SUDDNELY IN LOVE WITH OCTOPUS : i got questions =)

[chevster]

To make long story short...

i went to my great LFS and suddenly saw an octopus... he was small and so cute... suddenly a BANG hit me, and i fell in love with it...

so, my questions are

* can i put him in a 20 gallon reef tank? or possibly i sell my corals and make it a species tank for the octopus...

* and also, wat filtration system do i need to have for the octopus to live happily

* also do i need a powerhead

* and my last question, is an intermediate hobbysist experienced enough to start an octopus species tank... =)

 

[Animal Mother]

www.TONMO.com (The Octopus News Magazine Online)... everything you could possibly want to know about keeping an octopus.

To recycle some of the information that's already available...

20 gallons is too small. You could ATTEMPT to keep a dwarf but...

Pros and cons of keeping O. mercatoris (Atlantic/Gulf pygmy octopus).

Pros:
1. Smaller tank requirements than larger octopuses.
2. Sometimes possible to keep more than one in a tank.
3. Less likely to crawl out of tank than larger octopuses.
4. Eat less than larger octopuses.
5. Lay relatively large eggs. Hatchlings are not cannibalistic or planktonic. (Not true for all dwarf/pygmy species.)

Cons:
1. Nocturnal, but will venture out under red lighting.
2. Much less interactive than other octopuses.
3. Limited changes in color/texture compared to diurnal octopuses.
4. Life span may be shorter than larger octopuses.

Links to a couple of octopus journals on TONMO to compare dwarfs (mercatoris) with larger species (briareus and hummelincki):
1. Trapper’s babies (O. mercatoris) http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10133
2. Varys’ babies (O. mercatoris) http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12919
3. Kalypso (O. briareus) http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12145
4. Octane (O. hummelincki) http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12191

I personally think octopuses are easier to keep than most fish. They WILL NOT get ich or velvet or any of those contagious fish illnesses/parasites. I am by no means an "expert" aquarist and I have been successfully maintaining octopuses. It's all just a matter of taking the advice given seriously and not blowing off good advice.