species of octopuses

[abate]

I am looking to buy an octopus BUT I don't know what species to buy. I was first interested in the pygmy octopus because they are small and have a short life span (I was hoping to breed them). Unfortunately they were much smaller than I imagined and I was wondering if anyone knew a species octopus with similar characteristics. I need to know what to feed them and how big they can get (preferably around a 2 inch matle with 5 inch tenticles).
Also, will it live with other octopi of the same species well and what size tank they will they need?

after relizing a couple of mistakes in my research i have concluded that a pygmy octopus might fit my requirements but i'm not sure of it's size at matuity does anyone know what it may be

 

[Dustinh]

no such thing, i think atleast.

you'd have to get a juvenile octopus,

but transfer it to a 55gal+ tank...

i'd stick with a Joubini or Mercatoris.

 

[DWhatley]

Unfortunately your intentions are not viable. Start with some of the articles to get a better understanding about raising octopuses. The only species we have documented success in keeping together are sibbling mercatoris and one occassion of bimac sibblings. We have no successful records of mixing species and several of dismal failures.

Most of the common octopus species that meet your criteria are all small egged and the only occassions we know of for successfully raising these platonic young has been in large aquariums with a very tiny number of survivors, starting with a huge number of eggs. The longest any forum member has succeeded in keeping one alive has been 11 days, most loose all of them in less than 4 days.

There is more but limited success with some of the large egg species, the bimac being the most successful and closest to your size preferences. Finding them, however, is difficult and obtaining a fertilized female even more so.

As you seem to found, the mercatoris is the most successful octopus for tank breeding. They can be kept in multiples, in a smaller environment and will mate and brood successful young in an aquarium. In the last couple of years two of us have raised tank raised and tank bred mercs. Unfortunately, most mercatoris are minimally interactive and cannot be encouraged to any kind of diurnal schedule.