• 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 journey into 8 legged wonders

pldrummerboy

Hatchling
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Jun 3, 2012
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Hello everyone, first time caller, long time listener.

So, here we go! I am a experienced saltwater aquarist with about 15 years under my belt. I was at one of my LFS about two weeks ago when I saw they had 3 octopus in a display tank. I have always wanted to dive into the hobby and study of cepholapods but never been game enough to. I felt sorry for these octos as they didn't look very well. I had a 30gal tank at home ready to go, I just sold a mantis shrimp that I had in there for about 2 years, so I decided to take the plunge. I asked the guy at the shop what species it was and his answer was "it's a local cought species. Living in Sydney Australia, I did a bit of research on native species to where I live. Most likely I have a "common Sydney octopus" (octopus tetricus) and it must be a juvenile as this species gets around the 80cm arm span size. He/she has been in my tank for around 2 weeks & in that time has dramatically improved in appearance and activity since being brought from the LFS, eats really well, is very curious about everything etc.....

I've been reading through these threads and I must say, I'm glad I joined up! There is a plethora of knowledge!
 
Welcome and thanks for joining!

Have you seen this article: Recommended Tank Sizes - 30 gallons seems far too small for a ceph with an 80cm span.

I don't keep a tank personally but I've seen enough posts (and trolls) on this topic to call it out. At the very least we might help someone else who is reading and thinking of getting a ceph to think twice before putting anything but a dwarf in a small tank.
 
tonmo;189841 said:
Welcome and thanks for joining!

Have you seen this article: Recommended Tank Sizes - 30 gallons seems far too small for a ceph with an 80cm span.

I don't keep a tank personally but I've seen enough posts (and trolls) on this topic to call it out. At the very least we might help someone else who is reading and thinking of getting a ceph to think twice before putting anything but a dwarf in a small tank.

Hi tonmo,

I am aware that a 30gal tank is far too small for a ceph with a 80cm arm span. Currently, he/she is quite small, I would say its head ( not sure of correct term yet) is about the size of a grape & arm span is around 4-5 inches. My plan is to donate he/she to the local aquarium once it out grows this tank. That being said, if I really enjoy this experience, I would look into a dwarf species of octopus (not blue ring) if they are obtainable that is.
 
I see, thanks - if you haven't yet tee'd up the local aquarium I recommend you start so they're ready!

A dwarf species would be neat but I believe they are hard to come by -- but our resident experts would know more. Any opportunity to upgrade your tank? :sly:
 
:welcome: I'll be back with some local (as in Australia, not as really local) cross references for you and a couple of people you can PM to ask how their octos did (the ones I am thinking about have not updated their journals in some time).

If you don't mind, please edit your profile and add your location (just AU would help but including the city would be even better). Unfortunately, the default is to not display a location and that is often a confusion with anyone not located in the US.

I would LOVE to keep a gloomy! One member (Haggs) has them visit a near by lagoon of sorts and has documented several of them when the tides and weather don't fill it and chase them away.

I'll be back in a few minutes with some direct TONMO references on your species. Please consider starting a journal with this little guy. We have no journaling rules but are suckers for a lot of pictures and any interesting observations you might make. Octo keeping is not exactly main stream so the more shared (for better or worse) the better we begin to understand best keeping practices.
 
This should get you started on posts for the Gloomy. Unfortunately, we don't have much on other possible aquarium species. To send a private message to any member click on their name in a post and select Private Message or Email (not all have member accessable email).

JuggleMatt (Jervis Bay) on going observation of a group:Octopus living in groups and more stuff

Haggs (Coffs Harbor)2012 in situ: A Gloomy start to 2012

Haggs (Coffs Harbo)2009 in situ: another local - Situ Two(O.gibbsi)

Haggs (Coffs Harbor)2008 in situ: meeting a local Situ(O-gibbsi-or-O-tetricus)

Nigal@Matthews (Sydney) Wild Caught O. tetricus the Gloomy Octopus from Sydney

alianda1 (Sydney) Wild Caught New Octo owner (thought to be Callistoctopus aspilosomatis - see mucktopus' post)

Can you tell I am excited to see how this one does? It is much smaller than the others posted and I am hoping you will keep us updated regularly. Perhaps I might even have the opportunity to visit the little guy, depending on where you are and how you feel about foreign strangers poping in in October :biggrin2:
 
Hey guys thanks for all the helpful info. I haven't had Internet for the past few weeks(my computer died) unfortuneately, my octopus was donated to the local aquarium today. The only reason was that he was already out growing his tank! I am planing on setting up a 6x2x2 aquarium in the next few months. When this is all up & ready, I will endeavor to try & get another octo for this tank. My short time keeping an octopus has been amazing! I love these creatures, so much to learn & discover about them. I will try and post some photos tonight of the little guy.
Pete.
 

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