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Octopus care ---> Acclimation and Quarantine

Aquariuman

Cuttlefish
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Hello, I have been researching Abdopus aculeatus because I plan on getting a octopus from LiveAquaria.com and that species seems to be the norm for that company. Anywho, I was wondering when I get my octopus how am I supposed to acclimate it? Do I need to quarantine it since it is going to be the ONLY thing in the tank? I plan on definitely getting one but I have 2x75gallon tanks I plan on putting them in. they will be stacked one on top of the other. Is this okay? And Yes, I said them. I want to try and get two in hopes that 1) they will be the same species, 2) they will be male and female (two females will be fine IF they lay viable eggs), and 3) that they breed. I know this is a small egg species and that IF i do get the species that seems to be the norm for LA the hatchlings will probably NOT survive. I am determined to be the FIRST and DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. I plan on posting EVERY NIGHT on this forum, having 24/7 hour surveillance on the Octos (using webcams), Keeping a journal (on here and on laptop), and researching thoroughly before attempting any of this. I WILL SUCCEED. FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION! Now, I know I shouldn't talk like this because the chances are VERY slim that this will succeed, but "WITH GOD'S HELP ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!" I plan on becoming a Marine Biologist. I am in college and have a marine biology class taught by an ACTUAL marine biologist. I know I can do this. I pledge I will do EVERYTHING HUMANLY POSSIBLE TO SUCCEED. I will follow the 4 guidelines I set for this project. I just need your support. Thanks for reading this, taking the time to answer my questions, and believing in me and giving me support.
 
IMO no quarantine and i do a quick drip acclimation and feeding usually in a critter keeper or a bucket. a few times water quality has been poor enough that i didn't even acclimate,l usually due to an inking. One time the water showed up with the exact specs as my tank so again no drip just i just floated him to acclimate the temp.
 
Octopus Care ---> Tank Choice

If I keep two 75 gallon tanks on a metal stand on top of each other, would this be safe for 2 octos if I kept one on top and one on bottom in each tank? If they did happen to be male and female of the same species would I be able to attempt mating in my 125 gallon? I might also have frags in that tank but I'd be willing to sacrifice them for baby octos any day. :razz:
 
The only cases of negative interaction has been when two octos were attempted in the same tank with a divider. With one tank above the other, I don't think either will be aware of the other at all.

I've had no problems with them "seeing" each other and have observed what I can only interpret as a mating dance even between different species when the tanks have been across the room. With my one attempt at breeding O. briareus, I think (only because no one got hurt during the two breeding introductions) that visual observation was positive.

As food for thought, you might consider attempting a species that has a better chance of survival as your first endeavor. We will support you of course but walking before running applies.
 
DWhatley;192561 said:
As food for thought, you might consider attempting a species that has a better chance of survival as your first endeavor. We will support you of course but walking before running applies.

I know but I don't know and don't believe there is any place I can get octopi that actually KNOWS what species they have.
 
There are a few, very few (usually collectors that have learned to identify the species they find), that do well with ID and absolutely none with sexing. However, Octopus briareus is usually identifiable, is large egged and is a warm water species from the Caribbean. These are not easy to raise but a few have survived. Octopus mercatoris (usually listed as a Caribbean dwarf or O. joubini) is another and the easiest for hatchling success outside of the cold water O. bimaculoides. The advantage of the mercs over other species (if you can find them, of course) is that if they are found together, they are likely to successfully live together without predation and will breed without having to try to mate them. Unfortunately, we have not seen many O. mercatoris in the last couple of years but O. briareus seem to be plentiful this year.
 
DWhatley;192602 said:
There are a few, very few (usually collectors that have learned to identify the species they find), that do well with ID and absolutely none with sexing. However, Octopus briareus is usually identifiable, is large egged and is a warm water species from the Caribbean. These are not easy to raise but a few have survived. Octopus mercatoris (usually listed as a Caribbean dwarf or O. joubini) is another and the easiest for hatchling success outside of the cold water O. bimaculoides. The advantage of the mercs over other species (if you can find them, of course) is that if they are found together, they are likely to successfully live together without predation and will breed without having to try to mate them. Unfortunately, we have not seen many O. mercatoris in the last couple of years but O. briareus seem to be plentiful this year.

Who sells these octopi? Also, do small egg species lay more eggs than large egg species?
 
We have a stickied thread in the Octopus sources and reviews thread titled Octopus Availability. When members spot an octopus for sale, the will often record the find here.

Small egg species lay many more eggs than large egg species, however, the large egg species lay between 100 and 1,000 eggs. Just getting a couple of survivors is a challenge with the large egg species and there are plenty to work with. Small egg species usually lay 10x or better these numbers.
 
I can see some truth in that. I mean, the source of that part of the website is taken from Wikipedia... so put as much value in it as you will, but that being said, larval octopods would likely feed on other larval animals in the plankton.
Anyone else? Preferably with experience raising octopuses? :biggrin2:
 
The page is a combination of pages with copied content. Over all it makes a decent overview but not particularly helpful when actually dealing with hatchlings. There are several stickies at the top of the Raising octopuses from Eggs subforum that reference abstracts (and full text where available) to some of the actual studies that are behind the general info. The diet of the two (possibly 3 now) small egg species that have been taken to benthic (full life cycle not achieved in 2, not sure about the 3rd) did include live crab zoea but, as far as I remember, all were open water flow through tanks. We THINK food is the primary problem but we really don't know. There is some conjecture that their copper based blood needs a kick start with the natural copper found in some of these animals but there are other guesses and no clear answers. I have attempted to spawn urchins (not with the greatest success as the males can sometimes be coaxed but the females are unreliable) and placed overfed peppermint shrimp inside a breeder net to encourage spawning (somewhat better success) for the large egg species but can't say it helped feed them.
 

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