• 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.

Detritivore for an octopus tank

I tend to avoid cucs in the octo tanks but have never had an issue with them in other tanks where I have tried them. I have not tried the sand sifting one though (thought about it). My common in the mantis tanks is a great addition but he only eats algae and never goes into the sand (unexpected).

Serpents/brittles are great (avoiding greens) and there are some very nicely colored ones out there. My orange brittles even have personality and are frequently seen. I have an orange serpent that is just brilliant in color. He is nocturnal (like most of the serpents) but does come out at dinner time.

Snails are a good idea, even if some are eaten.

I keep a couple of grocery store clams in most of the tanks. You have to really watch them and remove them very quickly if they die but they are too difficult for most of the octos to mess with (especially if they are well fed). I have had several of the larger ones open and eat exactly one and then not mess with any of the others (I don't believe mercs CAN open them as I have not seen them even moved by the mercs). If you try them, put them in a Deep (8" or better) bucket of saltwater for a couple of days to let them rinse on the inside.

Peppermint shrimp often survive in an octo tank and have a very good chance in a merc tank.

I have a cowrie in with Puddles (and in one non-ceph tank) and he does a nice job on the algae. However, one member has had really bad results with on sliming.
 
good to know, however i just talked to tom and he thinks that merc season may be over. my local LFS has dewarf octopus on their list, however i dont know what i am getting. They also have captive raised octopus as well apparently?
 
I would be VERY suspisous of "captive raised" octos. Doable but not likely. Unfortunately, those lists are not a good go by on availablity and they source through people like Tom but it doesn't hurt to try. There are not a lot of dwarf species that we see and your tank is likely to be good for any except the cold water guys. The problem would be if you did NOT get a dwarf.
 
Thats the issue, Im supposed to call the guy at my lfs on Sunday when he has a copy of the updated list, to determine what i want to order. The wholesaler is located in CA though so it may be a pacific species, or do they fly Caribbean stuff to wholesalers in CA.

You don't have any eggs do you?

p.s. i think the issue with my skimmer not skimming well has to do with the fact that my water is almost sterile.
 
I have no clue on how the Wholesale game works (Thales or Greg my have some ideas to pass on though). I know there is only one major wholesaler in the Atlanta area and they get stuff from all over but I try to avoid buying anything that comes in through them. It is unlikely (but you can ask your LFS to ask - can't hurt) that you will be able to find out where the animal comes from or what it will be. An adventure for sure. The other issue that just crossed my mind is the concern that the dwarf might be from Australia, aka a blue ring and you may want your LSF to specify that a BR is unacceptable.
 
im pretty sure blue rings are illegal in Texas so i dont have to worry about that (i used to work at an LFS in Dallas and we got a blue ring in once, and our manger would not allow us to open the shipping bag)
 
If you are pretty secure about th BR, then the only other concern would be a baby briareus or a cold water animal from very far north (unlikely from what we have seen). I wish we could have even a little faith on the captive raised but we have seen that listing before and the animal was a small egg species. It will be interesting to see what you get :wink:
 

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