• 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.

Octo, Cuttle, Eel and Shark

Octohk

Blue Ring
Registered
Joined
Jun 16, 2009
Messages
33
UPDATE- DECEMBER 1 2009

Nelly is still going strong (about 8 months old now). She and the Eel are still "best friends". The Baboo was removed from the tank as it became aggressive. The Cuttle and Nelly never bothered each other. The Cuttle died a few months ago after laying eggs for over 2 months continuously. Just added a new baby cuttle to the tank 2 weeks ago. So far so good.

I guess Nelly is now getting old, but she still seems to be going strong (and is very very active all day)

P.S. I have never covered my tank at all and Nelly has never tried to escape. Its been 8 months.
----------------------------------

Hi All,

I have an 600 Litres tank that I started about 8 months ago.

I have an Octo (Octopus aculeatus I think), Cuttle, Ribbon Eel, Snowflake Moray, Large and Small fish and a Bamboo Shark.

I just wanted to share my experiences with everyone.

I got Octo Nelly (my son named her) about a month ago. She has been incredibly friendly and social. She seems to like hanging out (sleeping) with the Ribbon Eel which I found quite strange. She has started feeding by hand a few days ago and I am able to touch her now.

I also have (had) two Cuttles. One died a week ago (and then Nelly ate him) and the other just laid about 20 eggs (big surprise). I guess I bought adults and will have babies soon.

The Snowflake Moray seems to do his own thing as does the shark.

Most interestingly, my tank is not Octo proof (AT ALL). She seems to be perfectly happy not escaping. I put in about 20 shrimp a week and small fish to feed all.

I am hand feeding the eels, Shark and Nelly. They also hunt the shrimp and fish I add.


I am having some water quality issues, but that is another story.

I just wanted to know if anyone else has a similar setup.

I live in Hong Kong and have very easy access to most any species of fish, cephs, etc.

I am quite new at this but have become very interested.
 
I am glad your tank is working out, I thought cephs were usually kept in Species only tanks even if you have a 160 gallon/600 liter tank. I am shocked that it is working for you and I am happy nothing is getting hurt.
 
I was scared when I read the title... and now I'm terrified. :alarm: You should NOT, 100% NOT have ANY type of shark in a 160 gallon tank!!!! Let alone all of those animals. It has been well noted that octopuses will eat sharks etc, however aculeatus is most suited to being with other animals. Either way, a SHARK in a 160 gallon tank :banghead:. I hope this is a small shark and that you're planning on upgrading to a VERY large tank soon. Also, two cephs in one tank (apart from cuttlefish) is a no no.
 
I saw a horrific video on youtube were someone put an Octopus in a tank with a Snowflake Eel I realy hope nothing like that happens to you.
I did not want to link it on here if you want to see it type into youtube Octopus Vs Eel
 
I agree TDean, that video really just makes my stomach sick. I have seen worse, but really would not want to see that happen to my octopus, let alone any.:mad:
 
Octo, Cuttle, Eel and Shark

L8 2 RISE;138030 said:
I was scared when I read the title... and now I'm terrified. :alarm: You should NOT, 100% NOT have ANY type of shark in a 160 gallon tank!!!! Let alone all of those animals. It has been well noted that octopuses will eat sharks etc, however aculeatus is most suited to being with other animals. Either way, a SHARK in a 160 gallon tank :banghead:. I hope this is a small shark and that you're planning on upgrading to a VERY large tank soon. Also, two cephs in one tank (apart from cuttlefish) is a no no.

Hi all, just to clarify. The Snowflake is really small as is the Shark (maybe 7inches long) I appreciate all the feedback. At this point everyone seems quite happy together. Octo does not seem to bother anyone (well fed) and the Shark is also very laid back. I will keep everyone posted on how this turns out. I still think it is weird that Octo and the Ribbon sleep together in the same cave most of the time.

My Cuttle will only be around for another week I guess (since she has now laid over 30 eggs). I heard that they die after, correct?
 
