OCTOPUS IN LARGE REEF TANK??? W/EELS+SHARKS+THE WORKS

[Nancy]

A couple more comments on what has been posted:

The lifespan of a bimac is one to one and a half years. Over the last two years, several of our bimac keepers have kept a bimac for 10 months. These were wild caught, so were a little older when they arrived. We don't yet know how long the tank raised ones will live. Longer, we hope.

They don't come from tropical waters, so they need a lower temperature than most reef tanks. Anything above 75 degrees is believed to shorten lifespan.

Ideally, they should be kept in a home aquarium at 65 to 72 degrees.
They need full ocean salinity - sg 1.026. Ammonia and nitrites should be 0, they can tolerate some nitrates. For more information, see the Bimac Care Sheet.
Cephalopod Care

Nancy

 

[joel_ang]

15cm is just the size of its head, with its tentacles, it would reach close to a meter from the tip of the mantle to the tentacles, plus cephalotoxin seems to kill other animals pretty quickly. Thats enough to take on a 16 inch eel.

In the event that the octo is attacked by the eels or the shark, its likely the ink will be directed at the attacker. The ink which is made of mucous and pigmentation may not diffuse quickly and do some damage to the atttacker. If the octo just inks out of fright ( when you scare it), it won't really affect the other creatures.

 

[Cephkid]

Inking BAD for mr legs. Eels BAD for mr legs. Personally, I doubt that the octo has a 6" size head, lol. Eels probably wont be as bad off when it comes to ink and cephtoxin(unless it's a bluering ) as other animals, since octos are they're natural prey. Sharks, too. I recently saw a saddening piece of footage of a poor o. briareus being killed by a shark despite a cloud of ink- the shark swam right through like it was nothing. They (those EVIL filmmakers :x ) also showed another octo of the same species nearly torn to pieces by an eel. ( )

 

[hmlmike]

awiiight....



thanks to all for your help and advice....

I know that contrary to my initial appearance i do care for the little octo as well, I simply wanted a collection of unique and exotic species. Jim thinks the same, especially since his current stash is only month or two old and 2" in size! He does think however that the octo could be quite happy in algae filter with all the little pods that live in sand and stuff, if i could wourk out the sealing aspect anyway... and try him in reef tank in 2-3 months... because he should grow real fast eating all day.

Again, i cant resist having one, and my algae filter is like a 20 gal refugium with live sand and timed lighting and all, so he should be happy.

One final question, Jim said to be careful because if octo gets too big, he'll eat the eels!!! How does that make sense? If he has that ability and eels are naturally aware, then why not respect with each other like between them and shark? If all are relatively same size? Plus all are really overfed in my opinion...

THanks again i should get him tomm or day after, so ill stay in touch,
michael

 

[rrtanton]

Good on you for going for the refugium...he'll be happy there, especially if you have a few rocks for him to hide in.

About the him eating eels/eels eating him thing:

Well...I'm going a bit out on a limb to say this, because I'm not the professional cephalopod naturalist that some of us are... ...but think of it this way:



To the best of my knowledge, octos are amongst the most voracious predators in the sea and will eat ANYTHING they think they can. There is a famous tale from "The Octopus Show," a nice octo documentary, that tells of a major public aquarium's experience with their giant pacific octopus. To further simulate a natural ecosystem they had decided to place the GPO in their gargantuan reef tank, complete with sharks and other such things, but were concerned for his survival amongst those predators. Shortly thereafter, fish, including sharks, began disappearing from the tank overnight. To figure out the problem, the aquarium sent a diver into the tank with a camera to solve the mystery. The documentary presents the incredible footage he caught of the GPO taking down a shark roughly equal to his size.

I don't know why there's a difference between the way the eels and sharks treat one another vs. how the octo is likely to. Perhaps the eels and sharks aren't as capable of eating one another as the octo is. I think that octopus is more generally considered a "menu item" by a shark than eel, unless the octo's big enough to turn the tables. Octos are terribly curious creatures, too, so perhaps that plays a role--they're always trying to figure out what's edible and what's not.

Whatever the reasons (again, I'm sure someone here has a much more informed answer) the relative behavior of these creatures IS indeed quite different. Consider that you're dealing with vertebrate fish vs. a spineless "snail" equipped with jet propulsion, smokescreens, highly advanced eyes, active camoflague, venom, and high intelligence. They're about as alien to each other as they can be.

 

[joel_ang]

6inches when full grown i meant

Cephs eat a large variety of stuff, I put a zebra lionfish in the tank with my cuttle thinking it would be able to fend for itself being the same size as the cuttle and having those venemous spines. Was terribly mistaken, they went well with each other or about 2 weeks i think, i then noticed the cuttle looking at the lion. I thought nothing of it, took a nap, woke up to find lionfish reduced to nothing but tail...

Cephs particulary octos are very intelligent and can think of ways to figure out problems. Once the octo gets larger than the eels and the sharks, they will beseen as nothing more than a source of food to the octo.

The eel can hide in the rocks or swim away when it feels threatened but octos have 8 long muscular boneless arms which can slip thru the tiniest of spaces. Octopuses can jet about pretty fast when they want to (though not for long distances) and catch up with eels.All it takes is one sucker on a eel and its a gonner. Chances are the eels and the shark won't last very long when that octo gets big.

 

[Cephkid]

Just so you know, dont watch the National Geographic special "Reef Warriors". (Well, except the cuttle part, you can see that- that was cool. :P ) That is, unless you LIKE seeing things eat octos. Sure a couple on the show survive, and you do get to see a pretty neat clip of an octo squeezin into a bottle, but mostly, the scenes with octos include seein octo guts.

 

[Nancy]

So has your bimac arrived yet? Please keep us posted about him, and if you have any questions about feeding and care, don't hesitate to ask them here.

Nancy

 

[Andy Lister]

The shark and the eels wouldn't be as agressive towards each other as they would not naturally eat each other. I have a 160cm bamboo shark at the moment with some blacktips and a bonnet head... lovely tank!

Anyway, good luck. People here are not trying to make you feel bad about your ideas, just wanting you to see every side of the argument. Octo's are a great pet to have but you will only get the most from them if you can interact with them, and in this set up you will not be able to.

I hope all works out well for you.

~Andy

 

[Armstrong]

I agree that octopuses are very intelligent, and usually...if the octopus is much bigger than an eel or shark, it just might win. This doesn't ALWAYS happen though. And even though an octopus is able to change color, squirt ink, propel themselves through water, and slip into small spaces doesnt mean they can out-fight or escape an eel or shark with all those different techniques.
I always saw on TV octopuses always trying to escape eels or sharks, and when it blended in with the surroudnings, the eels and sharks just ate it anyways because they have an advanced sense of smell. The ink doesnt do any good because usually the eels or sharks just rush through the ink like its nothing. Ink does help, but in most cases...with its enemies...it doesnt have such an awesome effect as anyone think it might. Octopuses are also quick considering jet propulsion, but usually...the larger and bigger the octopusm the less energy it has and the slower it moves. If you watch giant pacific octopus on TV...they move fairly slow in the water. Even scuba divers can swim with the giant octopuses easily with no problem and then the octopus will soon run out of energy and settle to the bottom.