My brother bought an octopus the other day from a pet store, after surfing this sight for a few hours its totally obvious that the pet shop he got it from has been extreamly unresponsible by selling him as he is. hes in a 5 gall tank and hes got a reach of about 10 inches (live rock and hermit crab... that he hasnt eaten yet. that is how the place sold him). ya i know, FAR too small a tank. hes really not a happy octopus though, hes just sitting up in the top corner for most of the day. hes also almost always white. ive been looking after him for the last few days, mostly cause im on winter break and my bro has work. but i have to head back to school tomorow and im dead worried about him... we've been treating the water for nitrates and amonia (theyre kinda out of control at the moment) and have replaced like a fith of his water today, planing on doing the same tomorow. are we're going wrong or is theres somthing we're not doing? i'm totally atached to the little guy and i hope he survives till im home next:sad:

oh, and hes all curled up in a ball during the day. and how much curling of the tenticles is normal? i mean, the corcksckrew thing is bad right? but when he moves around the ends are kinda curled, is this ok?

This doesn't sound good. I suppose you don't have a larger, already cycled saltwater tank you could transfer him to.

Where are you? Perhaps another Tonmo member would be able to take him. He needs to get into a larger tank and into better water.

Octos are very sensitive to ammonia - not good that you have a problem with ammonia. A water change with properly mixed salt water would be good - make sure it's been aged for 5 or 6 hours at least. You could do a larger water change if the temperature and pH are close - 30 even 50%.

How have you been "treating the water"? What kind of filters does this tank have?

It's not surprising that he's not eating - the ammonia would do that.

Does he have a place to hide, a den?

I hate to say take him back to the LFS because they were the ones that treated him so poorly.

And I forgot to say - welcome to TONMO.com! :welcome:

Nancy

If it is still alive, you need to get it to a larger, cycled tank FAST.

I'd be tempted to say take it back... at least until he can set up another bigger and more suitable tank... problem is that this is not a cheap option!

Where do you live?

welcome to TONMO and I am glad you are doing the right thing and reading up!!!

cheers
Colin

Well, if your willing, I will take him? Im sure you wont do that, but I would take it back and buy a larger tank, and if he lives then buy him back again if they still have him. Once your tank is cycled of course (3-4 weeks).

we do have a larger tank, but its even newer than the one hes in! its empty apart from the water and pumps. we've been hesitant to move him into it cause its not octo-proof and like i said its even newer. the water pH is similar though, and we are getting new live rock to put into it today. we changed some of the water this morning again and he seems much happier but he still hasnt eaten. We live in Calgary Ab Canada. land locked Alberta. awsome eh? thanks for all your help guys! Houdini IS much improved today though, as is the little guppy who's sharing the tank until Houdi gets hungry:P

Great to hear! How active is he? Have you been feeding him live foods? Also, have you had any aquarium expirence before this Octo? I am curious, because I am thinking of getting one a little down the road.

hes not very active, but hes been threw a lot in the last little while. personaly ive had fresh water tanks before, and my parents are in the proces of setting up a reef tank. i dont think my Bro has had more than goldfish, but i wouldnt really know. Houdini's got live food in with him at the moment, a guppy and a hermit crab. its hard to get anything live in land locked alberta. i think ive got the bug though:P im so going to get me one as soon as humanly posible! but from octopets or something, i dont like the idea of live caught octopuses.

hes not very active, but hes been threw a lot in the last little while. personaly ive had fresh water tanks before, and my parents are in the proces of setting up a reef tank. i dont think my Bro has had more than goldfish, but i wouldnt really know. Houdini's got live food in with him at the moment, a guppy and a hermit crab. its hard to get anything live in land locked alberta. i think ive got the bug though:P im so going to get me one as soon as humanly posible! but from octopets or something, i dont like the idea of live caught octopuses.

I can't imagine he'll survive long. He's in a tank that's not too much bigger than a few milk jugs that either has not been cycled or does not have nearly enough filtration. The guppy in the water is probably scaring him more than anything. Add to that the way he was probably tortured at the fish shop and the prognosis does not look good.

Dan

i would say put him in the bigger tank thats newer. get this stuff from your fish store called Cycle. supposedly it helps cycle your tank faster and may even help make the tank feel like its cycled to the octo a little more. i may be wrong ask other people.

Adding chemicals won't help your system. You can "cycle" a reef tank instantly by adding a whole bunch of cured live rock because the rock has enough denitrifying bacteria on and in it. If this octo is small (ie, isn't a big biological load) this might work on the big tank. Otherwise it will take weeks to cycle, and probably a couple months after that for the system to mature (there are more substances in the water than just nitrogen that need to reach long-term equilibria!).

Dan

If your octopus is still alive, I would remove the guppy. Try offering him dead shrimp. Place it on a stick and wiggle it around in the tank...