• 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.

Some questions.

That's pretty typical shape for cuttles, it is not a usual angle for taking photos, so it might be why it looks unusual to you. The middle of the W is the rounded end of the cuttlebone. You can see the same shape in my avatar.
 
Thank you all for your contributions. It is great to know that there is such a large variety of native cephalopods here. I will make a visit to the local saltwater fish farms during the mid term holidays before making a decision. My first bias will be to octopus species with brilliant blue on them. No blue rings, obviously.

My preliminary concerns though, remain the same, and if I can't meet these requirements, then I unfortunately cannot own one of these amazing creatures. Food and equipment are the two most foremost concerns.

My ability to buy RO DI equipment is questionable, they simply cost too much for someone my age. I will obtain readings for the water here and will test whenever necessary. Depending on the suitability of the readings, I will probably decide if it is wise to proceed into cephalopod keeping.

I can probably obtain a decent skimmer in excess of 50 gallons for a fair cost price, and that takes up an acceptable, but large part of my budget. Live rock will also cost on a similar scale, though I will not be obtaining a huge amount of it.

I have found squid (morbid, I know), shrimp and various shellfish to be readily available, but I have no such luck with regards to crab claws.

There is a large population of certain crab species that I will be able to access from time to time, one of them being matuta lunaris of a small size, which appears to be a less territorial keeper than the typical fiddler.

Thus, I would like to know how other cephalopod keepers keep their feeders alive and how often purchase for new crabs has to be made.

Please advise. :confused:
 
Variety is likely more important than live but you may need to feed live initially (some take dead right away, others never do). Over the summer, live do not do well shipping here and mine only get thawed raw frozen until it get cooler but you should have some kind of crab in the food mix, preferably weekly.

Do you plan to use ocean water or make saltwater from drinking water?
 
I will have to make saltwater out of drinking water; the seawater here I believe, is not clean due to high bacterial concentration.

So I can actually start out with weaning the octopus onto live food and could hypothetically be fine by providing a large variety of dead seafood? On this note, will a cuttlefish perhaps by any easier to feed or maintain in my predicament?

There are still a few of the larger supermarkets that I have yet to check out. Those could hold a larger variety of crabs and associated products. But certainly, it will be very inconvenient to plan weekly trips to these.
 
I am not the best person to try to analyze water but can tell you that the chlorine, ammonia (I believe the mixture is chloramine and is harder to remove than simple chlorine) and copper (this is where the dionizer - DI - come into play in a filtration system) need to be removed. This would be true of tap water anywhere but it is good to know that they treat it for bacteria.
 
DWhatley;189028 said:
I am not the best person to try to analyze water but can tell you that the chlorine, ammonia (I believe the mixture is chloramine and is harder to remove than simple chlorine) and copper (this is where the dionizer - DI - come into play in a filtration system) need to be removed. This would be true of tap water anywhere but it is good to know that they treat it for bacteria.

I was actually hoping the good quality of Singapore's water could be sufficient enough for maintaining Octopi in. This is a major obstacle if the water must be deionised and must undergo reverse osmosis.

Chloramine is actually removable by many of the water conditioners, as you should know; this is insufficient I presume?
 
Actually, chloramine is a problem for marine fish keepers and not easily removed. From the reading I have done on the subject (because of other similar questions - fortunately, my city does not use it at this time but many places in the US do) notes that the dechlorinators that mention removing chloramine only break down the ammonia-chlorine bond and remove the chlorine, leaving the ammonia. There is a nice layman's paragraph or two here that explains why it is used and why it is not toxic to humans (note that your tap water PH will be around 6 and the danger level is over 7, marine tanks are kept at 8.2+) and another discussing chemical removal here.
 
Alright. Looks like there is no getting past the RO DI phase; I will have to look for some cheaper prices for this equipment. Can you give me other details about this, how often before it needs replacement for instance?

Let's move on to other costly aspects. Filtration.

A skimmer rated for over 50 gallons and an average amount of live rock is sufficient I presume? Could easily cost me $200 here.
 
My personal favorite is a lower end unit made by Coralife but there is a sticky at the top of the tank talk forum discussing various models and sizes.

How often you need to change the filters and ultimately the RO filter depends upon your water. I change my DI and particulate more often than my carbon and RO because I have more particulates and minerals than in other parts of the country. I do recommend getting a clear canister for the particulate prefilter and the DI filter to be able to observe the filter material.
 
Quite a pity. Looking at this objectively, I don't think I am able to afford a octopus at the age of 16:hmm:; it is just far too expensive. Thanks for all the advice though! I will try again in a few years time!
 
Boats and marine fish tanks swallow a lot of money, even after they are established. In older threads we have often discussed how expensive this hobby is. Keeping animals that need extra care adds to the expense, so much so that I made a smiley for it :octocash:
 
My TDS runs about 34 ppm after a whole house 1 mircon (minimal) filter (I have not tested the water before coming into the house) and about 3 after filtration (should be 0 but is not). I suspect a lot depends upon what kind of solids cause the rating. Part of mine is obviously mud and whatever that might bring with it.
 

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