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Octopus Food

Hmmmm, well i would probably want to make sure they are mercs before i put 2 in a tank. Iv never had an octopus but iv seen enough national geographic octopus specials to know that they eat eachother... its news to me that mercs can live together. Thanks about food advice. On my beach there are shrimp year round and about 4 months of crabs. Thank you guys so much for all of the advice. Oh, iv been readin some octopi need heaters, some do not. What about mercs?if thats what im getting. My room is about 70 degrees right now, it will probably be 75-80 in the summer. If so, any reccomended heaters, filters, air pumps? (40 gal breeder tank) (36x18x16)
 
Some octopuses are cannibalistic and we (TONMO members) have never had a successful attempt at keeping any mixed species even with dividers in the tank. We know that in an aquarium briareus young must be separated by the age of 2 weeks. It has always been known that you can't keep any multiples in a tank but we have proven mercs and bimacs will live peacefully (and Mote has kept a pair of vulgaris) together if they are raised/found together (this assumes adequate food and space). I have kept 3 mercs in a 45 and two in a 15 and am confident I could have kept at least 4 in the 45.

I keep my merc tanks between 75 and 78 and have had them as low as 72 (the 45, lighting keeps the 15 warmer). 70 would be cold but you many not need a heater depending upon the heat from your electronics and lighting. I do heat two of my octo tanks in the winter (non-merc tanks but still Caribbean or Indo) and use a titanium heater in the sump but no heater in the tank. Cousteau found that the vulgaris they experimented with would burn themselves on their torches so I have avoided any kind of direct heat in the aquariums. I particularly like the titanium heaters with the remote heat controls over the old style glass units that can be effected by the change in water levels during water changes (in addition to the fact that they explode with the slightest weakness). I don't like anything with a remote probe because the probes tend to get dislodged and float as well as die long before whatever they are attached to.
 
Thanks for all of the advice. I have a few more questions. 1. how big do mercs get? 2. how big to bimacs get? and why is it that bimacs seem to be the favorite octopus species. Because im pretty sure that the pet store im getting my octo from gets bimacs semi often as well.
 
Keep in mind that individual animals vary a lot in the octopus world.

As adults mercs can have a mantle from 1.5" to 2" (Two inches is a large mercatoris) and the arms range frmo 1.5 to 2 times the mantle length (mantle is measured from just behind the eyes to the tip)

Bimacs (the common name for two very similar species, bimaculoides and bimaculatus - the bimaculoides being the most commonly found for aquariums) can have mantles as long large as 5" and an arm length of 14". These are cold water Pacific octopuses and are not found in the warmer Caribbean waters.

There IS an octopus that is often called a bimac because it also has two false eye spots (ocelli) that is a warm water species. It goes by two scientific names, filosus and hummelincki because an odd naming/identification history. It's mantle can be expected to grow to about 3" with an arm length of about a foot.
 
Hmmm, well the thing is, I expected that the mercs would get bigger... I kinda wanted a medium sized octopus. So now im starting to consider getting a bimac. But... from what I have read they are increasingly difficult to find. My lfs is the only place I would get a octo, as i dont trust mail order things. Downside of bimacs are that I would need an expensive cooler right? Costs are actualy the most important things with what octo im going to get... It will be a month or 2 before I can get a tank, let alone the other parts and the octo itself. It is killing me knowing that in a month or 2 i will have the money for the tank and then another 3 months till i can actualy get the octo. What is the actual cost of a bimac itself? at my lfs the merc is $59.99. Im guessing bimacs are 200+? Im starting to get extremely dissapointed. Im too young for a job, but i live in a wealthy neighborhood and made $545 in three days shoveling snow (all money was deposited to car/college fund so no acsess now). Now it stopped snowing, and it looks like I wont be mowing lawns for a while... So my octo may be even more delayed. How do you guys deal with it? I CANT WAIT 6 MONTHS. Im going to start selling stuff. hopefuly wont turn to prostitution (kidding)

edit* What are you oppinions on hummelincki? They are actualy the size that i was expecting out of a merc. My lfs said they were getting some pygmy octopi from the caribean. That means theres a 1/3 chance that it could be a hummelincki right?
 
It gets worse when you are older, no one will even buy your body :wink: (if I don't find a job soon I am auctioning off my grandson). The time passes quicker than you think and you should and can enjoy each step rather than being in a hurry to get to the prize. The mechanical parts and the DIY for the top are great for the project oriented. Putting in and arranging (and rearranging, and rearranging) the LR will be fun as well and then comes the first live stuff (your clean up crew) so there is a lot you can enjoy. Next time your LFS has an octo that they think is a bimac, see if you can find out where it was caught and take some GOOD photos and post them. Also, read through some of the journals about the octos kept by TONMO members. There is a lot to learn along the way so enjoy it all.

