Thinking about it

[reeferdude04]

I am thinking about getting a small octopus in my room. My 1st of many questions is what is the min tank size for the smallest octopus kept in the hobby. 2nd, whats the life span, 3rd, i know they arent fish safe but are they coral safe? 4th where can I get one for cheap online.

 

[reeferdude04]

hello?

 

[schmunkel98]

Hey, just to let you know, the forum here goes a bit slow at times. Anyway, on to the questions. First, I would not advise you to get an octopus at all unless you have had a salt water aquarium before. Assuming you have, a 30 gallon is the absolute minumum for housing one bimac octopus, preferably going larger. The lifespan of these guys is typically around a year, depending on how old they are when you get them. Also, I would stick with a live rock only setup. I have heard some say they haven't had any problems with corals and others say they have. I wouldn't take the risk. Finally, if you do decide to get one, get one from www. fishsupply.com since they know what they are doing. Let us know if you have any other questions, we'll try to respond faster next time.

 

[reeferdude04]

wow those are cheap! My lfs sells them for like $99. How do you secure the lid of your tank and also what filtration do you use?

 

[schmunkel98]

Well, my tank lid is pretty heavy as it is, so I haven't put anything on top of it. If you have to try duct tape. Bimacs don't usually try to escape like some of the other species. You mainly have to make sure they can't get into your tank's plumbing by covering it with mesh though. The more filtration the better. I would use a sump with a protein skimmer at the bare minimum. I also have a UV filter on my setup and a ton of cleaning snails, crabs, etc. to help keep the tank looking nice.

 

[reeferdude04]

Wont the bimac eat the critters? I am thinking that I will just use some pretty weak lighting so i dont have a real bad algae problem.

 

[schmunkel98]

Mine never ate the snails and only occasionally ate the small hemit crabs. Once you get it used to shrimp on a stick it won't go for the small stuff.