Octopus tank
 

I was recently at Gold's, and they have a beautiful zebra octopus there. Made me salivate, I wanted to buy it on the spot, unfortunately I have no ideas how to design an octopus proof tank.

Anybody have any ideas on how to keep these little Houdinis in the water? Anybody tried to plumb up an overflow system for an octopus tank? If I tried to plumb up a tank to my existing system, how capable is the critter going to be at eating all my reef fishies?

If anybody has any ideas out there as to how to build the perfect octopus proof system let me know.

reply
 

I think the best way would be to use a plexi/acrylic top. Drill and cut so that there are no gaps or holes at all. You may need to rig up some kind of clamp because I've heard those little guys will lift the tops of of tanks if they aren't secured properly.

octo
 

You can try www.tonmo.com. This is a great forum site that only catters to octopus and cuttle fish fans. Lots of info ......

I just finished making a octopus tank. It has a sump and and sealed lid.

I would not recommend plumbing a octopus tank in with your existing tank. If your octopus were to ink it would be hazardous to your entire system.

I am pretty sure the octopus they have at Golds is a wonderpus or mimic, very hard to keep. Actually very, very hard to keep.

Most octopus will eat any and all fish kept in the same tank.

As for building a tank and plumbing it safely one option is to use nylon screen on the drain and return lines. You could also make a lid using screen as well but it would need to attach to the tank. Some people use velcro. I used nylon screws and wing nuts.

Bassman:

Do you have any pics of your system? I am no where ready to start an octopus tank, still in the homework stage.

OH oh another tank. Either your planning on sleeping on the couch or your racked up some point in the past little bit. LOL Good luck with the new project.

I don't know if this would help or not and I know I've posted this link before but here it is again. If you didn't want an octopus before you will after watching the video :lol:

http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic48530-25-1.aspx

I just have one pic of the tank and stand from the front but It doesn't show any of the plumbing etc. I don't have it with me here at work though.

I'll take a few better pics for you tonight and post them.

Here is the one pic I have. I'll get more tonight.

Here are a few more.

1st one is a shot of the lid from above. It has a trap door and a section with screen for fresh air.

2nd one the return nozzle showing the screen wrapped around it.

3rd one is a shot from the front showing both the return nozzle and strainer.

4th one is the strainer from the side wrapped in screen.

I watched that video now I want one too

i did some scrounging for information trying to find something on that octopus at gold's. when I saw it too, I felt I had to have one :)

decided against it because I don't know if we can get captive bred octopus in canada. wild caught ones sometimes only live a month, if you're unlucky. 8-12 months if you ARE lucky. plus I should REALLY concentrate on my 120g that's not even finished yet :redface:

I feel sorry for Albert getting that one though. I think bassman is right with that one being a mimic. Good luck to him.

Thanks Bassman, those pics are a great help. Where did you pick up the nylon screen? The critter won't be able to bite through that? So the tank must be drilled, without an overflow box (for ease of placing mesh screens).

Vic

You are welcome.

I bought the screen at Home Depot.

I don't think you would ever have to worry about an Octopus biting through it. They don't really have teeth, they have a beak. You could always double up the screen too but I don't think you will need to worry about it.

The tank doesn't have to be drilled it just makes things easier. You can use an overflow box if you want it's just harder to be seal off. Many people have used overflow boxes and cannister filters. As long as you seal off every single gap you shouldn't have a problem.

Very nifty. :cool:

But wouldn't you be worried about the screen clogging? I think about how often I have to clean out my strainers, eggcrate for overflows, gutter guard, etc. and I have to think that anything flowing through screening would clog in a matter of days (unless it's maybe unlit, so that there's no algae to grow on it)?

My tank is unlit so as you said there is no algae to worry about. Screen certainly requires some maintenance. I have found that I usually need to clean my screen with a toothbrush approx. once a week, if that.

An Octopus tank and water must remain immaculate at all times so there isn't much debris in the water to clog the screens. In all honesty I find myself cleaning the screen on the return nozzle more then the strainer. I don't think Octopus generate that much solid waste, atleast mine doesn't seem to. I think it's much more fluid waste, I could be wrong though. I am just going by my VERY limited experience.