If you have a birthday coming up, I recommend hinting for Nancy and Colin's book, Cephalopods: Octopuses and Cuttlefish for the Home Aquarium
 
Thanks for the advice. Ill get the book... sadly bday is 10/31 so no luck there. Oh well that will be a small expense compaired to the other octo stuff.
 
Ok... Just got back from my lfs where i would be getting my octo. I asked what kind they were and the said common atlantic octopus... well i insisted on a genus and they said they would ask the supplier this sunday... i believe they are hummlecki from the description that the guy there said. ill get more info first before getting one. he also mentioned something about an artificial culture so i dont have to wait 3 months. Any info on that? And what size tank do hummelcki need? Temp needed? any other info you want to tell me? Oh btw, im not sure if it helps but they said they were from the florida or haiti.
 
the artificial stuff hes talking about is probably a chemical called stability, my LFS advised I use it as directed and my tank would be ready and i did exactly that....after a month everything still seemed fine and then the tank cycled and almost killed the fish..on Christmas eve heh poor D was trying to give me advice to save it =p. Your local fish store wants you to spend money..sooner rather than later. the sooner you get an octo for them the better and not so much for you. ride out the three months..work on your tanks water quality..add any types of sponges u plan to coinhabit..rearrange your rock 80 times till its perfect..the three months goes by real fast.

also if you dont run your tank for a little while, there could be things in your live rock you buy that will die in transferring to your tank like sponges, live sand can also do a mini cycle when you add it, even with stability being used your bio filter wont be strong enough to handle either scenario.
 
OMEGA :thumbsup:

Forget trying to cheat the cycle time. You can add bacteria but it won't survive, there is no food supply. You have to mature the tank.

In the scheme of things sometimes we forget to stress that your octopus will not live long (at least until we can establish breeding populations for the aquarium trade and can start with hatchlings). Being able to have a living octopus for only 4 to 9 months is something you have to accept when you enter the octopus keeping world. That being said, you need to plan for a tank that will keep numerous octos over time and it makes no sense not to establish a healthy on-going environment. It doesn't make sense for fish either but many are much more tollerant of water conditions. Building out the tank can be enjoyable, take the time to observe and learn what is happening.

The Caribbean octos are usually one of three species, briareus (we have seen a lot of these this year), hummelincki/filosus and mercatoris (dwarf). The ones from haiti have been mostly hummeilncki so you may have a good guess but the ones we are seeing from FL right now have been briareus and mercatoris. Temp should be anywhere from 75 to about 78. The hummelincki females seem to brood about two weeks after being placed in an aquarium and we don't know why (most octopuses only brood once and die shortly after the hatchlings are born, hummelinki hatchlings - like all other small egg species - have not been successfully raised in a home aquarium). One thought is temperature (with no evidence that this is the case). Possibly the warmer temp might delay this since they often seem to brood in the cooler months.

If you will click on the Forums link and then on Journals and Photos you will see a series of "List of Our Octopuses" followed by a year or series of years. All the lists name the species if known. The lists starting in 2008 includ links to the respective journals. Most journals have photos in addition to the keepers experience.

Hummelincki are my personal favorite.
 
lol thanks for thumbs up. i really like to think i learned from the experience. even if your octo lives through a small water quality fluctuation mr smith, it can do permanent damage(at least with fish I know it can alter their gills and have other bizarre side affects that help it to cope with the water quality). And that made me feel really bad for my fish that had to endure it(a nice baby yellow tang..who is doing quite well now). you have to keep in mind that your care taking for the species..somethings can happen that kill them you cant control..but we have to make sure we do control the things we can otherwise we shouldn't own them.
 
Thanks. I was suspicious of the instant culture stuff. Well I know nothing about baerus (cant spell) and very little about hummelcki. Any info anyone woul like to add? How big do bareus get? and one more question... if im reading correctly someone said that they lay eggs in captivity? How does that work if you only have 1 octo? Iv read that sometimes you will buy one that is already pregnant. what are the chamces of that?
 
if your getting the octo from a LFS you will know how big it is. Only a larger grown octo will have eggs/be pregnant. as for laying them in captivity I believe all females lay one batch of infertile eggs then die shortly after. Im not sure what kills them, if its a biological thing like removing a stinger from a bee or the fact that they stop taking food and are quite simply old. both octos you name will need a 75gallon i think..i could be wrong but probably at least 50. just search the species names in the search bar at the top of the page..care sheets are listed for almost every octo that is often kept as a pet, as well as journals which help a ton.
 
OK.... Well after a month of talking about getting an octo, and getting excited, my mom says, you cant get an octopus... I went to the fish store and they said for a hummelcki the biggest i would need is a 20gal. So now my parents say "you can get a 20 gal tank" So... instead of making it suffer, im not getting one. Thanks for all of your help anyway though. At least I learned a lot... thanks.
 

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