• 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.

Octopus Newbie

nanobuds

Hatchling
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Sep 9, 2009
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2
I am setting up a 10 gallon planted aquarium with mainley marco algaes, and i was going to use it as a seahorse tank, but i saw an octopus at my LFS the other day and became facinated. So i was wondering is there any type of ocropus species i can keep in a basic 10 gallon AGA long aquarium? i have done my research and know to have a tight lid on top with a strong liverock structure so they wont fall.

Thanks for the help!!

:smile:
 
Ten gallons is really too small for a dwarf unless you are willing to do daily water changes. You will also need some form of rock work, skimming and filtration. I have successfully kept a pair mercatoris in a 15 gallon tank with a Skilter skimmer/cascade filter, large pieces of LR and weekly 5 gallon water changes. Do note that an octo small enough and inactive enough to live in a small tank will be nocturnal (the Caribbean mercatoris - sometimes mislabeled joubini - is the most common dwarf you will find). Red night lighting will be necessary to observe most nocturnal species.

If you are planning on keeping dwarf seahorses in the tank at some point in the future, you may not use Live Rock but an octo will accept other denning substrate, including artificial. Unfortunately, without Live Rock, it will be extremely difficult to keep the water clean enough for the octopus to survive.

Read through some of the journals (FORUMS->Journals and Photos) with mercatoris in the title so have a better understanding of what to expect from this species.
 
ok cool thanks. i may think about it more and do some more research, but if i really want one then i guess i will set up a 20-30 gallon or so.
 

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