# I'm getting an octopus!



## Brendle (Feb 18, 2014)

So much to my partner's dismay ("ANOTHER TANK!?!?!"), I just ordered one of these:

http://www.reefaquatica.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=59_66&products_id=377

I am VERY excited.

Who's got (Thoughts / Advice / Words of wisdom / Stuff) to say?

Brendle


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## Crayon (Apr 13, 2014)

Keep the lid on tight.............
It sounds like they don't live long, do you know how long?
Other than that, very cool! I want to hear more too.


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## corpusse (Jan 3, 2011)

These pygmy Octopus are much different then other species. You should research them. Also I'm not sure Hubert just keeps these in stock as this was added to his site almost 6 years ago.

Keeping an Octopus is a rewarding and heartbreaking experience. I have raised 2 different O. Briareus from young guys to death. Very good times.

These pygmy guys are likely Octopus joubini. I have never kept them personally but the information I know about them is they are not like regular Octopi. They are exclusively nocturnal and you can keep them in groups. This is ONLY true for these dwarf guys. You will need live food initially but they can probably be trained to eat frozen. If you want to see them I suggest using red lights above the tank as they cannot see the red spectrum. I don't think they will try and escape. For that matter the other guys I kept never tried to escape. Sure they "can" but imo a happy and well fed octopus is not going to try and escape. People drastically overstate this because of a few stories. There are many other things I'd say are much more prone to escaping, including fairy wrasses. 

For the amount of time you can keep them alive they are quite expensive, but well worth the experience and unlike some things they are not lifelong or many year commitments so the tank can always become something else. If you have the space and means to care for a larger species I would recommend them over these guys. You can visit TONMO.com for a ceph forum where you can learn a lot more then I can tell you. These guys are smart but their peers are clams and snails not dogs and cats. Keep that in mind.


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## Brendle (Feb 18, 2014)

Thanks for the replies!

The ad for just the octopus says it's a "Caribbean pigmy" so I believe that makes it a joubini.

I know it'll only live a year, which sucks but I'll deal with it.

I'm told that although the ad was posted a long time ago, he will order me one.

I understand that they will not come out during the day, so I'll just have to become a night owl.

They're supposed to be trained to eat frozen mysis, but I'm ok if they don't and I have to feed them live food.

This little guy will be a nice trial run, and eventually maybe I'll graduate to a larger species. - where does one get a larger species in Canada?


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