- Joined
- Feb 23, 2011
- Messages
- 8
SabrinaR;173000 said:I am very willing to help you out. As far as getting a bigger tank I maybe able to help you out with that as well. Although a new tank would be better, If you talk to a few of the local fish stores (LFS) you can almost always get them to donate a used 55 gallon or 75 gallon tank. Also craigslist is another good place to look. You can find people who are trying to get out of the hobby and getting rid of theirs for cheap. Also one other thing to be very careful of is copper. If your tank has ever been used for freshwater fish then copper is of great concern. Copper can kill octopus very quickly and is to be avoided at all cost.
The water that I get is collected by NOAH and filtered then stored in a storage tank in Galveston. I take three (3) 15 gallon water storage containers to Galveston and pick up the water then bring it back home. The salinity is normally a little low so I need to add a bit of salt (maybe a cup, if that) to bring it up. Its ready in about 30 min. as there isnt a lot of salt to mix.
Being that the tank is a fresh set up you need to make sure that there is as much live bacteria added to the tank as possible. The sand needs to be precycled at least some (5lbs at least) precycled sand should be added to your current sand, and precured live rock is needed as well. I can help you acquire these things as well. Also starting with natural sea water will help with this. If you can get the tank up and running before spring break that will help your cause greatly as it will give the tank time to cycle if it has one using the above method (adding already cycled bacteria).
Please let me know if I can be of assistance. The sooner you get on this the better your results will be for your new octopus.
One last thing, do you have a protein skimmer on the tank?
As you will soon find out keeping octopuses isnt for the faint hearted. A lot of time and work goes into the set up, and their already short lives can be easily cut shorter if you arent careful. If you can get passed the set up and the short lives, octopus keeping can be an extraordinarily rewarding and challenging experience.
Thank you so much. I believe my teacher has a bigger fish tank, about 75 gallons, that we will be using this time. I'm going to show her all of this and talk to her about it and then reply with when we should get started and all of that. She's interested in your help as much as I am So thank you and I will keep contact with you.