• 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.

My first octo

sepulatian

Hatchling
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Apr 28, 2007
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Hi all. This is my first time on this board. I have plenty of salt experience and am a valued member of another board. I just recieved a very beautiful 20L complete with stand ect. I have a 55 (soon to be) reef and a 20 qt. I was thinking of making this tank an octo tank. Please advise me on this. What do you think? Would a 20 long work for an octo? I am not sure on what kind. Obviously one that will not get too large, not a blue ring either. I am well aware of water quality. What I am not certain on is; Do they need or not need LR? Is LS sufficient, or is that not even neccessary. Please give me the run down on what an octo requires. Thank you!
 
:welcome:

As a fellow newbie, I'll step aside and let our resident experts wow you with their knowledge. Check out June's TFH for Octo articles written by many of the members here.
 
You should really check out the Ceph Care articles, they'll answer the majority of your husbandry questions.

For starters though, 50 gallons and up is best.
 
:welcome: sepulatian!

The best place to get started is the "ceph care articles" in the upper left of the navigation bar at the top of the page. In general, though, it sounds like the thank you're thinking of isn't really big enough for an octo. The main issue with cephs is that they produce a huge amount of waste for their size, and they are much more sensitive to water quality issues than most other animals, so the main requirement is that there is enough filtration to handle the waste and enough water volume so that if something goes wrong, there is time to react (with water changes, etc) before it becomes harmful or fatal.

In addition to these issues, though, the octos that make good pets get large enough that it's preferable to keep them in a 55-75 gallon tank. Most of the dwarf species are very shy, nocturnal, and very short-lived.
 
monty;93888 said:
:welcome: sepulatian!

The best place to get started is the "ceph care articles" in the upper left of the navigation bar at the top of the page. In general, though, it sounds like the thank you're thinking of isn't really big enough for an octo. The main issue with cephs is that they produce a huge amount of waste for their size, and they are much more sensitive to water quality issues than most other animals, so the main requirement is that there is enough filtration to handle the waste and enough water volume so that if something goes wrong, there is time to react (with water changes, etc) before it becomes harmful or fatal.

In addition to these issues, though, the octos that make good pets get large enough that it's preferable to keep them in a 55-75 gallon tank. Most of the dwarf species are very shy, nocturnal, and very short-lived.

Thanks for responding. I would provide more that 10X circulation and filtration. No octo, besides the short lived ones, will work in this tank? I will not subject any animal to inadequate means. If my tank is too small, then it is too small. It was just a thought. I have not set this tank up yet, just planning ahead.
 

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