I'm new OCTOPUS's so Can some please tell me what kind of OCTOPUS this is i bought it 2 days ago put it in my 30 gallon i bought for it. i used water from my reef tank that has been up for year and a half put 35 pounds of live rock that i had for about 3 months cureing in there i bought a 205 Fluval® External Canister. let the tank run for a week. i don't got a heater in there yet. and i got a air pump with a 7 inch bubble wall on the back. the acclimation time was 4 hours drip. put it in there left the lights off for the rest of that day next day i turned the light on he came out and was swimming around i didn't know if it was hungry or not so i put 2 Hermit Crab's and 3 ghost shrimp in there he ate them all he doesn't seem to be shy at all he's allways moving around is this a sign of a healty OCTOPUS. should i feed it just live food. my LFS has frozen hole KRILL can i feed it them if it will take it. I put up some pics up of the OCTOPUS and the tank...And last BUT NOT LAST. I would like too THANK TONMO.com for haveing this web site and EVERYBODY here that SHARE there experience's and ADVICE....

.Keithohlin.

If the tank has only been running for a week you might have some very serious problems with your OCTOPUS.

Take more pics and tell us how big he is!

Congrats and good luck.

If the tank has only been running for a week you might have some very serious problems with your OCTOPUS.

Yeah... is there any way you can house him in the tank you've had running until the one you set up for him has properly cycled? If he's small enough you could keep him in a large critter keeper to keep him from destroying your livestock and escaping until you can move him back to the other tank by himself.

Even though you used materials (water, rock, etc.) from a tank that has already cycled the new tank is still a new tank and needs to have time for the beneficial bacteria to proliferate.

The only hope is that the octopus is small enough that the live rock can handle its waste. And to be quite honest the rock isn't the prettiest I've seen. But, hey, good luck!

if you read the post in full you would see that all the water and the rock came from a precycled tank that was actually a reef tank so it should be fine...

But the bacteria has to colonize the glass, sandbed, fliter, etc. I also agree though, that he will be fine, but not the best way to do things.

if you read the post in full you would see that all the water and the rock came from a precycled tank that was actually a reef tank so it should be fine...

The water doesn't care. This is the most fundamental thing that people choose not to grasp about cycling an aquarium.

The bacteria that eats the ammonia will live anywhere in your tank: the glass, the sand, the rock, etc. At any given time, some of them are even floating free in the water. However, the population of bacteria in most of these places (sometimes with the exception of the rock) is dramatically insufficient. Think about a family garden: Nice tomatoes, but nothing you're going to live on.

To support an animal, you need a real population. Instead of the family garden, we're looking for a farm-field. A wet/dry filter provides an optimum environment for these bacteria to grow.

Using water from a cycled aquarium does almost nothing for the new aquarium. It will provide a "seed" of bacteria, but that seed will take weeks to grow to a population adequate to support any tank (this is the cycle time). Adding good live rock will put in a bigger seed. An even better way is to move filter media from an established system. The only way to make this process instant is to transplant the entire filter from another system.

Not all live rock has good filtration potential. What we want is surface area. Nooks and crannies and places for the bacteria to live and grow. I choose pieces also based on color: coralline algae is a good indication the rock has been in a well-kept system with healthy water parameters. Green or brown rock not so much.

Even the best live rock doesn't have that great of a capacity to consume ammonia and nitrite. No one recommends live rock filtration for fish-only systems. Setting up a reef with 1-2 lb/gallon LR and a skimmer is only successful because these reef tanks don't generate much waste.

This is the foundation that makes it possible to keep an aquarium in your home. It is not rocket science. Anyone who does not understand this is not qualified to keep an aquarium.

Dan

set up a skimmer and congrats on your new friend! p.s. you will a mini cycle so keep a close eye ....................

p.s. you will (have) a mini cycle so keep a close eye ....................

This is correct! Just watch your test kits, and be ready with premixed water for changes. That little octo will begin spewing ammonia like a big grouper and with enough seed it will grow the bacteria in your Fluval. Hopefully the chemical filtration doesn't stunt the beneficial bacteria bloom.

Octos (unlike a big grouper) have a huge surface area that isn't protected by scales so all the toxic elements are "mainlined" into their system.

Some live rock will definitely help in seeding, just keep a :bugout: eye on it.

Beautiful tank by the way...

To day it ate a 2 inch red claw crab not much left.. I put up 2 more pic's.. doe's any one know what kind it is it just sed the Origin: Caribbean.. thanks everyone for your ADVICE....

..keithohlin..

I would say briareus, but that last pic made it look a little like a blue ring. lets' cross our fingers that he's not on that one...

