Octopus tank setup

[Princess_Penelope]

I'm thinking of getting an octopus that my LFS is selling. But I don't want to get him unless I can give him the best home possible.

If I use a 20G tank with 3 inch sand bed seeded with sand from my main reef tank 10lbs of live rock and 20G of water from my main tank do I need to let my tank run for 2 months before I can put my octopus in or can I put him after a 4hour acclimation? Will I get an ammonia spike?

Thanks.

[OctoMonkey]

Hi Penelope,

Yeah, this all seems a bit rushed, so it will cause problems with an octopus. They are more sensitive than most other marine animals kept in home aquariums.

Just some points...

1) With your background in reefs, the chances are you will be able to give an octo a good home, so if this is something you want to do dont give up, just go slow.

2) Depending on species 20G may be too small, we normally reccomend 30 - 35 G tanks.

3) Make sure you find out what species it is or at least where it comes from first. That makes a big difference!

4) You will need a skimmer, a good quality skimmer to cope with excess waste produced by a ceph, nearly 3 times that of a fish!

5) Need to incorperate good quality carbon in there too! In case of inkings and for general water quality!

6) A tight fitting lid, escape proof.

7) DSB filtration is not always very effective with an octo. maybe better try using an external filter.

8) yes, you will still get an ammonia spike, which they are very sensitive too. You should still leave the tank the reccomended 3 months to cycle, better safe than sorry!

hope all this helps

Colin