• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Beginner!

m1sfits21

Hatchling
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Dec 10, 2010
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Hello everyone! I just joined the TONMO world. Ever since I can remember I have always been fascinated by these amazing animals! I am hoping to talk to some experts and get some good advice on how to keep a healthy and happy octo. I have done some research, but not nearly enough to feel comfortable purchasing one yet. I figured the best way to gain knowledge would be to talk to people online who have experience, and go into fish stores and talk with owners who are experienced with salt water tank maintenance. Hope to talk to you soon!

-Matt
 
I'm glad to hear that you're doing your homework and preparation to keep an octopus before you get one. Have you ever kept a marine aquarium before? If not, you've got two areas to educate yourself in: octopus keeping, and general aquarium keeping. I suggest that you first read all the articles (not just forum posts) here on Tonmo. Then go learn about how to keep a marine aquarium. You especially want to understand the "nitrogen cycle" which governs how your tank processes animal waste into less toxic substances. You should find several articles online about the nitrogen cycle, and try to hear it described in different words, so that collectively, they will cause you to have more complete understanding. Be careful not to trust any single person's opinion about anything, but instead try to find out what the most common opinion on each topic is ("trust but verify" - the Gipper)
Be patient, and thorough, and try to think of every relevant question, and get it answered, before you take any action. That will save you the time and money of needing to backtrack after going down the wrong road.

go read, and then come back with questions to fill in the blanks.
 
Joe-Ceph;168116 said:
I'm glad to hear that you're doing your homework and preparation to keep an octopus before you get one. Have you ever kept a marine aquarium before? If not, you've got two areas to educate yourself in: octopus keeping, and general aquarium keeping. I suggest that you first read all the articles (not just forum posts) here on Tonmo. Then go learn about how to keep a marine aquarium. You especially want to understand the "nitrogen cycle" which governs how your tank processes animal waste into less toxic substances. You should find several articles online about the nitrogen cycle, and try to hear it described in different words, so that collectively, they will cause you to have more complete understanding. Be careful not to trust any single person's opinion about anything, but instead try to find out what the most common opinion on each topic is ("trust but verify" - the Gipper)
Be patient, and thorough, and try to think of every relevant question, and get it answered, before you take any action. That will save you the time and money of needing to backtrack after going down the wrong road.

go read, and then come back with questions to fill in the blanks.

Ditto.

And welcome to TONMO!
 
Hello everybody,
This is my first time posting anything to the TONMO website. So i've been reserching for a new pet and decided on an octopus for about four months. This website was extremly helpful, i even researched where to buy my octo from on this website, so i thought that only the people on TONMO could help. I have a 10 gallon tank so the only octo i could possible get was a pygmy, most likely a O. mercatoris. I went out bought a protein skimmer, filter, live rock, crushed shells , pvc pipes for caves, and ghost shrimp for food, the whole nine yards before. I then checked the saltnity 1.025(standard for a reef tank) and the ph about 8.0. The temp is about 78F. Then i ordered my octo from Tom's Carribean and he arrived alive and scared i can only imagine (red and looked like small spikes).I put him in my tank at 5pm and left him alone in the tank till about noon the next day then introduced the ghost shrimp for food. That day i couldn't find him which i expected since o. mercatoris is nocturnal and at night i spotted him a couple of times (color was a white and when accidently tapped the glass turned dark red again. my assumption i scared him and/or pissed it off) also the ghost shrimp was gone.The next day i woke up and he was still crawling around at like 10am, my tank is located in bedroom and i keep my bedroom pretty dark cause i like sleep i can only assume he thought it was still night. So i turned the lights on and got going on the day, introduced more ghost shrimp incase he was still hungry since he was out and about.(color was white). Then notice he was acting funny, i noticed that his tenticals were constantly curled up close to his body, also spotted him on his head a while ago with tenticals moving, and now he is laying on his side still moving his tenticals. I'm at my parents house for the night and will check on him when i return to my house tomrowo, hopefully he is still alive. I always wanted an exotic pet and i think octopus are extremly interesting so i will be purchasing another one if he passes aways so If anyone has any insight to what i could have done wrong any tips or comments i would greatly appreciate it. Remeber Any tips and any advice would be great.
thanks alot
 
Congratulations on your new octopus. :octorun: Good job researching them before you bought one, but I do believe that 10 gallons is a little small, even for a merc. You will have to do some hefty water changes often (at least once a week?). Fiddler crabs are the accepted by all octopuses, I believe, and many members order them from Sach's AquaCulture Store. Be sure to go through other's Journals, if you haven't already, to read about their experiences with O. Mercatoris. Hope I've helped. :biggrin2:
 
Before you source another, please consider a minimum of 15 gallons for the tank and even then a 5 gallon a week water change is in order. To find a few of the prior journals for this species, look at Forums->Journals and Photos->List of our Octopuses 20xx. The List of posts will all be at the top of the forum and they contain the species and a link back to the journals for all lists 2008 and forward.

