• 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.

In from the cold

Will

Cuttlefish
Registered
Joined
Mar 7, 2010
Messages
26
Well after almost 7 years since my last octo and 5 years since my last cuttle, im thinking about getting back in the game. I have a 26 gallon tank that i could set up for most likely a Mercatoris (unless you know of another dewarf that would work). one question that i have is after browsing the forum i have come across people keeping more than one in a tank, is this common?
 
:welcome: to TONMO


Multiple octos is only common with the Mercatoris, but there are a few cases where other species have been kept together. I currently have a Pair in a 55 gallon tank.
 
do you think it would be possible to do 2 in a 26 gal.

I have a remora skimmer, HOT magnum canister fleter that i have modified to run beside the tank for filtration. I would use ~25lbs ect?
 
Welcome back to Tonmo.

You have good filtration, so you probably could keep two of the little octopuses in your tank.

There are a number of people keeping this species right now, so they'll most likely tell you of their experiences.

Nancy
 
Two should do well in a 26. Provide plenty of places to den and hide. I recommend a 24/7 red light and nothing more than ambient during the daytime. I prefer to set my merc tanks up so that the LR in in the center, jutting out like a penninsula so that they have three sides to choose from that can be at least partially viewed. My best luck has been to incorporate the large purple barnacles into the rockwork. The barnacles are not natively found in the same ocean but are very easy to come by (even in FL :roll:) and seem to suit the mercs tastes. If they choose to live in them, you will be able to see a lot more of them than if they choose the LR.
 
dwhatley;151658 said:
The barnacles are not natively found in the same ocean but are very easy to come by (even in FL :roll:) and seem to suit the mercs tastes. If they choose to live in them, you will be able to see a lot more of them than if they choose the LR.


Actually they do come from here, I constantly find them at the beach. I never see them in the keys, but from Miami and north they are plentiful.
 
Hummm, another myth busted. Do you ever see them alive? I have wanted to try them but have never seen them offered. The ones I have seen on a food show have a rather wicked pincher but they looked interesting.
 
Will,

The purple barnacles wash up on the Texas gulf coast at Galveston. The shell souvenir shops on the seawall had them for sale. You don't always find the banacles on the shore, but at times I have. You can purchase them online, but I don't know where.

I might mention to the rest of you that Will used to help me take care of my tanks before he headed off to the University of Texas in Austin a few years ago. He's worked in an LFS, is an experienced reef keeper, and, as he mentions , has experience with cuttles and octopuses.

Nancy
 
From what i found out they can be found on the FL coast from Ft.Lauderdale up. and they come from deep cold water. My source has also never seen one alive. He did show me pictures of some that were bigger than a diner plate around.
 
Those are too big for a merc :tongue: but I would love to see one alive like that.

I wonder why we never see them in aquariums as you would think they would not be that hard to keep and the abundance of shells suggests there are a lot of them. The ones on the food show looked like they would be a very interesting critter to keep (albeit, the might require a species only tank from the look of their claw).
 
here is a design (bare with me i'm a finance major not an engineer) i am thinking about doing. the tank is sitting on a desk right now. Its currently a planted freshwater aquarium. Im thinking about trying to make an Amano style octo tank by planting low light macro algae in the tank. (i know i will have my own resident decorator) let me know what you think.

(p.s. i know my image is not here but how do i post one?)
 
Uploading Pictures
For a more wordy description see:
http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthre...343#post149343

Scroll down a little and click the Manage Attachments button
.....This will open an additional window/tab
Click one of the Browse button buttons
.....This will open a pop-up window showing a directory on your computer
.....Locate your picture directory and select your photo(s)
.....Depending upon your browser, you can select one or more pictures at a time
Click the Open button after you have selected your pictures
.....The actual button word may be different between browsers)
.....The full directory path for your selected file will show in the text box next to the browse button clicked.
.....Up to 4 photos may be added to a post using the 4 different browse buttons.
Click the Upload Files button when all your photos are selected.
.....The list of uploaded pictures will be visible under Current Attachements
.....To discard one of the files, click the Remove button acoss from the undesired picture.
Click the Close this Window located at the top right of the window.
.....You will be returned to your posting for further editing (if desired) and your photos will be attached.
Click the Submit Reply button as you normally would to finish posting
 
Actually, the mercs don't seem to redecorate much other than gathering a few small shells for a door and I don't remember any of my males even doing that.

What kind of low light macro have you found? I would be interested in acquiring some for my merc tank.
 
I will post the pics when I get back to my home computer. I plan to use some lower light calurpa and maybe some seagrass. I'll have a 96w powercompact running 6 hours a day and red led for the rest. I'm fairly nocturnal being a college student so I assume he will be up when I am
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top