Whats anyone's thoughts on a dwarf octopus?

[jason the filter freak]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewI...DME:B:FSEL:US:1

 

You'd have to have a pretty tight seal on yer tank, I'd also be scared of one after watching the one eat the shark. Still what are the questions comments on these??

[jamesbuf]

that is too freaking sweet. I actually saw one at at Totally Fish and had the opportunity to see it eat some frestwater ghost shrimp. too cool

[dandy7200]

Need another hobby?

[jason the filter freak]

Dandy I don't catch your drift with the link? Are these a realistic thing to keep in an aquarium though?

[dandy7200]

Sure, but it is basically a whole differant setup, husbandry requirements are differant, system is designed differantly etc, etc. The worst part is, because the are such Intelligent and beautiful animals to watch it is addiction worse than crack. Sooooo....you need another hobby?

 

FYI, TONMO is considered "Cephalopod Central"

[dhoch]

Just another piece of info on these creature... they are actually fairly short lived (1-2 years)...

 

Dave

[madmax7774]

Just be sure they are not the deadly Blue-ringed octopus which has an ultra-lethal neurotoxin that will kill you very quickly.... Also, From what I have read, these guys are escape artists, and unless you have a completely sealed tank, they will get out. There was a LFS here in centreville that had one not too long ago, and they are definately cool to watch. The LFS store owner told me they only live for a short time, and are delicate.

Don't know if thats accurate, but thats what he said...

John

[dandy7200]

Just another piece of info on these creature... they are actually fairly short lived (1-2 years)...

 

Dave

 

On top of that, they are usually collected when about 9 months to a year old, so tank life is around 6mo - 1 year. Again people who keep these tanks say there is nothing that compares

[OUsnakebyte]

You'd have to have a pretty tight seal on yer tank, I'd also be scared of one after watching the one eat the shark. Still what are the questions comments on these??

 

As stated by others before, you are looking at a species-only tank with some special modifications (i.e. very sealed tank lid). Plus, cephalopods are very unforgiving when it comes to unstable tank conditions. And, yes, they are very short-lived. Don't ever fall in love with a cephalopod - they just won't be around that long...

 

My thoughts... don't try one until you have had several years in the hobby - and not just two or three. Second, whenever possible, purchase captive bred (for any species). There are resources of aquacultured octopus out there. Minimize wild impact, and you know the age - which gives you an idea of life expectancy. I didn't like that these were basically by-catch on his rock collection.

 

Cheers

Mike

Edited December 17, 2006 by OUsnakebyte

[jamesbuf]

That sucks that they don't live that long. I thought cephalopods lived alot longer than that. I would definitly consider having one down the road if they had a species that lived for longer than 2 years. Just seems like alot of money for a critter that you know you're going to lose in 2 years.

[extreme_tooth_decay]

If you want to avoid ebay, Roozens has these regularly

 

I've always wanted to set up a species tank for one myself.

Nanocubes have a nice lid...put a rock on top and you're good.

 

tim

Edited December 17, 2006 by extreme_tooth_decay

[davelin315]

I have kept them in the past and unless you get the right kind (I can't remember what the exact species is, I think it was Bimac bimac or something like that) you won't ever see it. They are very secretive creatures and nocturnal, to boot. I have never had one that turned out to be as neat as I thought it would. I even went so far as to get a blue ring when I was in college (it lived for two weeks and then died - my guess is the stress from shipping combined with the short lifespan did this one in). I also had a "regular" octupus, but I never saw it except for the occasional arm that would creep out.

 

If you can get the right one, more power to you. I'll look at the link.

 

By the way, last I heard, there are all kinds of problems with getting them captive bred nowadays. Not sure if they are even doing this anymore. Octopets is a great resource, but I have not heard back from them in the past year and have tried to contact them on multiple occasions.

 

They are good at escaping, but I'm not exactly sure how good. They are intelligent enough to see out of the tank and spy out other tanks and try to get to them, but I never had mine escape. I always siliconed down the hood and then weighted down the part that could open and the overflow was an in tank with a strainer and the return came in through a hole in the top. I went overboard but since I never saw it, I'm not sure if it even tried to escape.

