• 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.

What species..?

OctoBass

Hatchling
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Jul 25, 2010
Messages
6
Before I can address the needs of tank size, water temp., and general care, I need to know what species I'm dealing with.
So... I'm asking what I want. Bimacs and vulgari(?) are the most popular. What are the pro's and con's of these two? What other species would be good for a beginner?

Oh, and if we could avoid the "you don't know what you're doing, leave it to the experienced owners" talk, that'd be great. Thanks.
 
:welcome: to TONMO

Hmmm, I would suggest checking out the 'Journals and Photos' section. There you will find list s of octopuses both past and current. You can flip through and see what species people have kept and are keeping.

:monty:


first question would be where do live? That has a bearing on what is available to you.

We are currently unaware of a place that is selling Bimacs. And the few that have/had them as of lately caught them in California waters.

As for the Vulgaris we have seen one or two lately but they were sold as a different species. Many suppliers dont know what they have so they just label it as 'Common Octopus' or Vulgaris.

Buying an octopus can be somewhat of a gamble you never really know wat you going to get even from the most reliable suppliers. So we usually advise people to prepare for any species.
 
Hi and welcome to TONMO.com!

You don't say where you live, which makes a difference as to availability of cephs. I'll assume you're in the US.
Bimacs are not readily available anymore, although they were earlier. You may be able to find mercatoris (dwarf and nocturnal), aculeatus and hummelincki (a litter larger), briareus, and the odd other species. Most people don't keep O. vulgaris because of the very large tank size required.

I assume you've discovered the articles (click on the home page on Ceph Care) and are reading about all this. We will welcome your specific questions.

Nancy
 
and a minute apart :wink: TWINS!

At the risk of being overly redundant, finding the starting point for keeping a ceph begins with what is commonly available. Generally this involves multiple species so you will need to collect the information about all of them. Octopuses are very short lived (roughly a year) and are only available wild caught so your expected time with an individual will be anywhere from one to seven months, often less time than it takes to cycle a tank. The List of Our Octopuses sticky posts at the top of the Journals and Photos forum incorporate journaling to and from dates where known. You will find that preparing an octo tank requires a lot of flexibility in your planning and is quite different from other types of aquatic animal keeping. Read some of the articles and journals and then look at the Tank Talk forum for some ideas. Reading may bring more questions than answers but will help you prepare for what questions to ask.
 
I do live in the U.S.
I don't mind waiting for a bimac, I'm just concerned with the chiller it will require. That's just one more thing to go wrong. I could go without one, but that will just a shorten an already short life-span.

What is something relatively easy, readily available, and preferably housed in a 50 gal. tank?
 

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