• 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.

New Tank Idea :)

Cephdoc

Vampyroteuthis
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Nov 19, 2010
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Hello all! Cephdoc here, i just joined the forum! Ive been interested in this for a long time and i decided its finally time to get started after long years of keeping saltwater tanks. Here is my concern and question. Other than Dwarf Octopus (Species name???? forgot), what other species of octopus could i house in a biocube im thinking about purchasing? It will be the 29 gallon setup, nothing too special. Didnt want anything big, what modifications besides escape proofing it will need to be done if anything at all? Please be concise and detailed in responses, because it will help me alot! I have alot more questions but we will keep this short and sweet to begin with? Current flow reduced? Other modifications? Etc...
Thanks :smile:
 
O.Mercatoris is the only species suitable for a biocube. however Mercs are highly noctrural. if there are any lights on in the tank or the room they will not come out. I had a pair of them for several months and I never saw them. i only knew they were alive because there food supply was still dwindling.
 
Do you think if you had to do it over would you have downsized to a smaller tank with alittle less live rock or a different landscape of live rock? Maybe not so tall, say a 30 gallon? I enjoyed reading about them though thank you very much!! The place you got them... can you still have them ordered from the supplier?
 
Hmm, good question. I like the tank and size but yes I would rearange the rock for better viewing, more spaces and gaps, not so klumped together like I had it. The way I had iy the octopuses coudl hide in places I could not see.

If you look here under our Journals section at the top you will see threads labeled list of octopuses by year you can browse through those to read about Mercatoris and other species people are keeping.
 
Thanks! I am having a hard time deciding on what to do exactly. Im confident my proposals can be done. The larger tank does interest me more, but im in a tough position because im going to college full time and a job full time. Time and money are alittle of a issue. More time than money at this point, but i do have expenses like college tuition. And i wasnt looking at spending thousands of dollars on a setup for 2-3 cuttles or 1 octopus. Thats a reason why i thought of the idea of the biocube. I definatly want to make this happen and you guys are helping a huge amount so keep laying it on me. I have a question again. Is it difficult to obtain these species when the time comes. Thats something i worry about the most..
:frown:
 
The availability of O.mercatoris comes and goes. Some years we see so many for sale that sellers are almost giving them away, other years there is a paucity and we only see a couple. The links that CaptFish gave you have a list of all the animals journaled here, and often show the name of the supplier. The species name is a link to the journal for that specific animal. The lists should also give you some feel for when they have been most often available. The majority come as hitch hikers on live rock and are found and offered by LR aquaculturists or they are found in crab traps during the springish side of stone crab season and are sold to local aquarium fish suppliers. Lastly, mercs often show up on eBay. If you will subscribe to our availability threads (octopus, cuttlefish)you can receive an email anytime someone posts a notice of availability.
 
Thanks dwhatley! Im new to all of this, so i just wanted to dip my feet right away, and hopefully that will make things easier on the site as i continue to get info from everyone who wants to comment! :smile: This is my 1st time doing anything like this on a website forum.
 
Be SURE to mention confusion on suggested links as most responders (no exclusion of the writer) have forgotten they had to learn navigation and we fail to spot a "technical difficulty". Once you find your way around you will be guilty of the same oversites :biggrin2: but for now just make it clear if you can't find something or can't do something (posting photos is often in the do group of unknowns). The bright blue (assuming you have not altered the defaults on your browser) will be links to the topic in blue and most of us fail to explain that and just assume it is clear.
 
What are your feelings on the biocube to house a merc? Or a smaller species. Also i have considered a cuttlefish. You can see my other post in cuttlefish care :smile: Let me know what you know and any other advice! Thanks
 
Mercs are pretty easy to care for BUT I would worry about air exchange in a cube without sump. Octopuses require more oxygen than their counter sized fish and a biocube has no form of cascading or disrupted water to "exhale" the CO2 and exchange it for air. Adding a heafty airstone to the filter chamber might help resolve this problem but I have not tried it (and it might make a mess with salt creep depending on your top). The other issue with the all-in-ones is the nice, dark black box at the back. It is just the home a merc would seek and forum members have had several to crawl into them. With the mercs this is not realy a major problem but finding them and convincing them live in the rock can be frustrating.

My best denning substrate has been a cluster of mantle sized giant purple barnacles (for this species only, none of the others have given the barnacles a second look). If you can place a cluster into the LR about a third of the way up the water column, it seems to be the ideal position and may allow you to view the animal frequently. As CaptFish mentions, the are often enter a tank and are not seen again even though evidence shows they are alive. I have had better luck than most with this but I am a night owl. Also, I leave a red light on the tank 24/7 and have no white light other than ambient.

I have kept them in both hex 15 and hex 45 with a small sump and prefer the 15 but it is set up with a skelter skimmer/filter combo that gives a lot of air exchange and at least a little skimming (I am not recommending the brand and would try a CPR if only it would fit the tank). On the 15, weekly water changes in LARGE proportional quantities are manditory (I change 5 gallons each week when there is an octo in residence).
 

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