Would a young Bimac live with my fish?

[DiggityDanks]

I have an 80 gallon tank with a lot of live rock in it. I could easily make a few caves for him to seek refuge in. My fish store just got a batch of about 12 tank-raised bimacs in. He said they don't come in often and they are only $25. I have spent the whole evening reading up on these creatures and am really interested in taking care of one. My tank is 1 year old and is well established but I already have a few fish in there. I have two small clownfish that are a couple, a medium blue tang and a small long nosed butterfly fish. Would it be possible for them to live happily together? None of my fish are aggressive and I really doubt any of them will attack the bimac. I am worried however that the bimac will eat one or both of my clownfish. Is this possible? The ones I saw had a head that was about the size of a small gumball.

 

[DiggityDanks]

If I got a very young baby tank-raised bimac, and put him in my aquarium and fed him only frozen food or smaller crustaceans, wouldn't it get used to living with its tankmates(the fish) and not feed on them?

 

[OctoMonkey]

There is no easy answer to this one as it can go either way... a pair of clowns are more than capable of realising a predator and ripping an octo to bits and an octopus, even a small one is capable of catching and eating fish......

always make sure you have a good source for crustaceans before you get an octopus and crabs are by far the best.

Also, be carefull of the wzter temp as bimacs are not a tropical species.. dont go any higher than about 75degF

 

[DiggityDanks]

Wow really? My clownfish are farely small though. The female is about 2"-2.5" inches long and the male is a bit smaller. You think they can defend themselves from the octupus?

 

[asch803]

tank raised bimacs

tank raised bimacs

i would think there's no definite answer...there's a chance some or all of the fish will be ok...there's also a chance they'd ALL get eaten - especially as the octo grows...initially, the octo might be scared when it's small and hide in the rocks and never come out - he also might ink a fish if it startles him...is your tank octo proof? in all honesty, it doesn't sound like an ideal situation all around...

 

[Dr. Idso]

Hi,

I agree with the general trend here. You never really know if fish are safe in an octopus tank... until they are eaten! I had a larger wild bimac eat a smaller CB bimac. One of my larger wild bimacs lived six weeks peacefully with two sargeant majors (quarter-sized damsel relative) before eating them up on two consecutive nights. My other wild bimac has lived peacefully all this time with a sargeant major and gulf opaleye that are about 6 times the size of a quarter. So their size probably does protect them...but for how long?

So I concur that fish can be kept with octopus, but it is always an indefinite relationship that is based on fish size and octopus hunger! Ultimately the fish tend to lose out!

Good luck!

Dr. Idso

 

[DiggityDanks]

That's a cool octupus you have. The ones I saw were much less developed.

 

[poedag]

i think that your fish will be fine as long as the bimac isn't too big. in addition to the octo in my tank i have a mated pair of clowns, a bi color blenny and a small signal goby that lives on the sand. all of them get along great, but this may be due to me keeping the octo fat & happy, or maybe i just lucked out.

 

[Venom]

wow, after keeping my bimac for 6 months, I wouldn't dare put anything in there under 8"-10" that I didn't want her to eat!
I'm glad you guys are having luck, but man, I sure wouldn't try it with a fish I cared about in with my lil girl.
My Octo is a voracious predator and will readily jump on full sized shrimp, sometimes begging until I give her a 2nd one! Maybe she's just an aggro specimen but I wouldn't trust her not to eat anything.

-V

 

[DiggityDanks]

That's cool. What is the minimum size to keep a Bimac by itself? Would it rather have occupants to live with it to stimulate it or would it rather live alone?