First, please note my personal octopuses are kept in species only tanks and I have no desire to try mixing preditors. That being said, I appreciate members who decide to expeiment as long as they know the eating habits of the critters they mix and post the results even if the mix fails.

We have (or had since we have not seen Dom around for awhile) an experienced reefer who had good luck keeping an octo with a ribbon eel. The bamboo is not likely to hurt the octo (I suspect the opposite is true as well since it is too large for the octo to eat and not a threat - L8_2_Rise - the bamboo is closer to a catfish than the sharks you are thinking of and an aculeatus is nothing like a GPO) but the snowflake may be a problem and likely falls into Thale's "It is OK until it is not" category.

Do you know what kind of cuttles you have? The only ones we see here (US) are the small bendensis and they can mate and lay eggs multiple times over a roughly 18 month lifespan. Most of the larger ones seem to mate, lay eggs and then die within a couple of days. If the eggs hatch in the same tank as your preditor stew, you will not likely see them though as everything you have mentioned will eat the young at the hatching. If you wish to try to raise them, you will need to remove the eggs and read some of the cuttlefish forums on keeping and feeding the new hatched young. If you have a larger species, IT is likely to be a threat to the octopus if it is still eating.
 
dwhatley;138062 said:
First, please note my personal octopuses are kept in species only tanks and I have no desire to try mixing preditors. That being said, I appreciate members who decide to expeiment as long as they know the eating habits of the critters they mix and post the results even if the mix fails.

We have (or had since we have not seen Dom around for awhile) an experienced reefer who had good luck keeping an octo with a ribbon eel. The bamboo is not likely to hurt the octo (I suspect the opposite is true as well since it is too large for the octo to eat and not a threat - L8_2_Rise - the bamboo is closer to a catfish than the sharks you are thinking of and an aculeatus is nothing like a GPO) but the snowflake may be a problem and likely falls into Thale's "It is OK until it is not" category.

Do you know what kind of cuttles you have? The only ones we see here (US) are the small bendensis and they can mate and lay eggs multiple times over a roughly 18 month lifespan. Most of the larger ones seem to mate, lay eggs and then die within a couple of days. If the eggs hatch in the same tank as your preditor stew, you will not likely see them though as everything you have mentioned will eat the young at the hatching. If you wish to try to raise them, you will need to remove the eggs and read some of the cuttlefish forums on keeping and feeding the new hatched young. If you have a larger species, IT is likely to be a threat to the octopus if it is still eating.

Thanks for the info. My Cuttle is a Bandensis as you suggest. I have collected all the eggs already and put them in a breeder in the main tank for now. If they begin to grow in size I will move them to an isolated tank or larger breeder in the main tank. I have read about rearing them (was just not expecting any eggs at all).

For the Snowflake, I did watch the videos and agree he may become problematic. I need to observe and see.

My theory is that if I keep the tank well stocked with shrimp and small fish no one will bother the others. So far it is working. i add about 15 fish and 20 shrimps a week.
 
dwhatley;138062 said:
First, please note my personal octopuses are kept in species only tanks and I have no desire to try mixing preditors. That being said, I appreciate members who decide to expeiment as long as they know the eating habits of the critters they mix and post the results even if the mix fails.

We have (or had since we have not seen Dom around for awhile) an experienced reefer who had good luck keeping an octo with a ribbon eel. The bamboo is not likely to hurt the octo (I suspect the opposite is true as well since it is too large for the octo to eat and not a threat - L8_2_Rise - the bamboo is closer to a catfish than the sharks you are thinking of and an aculeatus is nothing like a GPO) but the snowflake may be a problem and likely falls into Thale's "It is OK until it is not" category.

Do you know what kind of cuttles you have? The only ones we see here (US) are the small bendensis and they can mate and lay eggs multiple times over a roughly 18 month lifespan. Most of the larger ones seem to mate, lay eggs and then die within a couple of days. If the eggs hatch in the same tank as your preditor stew, you will not likely see them though as everything you have mentioned will eat the young at the hatching. If you wish to try to raise them, you will need to remove the eggs and read some of the cuttlefish forums on keeping and feeding the new hatched young. If you have a larger species, IT is likely to be a threat to the octopus if it is still eating.

