# Octopus



## russm (Aug 28, 2009)

Does anyone on here keep octopus? What size tank do you keep them in?


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

russm said:


> Does anyone on here keep octopus? What size tank do you keep them in?


they're hard to keep, & even in the wild they only live a couple of years- the male dies after mating, & the female after the eggs hatch. even if they never mate, they only live for up to 2 years.


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## cjd12345 (Nov 2, 2011)

The other thing with octopus is that they will be escape through the smallest gaps. I've heard they are hard to keep, never seen them for sale and don't know anyone that has kept them.


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

cjd12345 said:


> The other thing with octopus is that they will be escape through the smallest gaps. I've heard they are hard to keep, never seen them for sale and don't know anyone that has kept them.


they do appear for sale, & i've known 2 people who've kept them- one died shortly after being rescued after it escaped, the other died due to a slight nitrate (yes, nitrate, not even nitrite) spike.


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## Fargle (Aug 8, 2013)

They are tricky to keep, but not impossible. Sourcing the animal will probably the major problem. 

They need perfect water quality, a well cycled tank with perfect parameters are needed. They also need a tank to themselves as they'll eat anything else.

Size of tank depends on the species but most I've seen at TMC are simply labeled "brown octopus" which is not much help, at least a couple of hundred litres though. They need to be vigorously skimmed as if they ink they can kill themselves. We also had the best luck with making the seawater out of TMC's proReef salt rather than a lower gade.

Feeding can be a problem unless you have access to live food. Some will take dead but some will only take live shrimp/crabs. Feeding live fish is illegal.

The natural lifespan of these things is only about 2 years. Some even less. Even the giant pacific octopus only live 4-5 years. There's no way of knowing how old the animal is when you get it.

As stated before they are escape artists. The only hard part of an octo is the beak in the centre of the arms. Basically if this can go through a space the rest of the animal can. Any intake/outlet pipe over about 1/2 and inch will need to be covered as well as the lid around the top of the tank.

Like I said, they can be kept but the thought of it is not for the faint of heart. A perfectly running, cycled, empty tank. Lots of work for the escape proofing. A source of live food, and then sit around waiting to pay around £60-100 for an animal that may live 2 years or may die in a couple of days from the stress.


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

Fargle said:


> They are tricky to keep, but not impossible. Sourcing the animal will probably the major problem.
> 
> They need perfect water quality, a well cycled tank with perfect parameters are needed. They also need a tank to themselves as they'll eat anything else.
> 
> ...


:notworthy: you've pretty much nailed my views on keeping them.


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## russm (Aug 28, 2009)

Thanks everyone. I am aware of their ability to escape and their demands for high water quality. I am put off by the short lifespan. I think that it would be wise to go for something a bit longer lived if going to the expense of setting up a tank.


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## Ryanbrown89 (Aug 10, 2013)

Where can you actually get octopuses from iv never seen one for sale anywhere, just curious is all


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## Fargle (Aug 8, 2013)

Most aquatic shops that have marine sections have an account with TMC (tropic marine centre). This is basically a marine fish wholesaler that import and breed their own fish. They get octopus in fairly regularly and can put out order to their oversea suppliers as well.
They have 3 locations in the UK but they don't sell directly to the public, you have to be a shop or aquarium. If you wanted an octo you'd go to your local shop and ask them to order one from TMC. Seeing as it would be a special order (unless they were getting themselves some fish at the same time) you'd have to pay the courier cost as well. I'd expect a special order octo to come in around £80.


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## Ryanbrown89 (Aug 10, 2013)

Fargle said:


> Most aquatic shops that have marine sections have an account with TMC (tropic marine centre). This is basically a marine fish wholesaler that import and breed their own fish. They get octopus in fairly regularly and can put out order to their oversea suppliers as well.
> They have 3 locations in the UK but they don't sell directly to the public, you have to be a shop or aquarium. If you wanted an octo you'd go to your local shop and ask them to order one from TMC. Seeing as it would be a special order (unless they were getting themselves some fish at the same time) you'd have to pay the courier cost as well. I'd expect a special order octo to come in around £80.


Oh right thanks for the info:2thumb:


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## Blurboy (Feb 9, 2007)

Many years ago my local aquarium shop had one in and yeah it actually escaped but luckily they got it back quick before it died. As stated in lots of posts above, they don't live long and I'm sure most are bought by people who don't really know what they're letting themselves in for and they get disappointed when they don't live long. In my opinion they are like big catfish or other tank busters in that bought on impulse and reality hits later with the poor animal suffering. Best seen in the wild.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Fascinating. I knew about the water quality and escape skills, but not the lifespan. Have they ever been bred in captivity?


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## wilkinss77 (Sep 23, 2008)

Ron Magpie said:


> Fascinating. I knew about the water quality and escape skills, but not the lifespan. Have they ever been bred in captivity?


i believe they've been bred, but i don't think the young survived.


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## Fargle (Aug 8, 2013)

Getting the young feeding is always the problem with cephs. Getting a male and female to be in the same tank and not kill each other is another.

If you have a big enough tank to get a male and female together, and enough skill to time the mating right and get the male out quick enough, then breeding can be done. 

Once the female is full of eggs, whether they're fertilised or not, she goes into a state called senescence. She stops feeding and builds a den in the tank somewhere. She'll lay the eggs and spend the rest of her days slowing starving to death and blowing water over the eggs. The males also enter senescence but they don't build a den, they just stop feeding and slowly fall apart. 

If the eggs are fertilised they will eventually hatch and they have a small amount of yolk but will need to feed in about 3 days. Small crustaceans are on the menu and you have to provide vast amount of small, live prey. However if you try and raise them on just brine shrimp, they don't have the right PUFA (Poly Unsaturated Fatty Acids) for the growing animals and the survival suffers.

Obviously as the animal grows (young cephs have some of the highest growth rates of any animal) the prey size needs to change till eventually they will need small crabs.

So, you _can_ breed them in captivity, but it's not easy. And if you _do_ get young then you have a challenge on your hands getting the animals to a decent size. And if you do get to a certain size, you'd have to split them as they'd rip each other apart.

Wow, who'd have thought I'd actually get to use my MSc thesis!?


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