As Cuttlegirl suggests, seeing a octopus upside down on it mantle with arms not attached to a substrate (rock or glass) is a strong indication that the animal is dieing. I have seen this in one natural death but to avoid a repeat should it have been cause by the environment please help us help you by mentioning your tank cycle time and procedures, what you have in the tank, how you treated your water and your acclimation time and method. You will want to bring your PH up a bit as well to about 8.3

Saltwater animals need saltwater foods to properly balance the kinds of fats their system needs so finding foods that your animal will accept that are from the ocean is always a challenge when you are inland. Not all octopuses will accept the same foods but fiddlers are as close to universal as we have found. I have only had one mercatoris accept thawed grocery shrimp but until Sleazy took that (and she ate it regularly), I would warn people that they would not eat it so all saltwater foods are worth a try with each octopus. It is also worth trying a rejected food a few weeks later. Another food I have found to be readily accepted is hermit crabs removed from their shells. I freeze them and then crack the shells to remove the whole animal. The Korean food markets often offer a number of fresh or frozen food items that can be tried (abalone, squid, scallops, muscles, etc.).

Also, as a double check just because I have not seen Tom offering mercs yet this year, you did order O. mercatoris and not O. briareus, right?
 
You never mentioned that you ever "cycled" your tank. Did you? Do you have water test kits? You need test kits for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. If your ammonia or nitrite is too high, it would mean that your tank hasn't yet built up a sufficiently large population of denitrifying bacteria to consume as much waste as your octopus is producing, which would kill it. If your ammonia or nitrite test too high, I suggest that you read all you can find about the nitrogen cycle, until you fully understand it, and also that you not only "cycle" your tank, but that you maintain a population of hearty inexpensive fish for a couple of months, to get the population of bacteria living on your live rock used to processing a steady supply of animal poo. Then swap the fish out at the same time that you put your octopus in. Try to build up to a population of fish that eats about as much per day as your octopus will eat, so that the amount of waste they produce per day will be roughly the same as what you expect your octopus to produce. If your water tests clean consistently with that many fish, it'll test clean after you swap out the fish for an octopus. If not, you'll only be risking some inexpensive fish, not an expensive hard to get octopus.
 
Well my octo did pass away and i guess i need to study up more before i purchase another octo. I have read some of the comments and appreciate the help. I am pretty positive that my octo was a merc from tom because i was contacting him for a couple of weeks and i had to get lucky for tom to catch one. And regarding the test kit i was holding off till next paycheck to purchase it which was the day he died. Due to complications i did not have my octos tank set up very long before he came so i never got a chance to cycle the water. Just curious tom mention that he only get pygmy octos during the winter months and i want to see if i could get my tank running with a salt water fish or two before i try again, does anyone know where to purchase a pygmy during the spring or summer months
 
I am sorry but reading that you never got a chance to cycle your tank properly is very disturbing :sad:. Since you have no experience keeping saltwater aquariums it would be better for you to concentrate on that subject before you consider looking for another octopus. With out a good understanding of keeping a healthy environment, you will only experience further loss.
You will find reluctance from members here to help in your search until you can demonstrate some genuinity. We take the responsibility of caring for our cephalopods very seriously.
If you need help understanding how to properly keep a saltwater aquarium, cycling and maintaining, you will find many willing to lend a hand.
I am sorry if I come off as cold and heartless. You came to the right place if you are looking for friendly folks with good advice who are always ready to lend a hand. First things first though... get the help you need to get you and your tank going and then one day when you have enough experience, start looking for an octopus. :smile:
 
Keeping a cephalopod requires patience. You have to be patient while your tank cycles and matures. You have to be patient while your cephalopod gets used to its new environment.

That said, I think you will do a better job preparing for your next octopus. Instead of adding fish to your tank, why don't you add some invertebrates that might be good food for your octopus. Things like hermit crabs, inexpensive shrimp, small crabs. You could also add a brittle star (although some are aggressive). Invertebrates are often more sensitive to water chemistry than fish, so if you can learn to care and maintain your tank with invertebrates, you may be better able to care for an octopus later on.

See if you can find a salt water club (or reef-keepers club) in your area, there are often experienced people who are willing to help newbies. Is there a public aquarium in your area? Maybe you could volunteer and gain valuable experience.
 

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