No, I know what type of shark I was thinking of, and it definetly SHOULD NOT be in a 160 gallon. You (Octohk) realize that this seven inch shark can grow 12 inches a year to be 3.5-4 feet long. aka half the legnth of your tank and who knows how many times as long as it's width. It really doesn't matter either way what aculeatus's relation to GPO's is, a 7 inch fish (no matter what type) is good enough food for any octo, however you're best bet would be trying it with an aculeatus.
 
Videos of Elly and Tank

For those interested, I have posted a couple of videos.

My Tank

Elly following me around while I film

Octohk;138024 said:
Hi All,

I have an 600 Litres tank that I started about 8 months ago.

I have an Octo (Octopus aculeatus I think), Cuttle, Ribbon Eel, Snowflake Moray, Large and Small fish and a Bamboo Shark.

I just wanted to share my experiences with everyone.

I got Octo Nelly (my son named her) about a month ago. She has been incredibly friendly and social. She seems to like hanging out (sleeping) with the Ribbon Eel which I found quite strange. She has started feeding by hand a few days ago and I am able to touch her now.

I also have (had) two Cuttles. One died a week ago (and then Nelly ate him) and the other just laid about 20 eggs (big surprise). I guess I bought adults and will have babies soon.

The Snowflake Moray seems to do his own thing as does the shark.

Most interestingly, my tank is not Octo proof (AT ALL). She seems to be perfectly happy not escaping. I put in about 20 shrimp a week and small fish to feed all.

I am hand feeding the eels, Shark and Nelly. They also hunt the shrimp and fish I add.


I am having some water quality issues, but that is another story.

I just wanted to know if anyone else has a similar setup.

I live in Hong Kong and have very easy access to most any species of fish, cephs, etc.

I am quite new at this but have become very interested.
 
If I am not mistaken, Elly is male. I am pretty sure I saw enlarged suckers and a darker and curled tip on the third arm (clockwise to the right).

I expect you understand that you are playing with fire with this tank's occupants and success will be a lot of luck and your dilligent attention to feeding, water quality and observing inappropriate attention of one critter to another. The mix is definitely dangerous but marine aquarium keeping is not a science and without experimentations AND reporting - the good, the bad and the ugly - we can't grow the knowledge. If you are successful, and your newness to the hobby concerns me, you will also have to move some of the animals (as L8_2_Rise mentions) as they out grow the environment. My oldest critter is a green serpent star that was continually loosing arms to who knows what (it started with a large hermit that chomped off an arm and then went for a second before we could separate them but he would loose arms after being put into a hermit free tank). Greens are notorious for becoming agressive and very large but I was convinced there were two different species since Mr. Green Jeans seemed so frail and stayed small. After about 4 years of being put into different environments for his own safety, he finally seemed to thrive in with my octopuses and then magically started to grow AND began harassing the resident octo for its food. Needless to say, he was once again moved and now has his own tank as he continues to look more and more like the huge ones that are problematic for most other critters. Our concerns about his aggressiveness were confirmed when I put a small nudibranch into the tank and had to wrestle it away from him less than a minute later. You have a lot more to watch than one frail serpent and I hope you will continue to journal observations of interaction, your methods of handling behavior changes and mortality of the mix.
 
Hi All

Quick update. The Snowflake eel became quite aggressive and had to move her out of the tank, they are definitely NOT compatible with Octos (interesting however is the Cuddle was not bothered at all by the Snowflake and they spent most of their time side by side, however the Snowflake started chasing the Octo). Elly (Octo), the Shark and Ribbon eel are all getting along fine. No one is bothering the cuddle at all.

The Ribbon eel and Elly seem to really like to interact together (play sort of). i will post a video soon of them arguing over who lives in a particular cave. Elly is very gentle with the ribbon and they continue to sleep in the same cave most nights (strange).
 

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