I did not put anything here prior for fear of getting flamed but you got to hear this.

I had three Bandensis living together in a 55. Two must have been males as they always fought so with no luck trying to give the one away I decided for him to take his chances with my octopus.
I can tell you when he first got in there otto (ocotopus went nuts) Checking out the cuddle, and going crazy in the tank. I thought for sure he was a goner.

It has now been 2 months or so and both live very happily in a 54 gallon bowfront.

Funny thing is that out of the 3, the one living with Otto is the only one still alive!:shock:

Anyway I am sure it is a fluke but interesting to say the least

Well with an introduction like that I want to flame you, but cool beans.

I did not put anything here prior for fear of getting flamed but you got to hear this.

I had three Bandensis living together in a 55. Two must have been males as they always fought so with no luck trying to give the one away I decided for him to take his chances with my octopus.
I can tell you when he first got in there otto (ocotopus went nuts) Checking out the cuddle, and going crazy in the tank. I thought for sure he was a goner.

It has now been 2 months or so and both live very happily in a 54 gallon bowfront.

Funny thing is that out of the 3, the one living with Otto is the only one still alive!:shock:

Anyway I am sure it is a fluke but interesting to say the least

While that set up might be discouraged and frowned upon, most of the people on this messageboard aren't quick to just "Flame" others. They're usually very reasonable and mature.

I'm happy to hear you've had luck so far with the Cuttle and Octopus together. Keep them WELL fed, it's not over yet. Sorry to hear about the other 2 Cuttles, that sucks.

Yes, from time to time someone does manage to make such combinations work. But be careful, make sure they're very well fed.
We've had some tankmate combinations go bad after they've lived together in peace for months.

Nancy

Rudy,
Thanks for braving the report and do let us know how the arrangement continues. If it fails, we will all benefit from the example. If it succeeds, it may say something about this species of octopus. I have often wondered if they get lonely. Since octopuses don't associate with each other I worry that no other critters in the tank might have a negative effect. I know Animal Mother reported that Einey did much better when he could observe other creatures even in a small enclosure vs his own solitary larger tank. I am all but convinced that Mercatoris don't eat fish or snails. As home aquarists, we can't do scientific experiments on many octopuses but our observations may provide some ideas for testing to those who can.

Thats really interesting...

The one thing Ive noticed with octos, including this species is that their tolerance for other tankmates seem to be individually based. That is..., what was ok with one octupus was not ok with another octopus of the same species.

So far, my observations with bandensis are they are more consistently tolerable of some tankmates from individual to individual.

An octo and a cuttle in the same tank is definetely a great situation..Best of both worlds!