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new to hobby which octopus species to get?

john135

Pygmy Octopus
Registered
Joined
Nov 2, 2016
Messages
9
Location
canada
i have a 70 gallon tank and was wondering what are my limited options? i know that the blue ring is extremely poisonous and definitely out of my interest but i don't know anything else beyond that? also i know that most are nocturnal are there any small day time octopus's that could fit in my tank possibly? can you please list their life expectancy too? thank you!

i've been in the reef hobby for many years so water perimeters are not a issue for me however if there's anything else you guys can tell me that would be amazing! i also already know they're escape artists so i'll definitely be sealing my tank shut.
 
Hi John,

Welcome to our site!

Yes, such octopuses exist and are frequently kept. I see you live in Canada,
so if you have a good local fish store, you should check with them to see
which species are available.

Coming from the reef environment will make keeping an octopus easier.
You don't have to do a lot of water tests - you need mainly to be concerned about water temperature, salinity, pH, nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia.

We have a lot of articles on the site about keeping an octopus, and I think you'll find these useful.

Nancy
 
my 70 gallon is a biocube and i'm very limited to protein skimmers. i can only fit a tunze 9004 protein skimmer inside the back and was wondering how much of a load is a octopus? is 1 octopus more of a heavy load than a fully stocked mixed reef?
 
With a small protein skimmer, you will need to keep on top of large, regular water changes. In terms of waste, you can think of an octopus like a very large (8" ish) meat eating fish or a snowflake eel.

In Canada, you are most likely going to find an animal imported from the Philipines, most often some form of Abdopus and these will work well in your tank. We have seen a few Canadians able to source O. briareus but the tiny skimmer is a worry when it grows to full size (tank size is fine).

Here is a little list I created describing the most common animals we see for the home aquarium in the US. The, Posts with Info for New Octo Keepers thread includes additional links that may be helpful.
 

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