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View Full Version : Octopus in a reef tank.


Calappidae
11/19/2013, 11:56 PM
Everyone/where I ask/read I always hear/read octopus as non-reef safe inhabitants. We also call mantis shrimp non-reef safe and they do not touch corals at all (unless g. ternatensis..). Would it be the same case? Just bad rep like the mantis or something else? Only thing I can think of is that it would push corals around for how strong they are...

Why are they not reef safe? I was thinking about adding a pygmy octopus to my 10 gallon frag tank (please stand up if these requirements are not suitable for a pygmy..Octopus joubini to be more specific.. if not what about a 20L?) but I was wondering if it would pose a threat to any of the corals, or if the corals (Planned: LPS, SPS, Shrooms, zoas) would be dangerous to the octo as well.

Thanks.

Boston21
11/20/2013, 12:26 AM
Interested in any information also. I'v heard they are bad in small tanks because of inking from stress, can be harmful/toxic to them. But im not entirely sure, hope someone with more knowledge chimes in.

EDIT: Do pygmy's ink?

Octobot
11/20/2013, 02:52 AM
A reef tank is not where you want an octopus. They really need a species specific specialty tank all to themselves. An octopus could wreak havoc on a reef very easily.
Octopus like to play with rocks, build dens, etc. And they don't care if that rock has a nice pretty coral on it or not. Also, you should consider any fish in your tank as an inevitable meal for an octopus.

Visit www.tonmo.com for information on how to properly plan for and care for an octopus.

Octobot
11/20/2013, 03:16 AM
EDIT: Do pygmy's ink?

With only a few exceptions, just about all octopuses ink. The Atlantic pygmy (sp. joubini) can ink.

Denver_Keeper
11/20/2013, 06:38 AM
They will eat every single fish in the tank given a little time. They will move all the rock, and in doing so they will break apart or bury pretty much all the hard coral. They will crush all the soft coral.

They are just too active, strong, and careless to do anything but tear up a reef tank.

alton
11/20/2013, 06:46 AM
A friend of mine had one in a softie reef and it did very well. But no crabs, no nothing because it will become food. The problem with the smaller species is typically they don't live very long. So you get attached and a year later?

fscmocsaj
11/20/2013, 07:29 AM
I'm very interested in this as well.

thegrun
11/20/2013, 07:39 AM
Beyond being nearly impossible to keep INSIDE a standard aquarium without major alterations to prevent escape they wil eat all fish and invertibrates in your tank.

Paul B
11/20/2013, 08:26 AM
I have kept a few octopus, but you can't just put them in a tank. They will climb out the first night. You can keep them in a tank if you put something around the top few inches of the tank that they can't stick to like a cotton material. In public aquariums they use astroturf but if their suckers can stick to it, they will be gone. If you keep them in a container, the holes in the container must be smaller than their beak. That is the only hard part of an octopus. I even spawned them, you can see the babies here, they are as large as an adult brine shrimp.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh270/urchsearch/octopus.jpg (http://s258.photobucket.com/user/urchsearch/media/octopus.jpg.html)

Calappidae
11/20/2013, 10:52 AM
I have kept a few octopus, but you can't just put them in a tank. They will climb out the first night. You can keep them in a tank if you put something around the top few inches of the tank that they can't stick to like a cotton material. In public aquariums they use astroturf but if their suckers can stick to it, they will be gone. If you keep them in a container, the holes in the container must be smaller than their beak. That is the only hard part of an octopus. I even spawned them, you can see the babies here, they are as large as an adult brine shrimp.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh270/urchsearch/octopus.jpg (http://s258.photobucket.com/user/urchsearch/media/octopus.jpg.html)

Lol, at first I thought those were little microbrittles :D
I was going to silicone a sheet of acrylic ontop of the ten gallon, then cut a hole out big enough for maintence, get another sheet and drill holes through them and screw it down with plastic nuts and screws. Kinda like how an acrylic tank is built but screwed down.

Well that answers the question on them being in a reef tank.. but I'd rather have a octo then a frag tank anyway, besides I can just make the frags in the back of the DT I'm connecting it too :)

To the OP, I couldn't find anything at that link for the octo i'm looking at. Do you think it would fit in a 10 gallon? What about a 20? 20 long? I have a 55 gallon fuge but I can't let it rot in a fuge like that they need to keep their mind's busy if i'm correct. I'm also connecting whatever tank I use to another 10 gallon (of course really screened off with layers of mesh and carbon if it inks)

A friend of mine had one in a softie reef and it did very well. But no crabs, no nothing because it will become food. The problem with the smaller species is typically they don't live very long. So you get attached and a year later?

Yeah, thats what always steered me away from them.. but just to experience having them.. seeing their movements and everything for such a short time is worth it. I know they can ink, but what about when they die? can they release something on death like a cucumber or nudibranch?