Can anyone tell me what is the largest size of opening one can have in a tank that still prevent escapes. I know the limitation is the size of beak. But what is the average size of the beak on a typical octopus? Maybe it would be helpful to know the "typical" size of an octopus as well. My experience has been 8" to 10" with arms outstretched. Any thoughts? Is there any info out there on the size of the beak as compared to the body size of the animal? I haven't found any.

I've heard that it's smaller than the size of the eyeball. Don't know whether that's true or not.

Nancy

Hi Ollie

Thats one of those 'how long is a piece of string' questions :)

As most people are getting CB baby bimaculoides I'd say aim for no holes just to make sure...

A briareus with a 24" reach had a beak about 5-8mmm long

If you are thinking about getting a Bimac, you can feel a little better about having slight gaps but try your best to prevent and protect everything, my guy does not like coming out of the water but I imagine its just a matter of time.

Hi Ollie

Thats one of those 'how long is a piece of string' questions :)

As most people are getting CB baby bimaculoides I'd say aim for no holes just to make sure...

A briareus with a 24" reach had a beak about 5-8mmm long

I'm with Colin on this one Ollie! Although I have no experience with Bimacs our P. cordiformis can go down the drain.. So what? I hear you say! well our drains have a diameter of about 5-10 cm and these octis grow BIG can be over 1 metre arm span, with a mantle the size of a football and weigh in at over 10kg! (and we've had'em bigger than that!). Never underestimate the capacity for an octi to squeeze through the tiniest of spaces!!!!

J

Yea its amazing to see them go in a small whole about the size of a dime. I know they can go throught MUCH smaller so that must be insane to watch.

Just from what I've observed and what's been reported here over the last couple of years, I'd say that really small octos don't try to escape. They become interested in that when they get closer to adulthood.

The bimac I had last year, Ollie, decided that she really wanted to climb out and sit on the edge of the tank while we were there. I'd estimate she was 8 months old. She showed no interest in "escaping" in other ways. At first, we kept tucking her arms back into the tank, but one day she did it, and sat there on the edge of the tank hanging on to my husband. She did it again, a few days later, looked at everything including both of us, felt all around and touched my husband's nose and the cleaning magnet. Then, she cliimbed back into her tank and never seemed interested in leaving again.

Nancy

Thats sounds so cool nancy, hope to see things like that myself.