Thanks every one for your ADVICE.... My octo seems to be doing fine stays out alot and still eating good.. I feed Octo 1 to 2 snails every other day and a red claw or fiddler crab every other day of the snails.. Did a 10% water change yesterday.. the AMMONIA was 50.ppm and the NITRATE was 60.ppm...The water change drop the AMMONIA to 25.ppm and the NITRATE to 40.pp And has any one heard of useing CYCLE by HAGEN for putting (BENEFICIAL BACTERIA) in a tank and useing it once a week to keep it healthy.. And here is a pic of my REEF TANK..... Thanks Keithohlin

Please do another water change. Your tank looks good but you need to get the ammonia and nitrates down!

How much % shoud i do its a 30 gallon and how offten.. thanks (Cuttlegirl).....

10% every day until the ammonia and nitrates are almost 0... Seeing as you have a 30 gallon, this may be a daily chore for you...

What could be makeing my nitrates go up so high it's not like that in my reef tank.. could mu live rock not be cured enough or is the rock just not no good....thanks

The nitrate is abnormally high, but its your ammonia that's going to kill your octopus.

yeah, nitrates are bad but ammonia is far worse.. get that down to zero
to answer your question it is probably because of the high bioload.. the bacteria coloney isnt large enough to handle so much waste....
hth
-josh

This is where the paradox comes in: for the bacteria colony to grow you need to have excess ammonia in the tank. But if there's excess ammonia in the tank, the octopus will die.

This it is important to cycle your aquarium before you put in your octopus.

The Hagen product mentioned above is worthless. If its a "seed" what you need is a bumper crop.

I moved already cycled water into a 55 gallon tank with cycled water. I would suggest cycling it, as said by other Tonmo members. I didn't want to risk ANYTHING with my octopus. I hope you didn't pay ALOT for the Octopus. By the way, interesting octopus. I love how he looks! We have an octopus who tolerates alot, so maybe you got one also. I just wouldn't experiment on him! We've reared ours from the infant stage, so he's perfectly acclimated to the tank. We made sure that he was acclimulated to the tank by putting him in a small plastic container for 2 hours and 1 hour in the bag. It may seem extreme, but it helped him get used to its surroundings. He didn't ink or anything like our old one and he ate right away.

I think people misjudge the octopus. I think they can handle alot more than what people give them credit for. Granted, there are some mishaps, but that is usually due to the uneducated owner. I have had mine for a few months now and I don't have any doubts about his care. I think we're excellent parents and you will be too.

Hi every one and thanks for your ADVICE.... Octo is still eating good and moveing around.. i was woundering what would be good things too keep him entertained.. And last on my reef tank its a 30 high and has 400 watts of 14k MH.. could Octo live in a tank with that much light if i keep it as cool as my reef tank.. My reef tank is 75 at the higest thats with the lights on in the day at night its 72. i have fans that cool the water form the top of the canopy. i would like too put coarls in there with him too dress it up.. THANKS
Keithohlin

Most suggest no corals, but softies if you must. Things that don't sting. Mushrooms, things of that nature. In contrast to that however, the GPO at the Dallas Aquarium shares his relatively large tank with a few dozen HUGE anemones. I personally wouldn't risk it.

As for the light, it's my understanding they really don't like bright light, so if you put him in there, don't be surprised if he isn't happy.

As for the temperature, depending on the species, 72-75F is pretty much the high end of acceptable temperature ranges, but cooler is better. That's the temperature range of my tank as well and my little guy is doing fine. I would like to invest in a chiller in the future though to improve and lengthen the life of my 8 armed buddy.

The best advice a person can take is research, research, research. The search engine is your friend. After reading articles and threads, put what you have learned to use instead of refusing to do it the "right" way. There are several "right" ways to do it. Figure out which suits your tastes and the animals needs best. A person can't compromise the quality of life for the animal because they don't want to do it a certain way, that is selfish and downright evil if you ask me. A person can only benefit from using methods proven to result in success. You will probably have more questions later. Instead of waiting until you are confronted by issues, find and read as much as you can. It will narrow down the risk of finding yourself in an emergency without the knowledge you need to progress. Remember, knowing is half the battle...haha.

We're all still learning, the more questions you ask, the more we all learn.

Why are you capitilizing things such as "advise" and "octopus"?

It's November 20th 2006 I bought my Octo in October 27 2006 I's been 25 days and here's what my Octo like's like....Octo's RULE...!!!!:grin:


advise" and "octopus they just seem to go together....

HI every one i've not been on in some time do too up gradeing my reef tank from a 30 gallon to a 75 gallon and i all so moved my octo too a smaller tank i didn't whant too but i had too.. she was in a 30 gallon and i moved her too a 10 gallon way too small i know but she's been doing fine she's been in there for a about a 4 weeks she whent in too hiden for about 4 weeks not real sure on how long it was... i was giving her snails she would'nt eat them right away.. 1 to 2 aweek. i thought she was ill BUT today monday february 12 2007 i woke up and had about 300 baby octo's.. i put up some pic's for you too see..