• 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.

how much in all

Hi, and welcome back!
Keeping an octopus is an expensive proposition. The tank and pump and skimmer and other equipment costs hundreds of dollars. As you might guess, the food can be expensive, too. If you live near the ocean and can collect some (provided it's legal) or buy from bait stores, that can reduce the cost. Frozen shrimp is one of the best things to feed aside from live food like crabs.

You might start with a small salt water tank and learn all about keeping it. That would be less expensive and give you some good experience.

Look here for some actual figures on tanks:
what do you have and how much do you have in your ceph set up

Nancy
 
Nancy;109192 said:
Hi, and welcome back!
Keeping an octopus is an expensive proposition. The tank and pump and skimmer and other equipment costs hundreds of dollars. As you might guess, the food can be expensive, too. If you live near the ocean and can collect some (provided it's legal) or buy from bait stores, that can reduce the cost. Frozen shrimp is one of the best things to feed aside from live food like crabs.

You might start with a small salt water tank and learn all about keeping it. That would be less expensive and give you some good experience.

Look here for some actual figures on tanks:
what do you have and how much do you have in your ceph set up

Nancy
how would a dwarf do in a three gallon tom deco kit??you mean frozen shrimpo from like wal mart??
 
dwarf would do horrible in a 3 gallon tank, you should get at least a 30 gallon tank. Even then, i wouldn't consider getting one since they are extremely nocturnal. You might as well just get a 55 gal. and a more interesting octo such as a briareus or a bimac.
 
It'll probably cost you $1000-1500 to buy everything new. You can get stuff a lot cheaper used, but you have to be certain that no copper medication was ever used in the tank, it will leach onto everything and can never be fully taken out. Your best bet is to buy a used reef tank, because copper is toxic to all inverts and if they had a reef I hope they aren't dosing copper :smile:.

Some species would do fine in a 3 gallon tank. None will be available, however, and you would have to do frequent water changes changing most/all of the water. You would need cycled water so you don't mess up the octo as well.

If you really want an octo but don't have the money for a diurnal (read not dwarf) setup, a 20 or 30 gallon would work fine for a dwarf like O. Mercatoris or O. Joubini. As Simple said, dwarfs are going to be nocturnal and generally much less exciting than a bigger octo. They are still neat though :smile:.

Frozen shrimp will be frozen table shrimp with no additives. It is better to get it from the fresh seafood section of the grocer or a seafood market and then freeze it because then you know it will not have anything added to it. You should also give some variety, adding silversides, krill, and muscles occasionally.
 
Fine. Those are actually the preferred lights for octopuses. You won't get any polyps springing up most likely, but you should get a lot of coraline growth. If you buy the walmart 55 you will want to add a skimmer to it (with any tank, really), which will probably run more than the tank cost for a good one. You will also need to make sure that you secure the top so the octo can't get out.
 
Don't forget a bimacs are cold water octos and living in the south, you're going to either need a chiller or run your A/C low all summer long. The chiller would be cheaper in the long run. Usually about $300. I can't even find a used one cheaper than that.
 
well i just bought a reef and its gonna cost me a ton but i was just hoping there was an octo that could live in a three gallon(i'll problly get one next christmas)
 

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