around it will only freak them out that much more. It might hide for a few days but it will eventually get hungry.

Feed it at night, after the lights have been out a while. Use a low wattage red light for observation. If it is an O. mercatoris you might see it making a pose with its front arms wrapped up over its head between its eyes. This might be filter feeding related behavior so squirting some cyclopseeze in isn't a bad idea.

 

[408mike]

So I put some ghost shrimp in last night, not sure what I should be feeding the little guy? Are these ok? Or should I put in some snails?

 

[Animal Mother]

Small fiddler crabs, snails and hermits.

You can get live fiddlers in bulk for cheap here: www.aquaculturestore.com

 

[2lowkey]

Where did you get your oc...I have been looking for one!

 

[408mike]

Thanks! 2 more questions and I'm done.


What should the water temp be for my dwarf? I have it at 74 right now.

I'm in the process of buying a new 55 gallon for a bimac, where can I find a breeder online?

 

[Echidna09]

If you raise the temp to 76-78 you the octo will probably be a little more active. Look on tonmo.com in the octopus availability thread to know when a breeder has some.

 

[408mike]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11388197#post11388197 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Echidna09
If you raise the temp to 76-78 you the octo will probably be a little more active. Look on tonmo.com in the octopus availability thread to know when a breeder has some.

Thanks! Btw I saw a tentacle last night, I'm hopeful to see two of them tonight. After that, who knows

 

[408mike]

He's eating! Just put in a fiddler crab (claw removed) octo came out about 10 minutes later, kind of sat in the corner and waited then BOOM pounced on the unlucky crab. This is an AWESOME pet you spend a lot of time waiting but when you see it it's so cool! Lovin it.

 

[Animal Mother]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11399708#post11399708 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 408mike
He's eating! Just put in a fiddler crab (claw removed) octo came out about 10 minutes later, kind of sat in the corner and waited then BOOM pounced on the unlucky crab. This is an AWESOME pet you spend a lot of time waiting but when you see it it's so cool! Lovin it.

Hah, yeah. It takes lots of patience to really enjoy a dwarf. Sounds like it's off to a great start.

 

[408mike]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11399953#post11399953 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Animal Mother
Hah, yeah. It takes lots of patience to really enjoy a dwarf. Sounds like it's off to a great start.

Good lord these things are hungry. It ate nothing for three days now it's eating 2 crabs a night! Unreal. I'm going to try training it to eat food I put in small containers so I can watch it better, reclusive little guys. At least it's healthy. How on earth do you keep a cleanup crew when it EATS THEM???

 

[Animal Mother]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11439866#post11439866 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 408mike
How on earth do you keep a cleanup crew when it EATS THEM???

You don't.

Make sure and remove the crab leftovers. They can take a toll on your water quality.

 

[408mike]

Well got to see him last night for a couple seconds when I turned on my light. These guys really don't like light do they? Still haven't figured out how to get the thing to eat out in the open, or even be visible for that matter. Anyone have any tricks?

 

[Animal Mother]

Only way I ever had any luck was with a red incandescent bulb in a lamp, LED's would probably be better since they wouldn't be quite as intense.

If you pass a day without feeding and throw a crab in you should get to see a pretty good show. This was about the only time I would ever see mine out and about. Most of the rest of the time mine would only come out far enough to perch on top of its den.

I did keep mine in a large critter keeper, inside a 75 gallon community tank, and I believe the activity of the fish interested my mercatoris. The dwarf lionfish would hang out next to the critter keeper (he wanted to eat the octo bad!) and sometimes my octopus would climb the wall of the critter keeper seemingly trying to get to the lionfish. Funny to watch.

 

[408mike]

Ok went and bought a water quality kit, can anyone tell me how to use it? ALso when I do, if levels are off how do I fix them?