Hello everyone.:)

AshixLove

Hatchling
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Apr 18, 2010
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4
Hello everyone! My name is Ashley and I've just recently become interested in keeping an octopus as a pet. I began my research online, looking if it was indeed possible to keep them as pets, as well as looking as to where I can buy one, and as to what living conditions would be best for the octopus. After a while I stumbled upon this website, boy has it helped answer most of my questions! I've looked all throughout this website and finally decided that I'm going to try my best to obtain a Bimac octopus. I do have many questions though that I hope someone can help me by answering them:

1. How can you tell the difference between a male & female octopus?
2. Is a 75 gallon tank a decent size for a Bimac?
3. How big do Bimacs generally get?
4. What do you recommend is the best to get for the tank? IE. Filter, sand, rocks, coral, other living creatures.
5. Are there things that I can buy from my local pet store, or anywhere that can help me maintain my nitrate, nitrite, copper, etc. levels?
6. What is a complete list of all that I would need? I'm pretty sure I have everything, but I would like to just get a second, third, fourth opinion.

Thank you so much for reading this and answering my questions(if you do).
I was also wondering if it was possible to include the estimated amount of what some of these materials for the tank and what not will cost. Money is not a problem and I would appreciate to know the best of the best of what to get.

Once again thank you all so much for helping me with this! :smile:

-Ashley.
 
Here are a few short answers and links to threads for discussion and details:
2. Is a 75 gallon tank a decent size for a Bimac?
Yes, excellent choice for a variety of the ones we commonly keep. A bimac needs water below 72 degrees (69 preferable) so a chiller should be high on your purchase list for any Norther Pacific species. Caribbeans do not need a chiller and can be kept between 75-80.
3. How big do Bimacs generally get?
There are two "bimac" species, bimaculatus and bimaculoides the first is the largest and least commonly found. Mantle size is up to 8" and arms up to 3'. The smaller, more commonly kept bimaculoides is about half that size and produces tank raisable hatchlings. Nancy has written an article about bimac care that can be found, along with others that should interest you, in the ceph care section of the articles link on the home page.
4. What do you recommend is the best to get for the tank? IE. Filter, sand, rocks, coral, other living creatures.
The care articles and Tank Talk forum should give you some ideas.
5. Are there things that I can buy from my local pet store, or anywhere that can help me maintain my nitrate, nitrite, copper, etc. levels?
All the things you mentioned should be kept at zero with some nitrate tollerated. The water must start without chemicals or minerals (RO/DI or distilled) and tap water treated with chemicals is not acceptable. It will take a minimum of three months to properly cycle your tank for the bioload of an octopus. Using this time (additional recommended for beginners) to learn and practice proper maintenance, observing the tank and saltwater keeping in general is important. Keeping a marine tank is much more labor and cost intensive than most freshwater environments.
6. What is a complete list of all that I would need? I'm pretty sure I have everything, but I would like to just get a second, third, fourth opinion.
In addition to the Equipment article, there is a recent thread in the Tank Talk forum that should be useful.
 
Sorry to hijack the thread a bit, but I'm a little concerned about what appears to be a large proportion of wild-caught specimens.

Perhaps you could point the original poster to a source of captive-bred octopuses, if there are any? Where are sources of captive-bred octopuses?
 
neurobadger;154188 said:
Sorry to hijack the thread a bit, but I'm a little concerned about what appears to be a large proportion of wild-caught specimens.

Perhaps you could point the original poster to a source of captive-bred octopuses, if there are any? Where are sources of captive-bred octopuses?


There aren't any.
 
Sorry to hijack the thread a bit, but I'm a little concerned about what appears to be a large proportion of wild-caught specimens.

CaptFish said it succinctly but a little explaination might be in order. Octopuses are somewhat arbitrarily classified in two categories, large and small egg species. The hatchlings of the large egg species (bimaculoides, mercatoris, briareus are the ones we commonly keep but there are others) are benthic (bottom dwelling) from birth where hatchlings from small eggs are palegic (live in the upper water column) for a period of time. There has been minimal success raising a few benthic but virtually no success with the palegics in a home environment (and extremely limited - roughly 4 from ~50,0000 eggs - in a scientific environment). In the wild, only a tiny percentage of the hatchlings survive to adulthood. There is one dwarf with an unusual biology that lays and mates multiple times and two of our members attempted a brooding program but the lack of available specimens ended the attempt (in all other known species, the females broods one batch of eggs and dies shortly afterwards). To further frustrate captive breeding most octos are cannibalistic and a pair cannot be kept in a single tank.

We discourage the keeping of octopuses who population have been observed to be dwindling and you can read some of the discussions in the Exotics thread (you must be signed on to view it).

This is still a very young, off the mainstream hobby and we are still learning ...
 
:welcome: to Ashley and thanks to NeuroBadger, although unfortunately with the demise of octopets, there aren't any captive breeders out there (Zyan Silver having been a brief exception). With the end of the NRCC, I'm not sure there are even any captive-bred options for education and research :sad:
 

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