GPO: Tank size.

[DWhatley]

There is a difference in lab kept animals and home aquariums, the desire for longevity being one of them. I would argue that Ceph is recommending a minimum lab space.

Unfortunately, without a flow through aquarium and strickly native animals, nothing should be put back into the ocean once it has been kept in a tank. There is real danger of introducing pathogens that can wipe out animals with no immunities to a foreign element. We have seen foreign bacteria/viruses destroy populations of sponges, queen conchs and long spined urchins in the Keys. Oddly the pathogens have target specific species. The urchins (fortunately only one species) were wiped out along the Keys and the Bahamas in about two weeks (tracking back, the virus was introduced from the Panama Canal but it happened so fast, no one knew it was occuring).

 

[skywindsurfer]

Wow...were any of those species wiped out completely or were they able to repopulate? One of my concerns with releasing animals, aside from the croscontamination and invasive species, is the fact that your placing the animal in a new wild environment where it does not have an established shelter and has to establish one quickly before being eaten.

 

[neurobadger]

I think perhaps the best I can do is just buy her a toy or something. It'll at least make me feel a little better that she's got a wider selection of things to play with.

I know they wouldn't give her a bigger tank. They can't.

 

[Joe-Ceph]

:Unfortunately, without a flow through aquarium and strickly native animals, nothing should be put back into the ocean once it has been kept in a tank. There is real danger of introducing pathogens that can wipe out animals with no immunities to a foreign element.

I completely agree, and I beat that drum a lot on the forums because it's a big danger that doesn't occur to most people, and conflicts with our natural impulse to be kind to pets. I keep bimac octopus, and other local cold water animals that I catch myself in California. People like me, need to have a hard-hearted "one-way-trip" policy, or else we risk releasing an exotic species, disease or parasite into wild populations. Some native species are being devastated in southern Florida by an estimated 100,000 Burmese pythons, all of which are descendants of pet snakes that soft-hearted people released when they could no longer keep them. Please never release any captive animal into the wild (with very rare exceptions), or give it to anyone who might eventually release it, even if it means you need to kill the animal.

 

[neurobadger]

I completely agree, and I beat that drum a lot on the forums because it's a big danger that doesn't occur to most people, and conflicts with our natural impulse to be kind to pets. I keep bimac octopus, and other local cold water animals that I catch myself in California. People like me, need to have a hard-hearted "one-way-trip" policy, or else we risk releasing an exotic species, disease or parasite into wild populations. Some native species are being devastated in southern Florida by an estimated 100,000 Burmese pythons, all of which are descendants of pet snakes that soft-hearted people released when they could no longer keep them. Please never release any captive animal into the wild (with very rare exceptions), or give it to anyone who might eventually release it, even if it means you need to kill the animal.

If it was native to the area, though...

 

[SabrinaR]

Once its in captivity, unless its kept in a system that flows from the ocean returning that animal to the ocean is a really bad idea. Even if its a native animal. There are diseases and parasites that can go back into the ocean that the ocean animals can not deal with.

 

[Thales]

Most aquarist both professional and hobbiest will agree that the ideal lenght of an aquarium should be 4x the lenght of the animal, and the width 2x the lenght of the animal.

I don't know anyone that would make that kind of overgeneralized statement (which is missing height) because each animal has different needs. This equation would put a 1 inch animal in a 4 inch by 2 inch aquarium of unknown height.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Thinking back about that statement, it does sound a bit cramped, but I think the people who told me that(I will not name any names since they are not here to defend their comments) gave me that advice as a bare minimum for an animal to turn and travel across the tank. I think(again from what others have said to me) that lenght is a large factor in tank design, that a fish needs more space to swim in a straight line than virtically or turning space. I guess for my own personal opinion if one were capable, than in a rectangular tank an animal should be given at least eight to ten times it's own body length(for example my O. Hummelincki is between one to two feet arm tip to arm tip depending on how stretched she is, and I think that having her in my 2' wide x 8' long x 2' high tank was plenty of space for her though I would not want to go less.) IMO what ever min. tank size a fish seller gives you, you should at least double it. I feel that an animal should be able to take more than just a few seconds to travel the lenght of their enclosure.

 

[Thales]

You didn't say it was a bare minimum, you said it was ideal.

 

[Thales]

Thinking back about that statement, it does sound a bit cramped, but I think the people who told me that(I will not name any names since they are not here to defend their comments) gave me that advice as a bare minimum for an animal to turn and travel across the tank. I think(again from what others have said to me) that lenght is a large factor in tank design, that a fish needs more space to swim in a straight line than virtically or turning space. I guess for my own personal opinion if one were capable, than in a rectangular tank an animal should be given at least eight to ten times it's own body length(for example my O. Hummelincki is between one to two feet arm tip to arm tip depending on how stretched she is, and I think that having her in my 2' wide x 8' long x 2' high tank was plenty of space for her though I would not want to go less.) IMO what ever min. tank size a fish seller gives you, you should at least double it. I feel that an animal should be able to take more than just a few seconds to travel the lenght of their enclosure.

And again, too many over generalizations I think. Fish are different and have different swimming needs and different tank size needs. It is important to know the animal you are getting so you can prepare for its needs.

 

[skywindsurfer]

And again, too many over generalizations I think. Fish are different and have different swimming needs and different tank size needs. It is important to know the animal you are getting so you can prepare for its needs.

I agree, I just have trouble putting my thoughts into words properly.

 

[Thales]

No worries!

 

[perke]

This is an interesting little thread, although I had to convert all the gallons into litres!! Currently the standard size for our GPO tanks in my company is 1585 gallons (6000 litres) although that is not including skimmers, chiller or any sumps in that equation. It is also currently under review and if anything may even go bigger. So it's interesting to see what other aquariums think are acceptable.

Thales your right you should never just work on dimensions alone. Just thinking about the difference of a nautilus tank to a common octopus to a sepia officinalis tank makes my head hurt and I'm a professional aquarist. As you stated cephalopods are very different from fish, for starters octopus can crawl on the side of tanks so need to be treated completely differently.

I think it's great that people are questioning what is right for these beautiful creatures.

 

[skywindsurfer]

The Aquarium I currently work at thinks a 1000 gallon tank is acceptable. I think that for this species the best size would be several thousand gallons. We have a fairly large aquarium that IMO would be excellent for this animal. I'm on a never ending quest to get them to let me move it over. I'm not holding my breath though. They are trying to get Sepia Apama for that exhibit.

 

[Thales]

1000 Gallons for what size animal?