 

OK, took a look at the auction. Not sure that $90 is ever going to be a good deal, especially since it is shipped. The problem with shipping is that if it inks in the bag, it could easily die. You need to make sure that you are careful in shipping and I'm not convinced that shipping via fed ex, ups, or usps is going to be the best idea.

 

Also, I'm a big fan of octopi, and I'm personally not a fan of taking it out of the water in your hand and dumping it on the ground to take a picture. They can handle this easily, of course, but for an animal that needs to have the water support it so that it doesn't basically turn into a pile of mush, it's not the best thing in the world for it. Sure, it may choose to crawl out on its own, but sticking it on the ground for a picture...

 

Also, I don't know the species too well, but my guess is that you'd never see it. Also, make sure that you check out the species information from a reputable source as many octopi are colder water species. If this is a Gulf species, it probably can tolerate higher temperatures, but that may or may not be the case.

 

By the way, I'm sure you can do much better locally for less than the $40 plus $50 shipping. As far as the food he's saying, unless he ships a ton of food, it won't last for weeks. I'd suggest getting fiddler crabs in bulk from someone. When I had my octopus that lasted I bought a 50 lot of fiddler crabs for $50 and used these as food. They lasted for a long time and were basically what they eat in nature (not that they eat only those, but crabs are a favorite food item).

[jamesbuf]

If you want to avoid ebay, Roozens has these regularly

 

I've always wanted to set up a species tank for one myself.

Nanocubes have a nice lid...put a rock on top and you're good.

 

tim

 

I was at Roozens one time when he had just gotten a shipment in. He found a medium sized octopus in the liverock and the guy just threw it in the barracuda pond. Too bad. Don't know why he wouldn't try to sell it.

[jason the filter freak]

Just to clear this up, I wasn't actually thinking about putting one of these in my 55 i was just seeing if anyoen had experience with these, had stories etc. Maybe down the road, waaaay down the road, but certianly not now. Kinda thought it was interesting. Maybe I shoulda started this in the fuge

[rooroo]

I saw one at SeaSave and told my husband about it. He wanted me to get one for my tank, until I told him it would eat/destroy everything in the tank.

[jamesbuf]

I saw one at SeaSave and told my husband about it. He wanted me to get one for my tank, until I told him it would eat/destroy everything in the tank.

 

rooroo, man I love your avatar. Cracks me up everytime I see it.

[Charlie97L]

Just to clear this up, I wasn't actually thinking about putting one of these in my 55 i was just seeing if anyoen had experience with these, had stories etc. Maybe down the road, waaaay down the road, but certianly not now. Kinda thought it was interesting. Maybe I shoulda started this in the fuge

 

to address this, if you put it in there, it would eat all your fish in short order, and/or ink from fright/harassment from another inhabitant, and wipe out your tank completely.

 

jason, they just can't go in a reef tank, period, they need their own tank.

 

btw, nanocubes with a rock... haha. i don't know if that was in jest.

 

everything i've read about is that best solution for the lid is a rubber seal with acrylic wing nuts.

Edited December 18, 2006 by Charlie97L

[jason the filter freak]

If you have a old calk reactor for a 1000 gallon plus tank, just convert it

[Jager]

for the record, ones on my fish order list this week, it cost you 50 bucks even to buy one. that being said, im not ordering any without proof of habitat setup :P

[davelin315]

What kind is it that is on your stock list? One of these days if I get around to actually having time to do it, I'd like to set an octopus tank up at school with the right type of octopus this time around. I've got a donated 26 bowfront that would be an awesome tank and I could do the colder water with an ice cap ice probe that I got before. The kids have always asked about these guys and I have been trying for a couple of years to get one for a reasonable price (as always, hard to find the money for school!).

[Jager]

ill call the SW guy in the AM and ask them. im 3 hours south of yah so if we do something like this wed need to solidify a meeting etc, i should be up there for the wamas winter meeting jan 20th