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help my dwarf octo inked

Is this a mercatoris? If so, there probably isn't to much concern in a 75 gal, well behaved system. Hopefully you have a skimmer which should take care of most of the problem.

Roy
 
ok actually the skimmer cup started to fill up a little more after that
i think thats what its doin
thanks alot let me know if you have any more pointers for me
 
The merc ink tends to be thick. If you are present when it inks, a turkey baster or a brine shrimp net are helpful while it is still in a blob. I take it this means you found him, more or less :cool2:

I have found that some ink (not sure about the merc though) will stick to polyps and corals and should be blown off (turkey baster is good for this too) if it settles.
 
no i apreciate it
my lfs gave me a dwarf that was shipped to them
so i am running a seperate 28 gal
while he is in my 75 gal in a critter cage
but it was very thick but i didnt think of that i had a turkey baster right thare too
do you think it will affect anything?
 
No, I don't think you will have any lasting problems, it is not poisonous. Do look at your corals to see if any had settled there and just blow it off gently with the baster if you suspect any but I have only seen the mucusy kind with the hummelincki. The mercs ink tends to "dissolve" and not stick but I have seen both kinds with hummelincki (very little with the mercs, in spite of having three generations) so I thought I would mention to look for any residual to ensure it does not suffocate your corals.
 
k thanks aot for your help
i will keep you posted
i will proably run into some more questions with this tank
i am setting up
what do you think of of like a 30-35 gal with maybe a 10 gal sump for him
 
I would not exceed a 30 gallon display (you may wish to keep two in one that size) or you will still have the problem associated with the 75 (big aqauarium, small, shy octo). Any sized sump would add benefit and not contribute to the lost octo syndrome. My most interactive were in a 15 with combined skimmer/overflow filter (Skilter) and heavy (5 gallon) weekly water changes. With the heavy maintenance, I was able to keep two in the small tank without water issues (but you can't skip a week and the rock should be very well cured, mine has been in that tank over 3 years). I know it may be tempting after not being able to find your first one, but don't minimize the live rock in order to be able to locate him/her more easily.
 
Never had any problem just letting the external cannister filter on my 20 gallon Merc tank handle their ink, although I will add that mine produced both very viscous and non-viscous ink on different occasions.
 
mikeg;130217 said:
i didnt think you were able to keep more than one in one tank
do the fight or anything?

Dwhatley and others (including myself) have successfully kept multiple Mercs in a tank when they hatched from the same batch. These seem to be the only exceptions to the "one octo per tank" rule as far as I know...

Read the journals on Trapper, Varys, and their offspring.
 
I know Danthemarineman finds them living together in the live rock and sells the ones he finds that way in multiples if a customer wants more than one (DinoIgnacio currently has two purchased this way). What we don't know is if two would get along if

a) They are different sizes
b) If they are not brought up together

I should have clarified my suggestion by preferencing it with, "in the future" you may want to keep multiples in a tank that large or futher stated that if the new octo has babies, multiples may be kept in the tank. Greg, correct me if I am wrong but I believe you were able to raise all 5 in the 20? I kept two sibblings in the 15 and three in a 45. The 15 would not have easily housed more, the 45 was really too big to enjoy them (accept for the female that chose her den in the front and the visits by her suitor).
 
dwhatley;130224 said:
Greg, correct me if I am wrong but I believe you were able to raise all 5 in the 20?

I had 4 that I raised in the 20 gallon, up to about 6-7 months of age. The 5th one was in the original 8 gallon tank, but only survived a couple months.
 
I tried an 8 as well (with an adult, before the babies were born) and found survival unsatisfactory even though the water parameters checked out. Anecdotally (guessing) I think air exchange and stress (lack of hiding places) were at fault with the smaller tank. Done any reading/writing yet :sagrin:?
 

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