Just curious....how often do you feed her and what does her diet consist of? Oh what the heck....lets play 20 questions....
How long have you been into keeping octopi (or is that octopus')
How many different types of octopus have you had
What is the longest you've had an octopus
I still have 17 questions I'm going to bank!
That's why I joined! I wanna spread good information so people interested will be less intimidated by the "expert only" tag and "Extremely difficult" label that tends to go with the idea of keeping an octopus. The thing that I believe has led people to the misconception that they are extremely difficult to keep is the fact that they have short lifespans. Collectors catch what they can, and older octopuses are easier to find and catch. To avoid wasting money and being disappointed by a "premature" death, it's important to find a supplier and contact them and find a specimen that is very small, in relation to its typical adult size anyway. I had a choice between a "dime sized" and a "2-inch mantle sized" octopus when I ordered Kalypso. I went with the smaller. She was approximately 10 weeks old when I got her. The 2-incher I passed up was probably ~6 months old already, maybe younger, maybe older. Size isn't a good indicator of age as you never know what the conditions were where it was captured. Food might have been scarce, so less food, less growth, and vice versa. Being so teeny tiny though, I was pretty confident she was a baby, and indeed she was.
Another thing about purchasing an octopus is that most suppliers aren't very educated in the different species that are commonly available, so you usually see the label "Common Octopus" or something like that. Common. Like that's a good word for a police report when you're describing a suspect. There are about 200 different species of octopus that science currently recognizes. You can see the problem that could arise from that label.
I am by no means an "Expert" aquarist, and I think octopuses are easier to keep than a lot of fish. They aren't susceptible to "ich" or any other fish illnesses.
I feed her raw seafoods, once daily. Silversides, krill, clams, and shrimp. Every octopus I've had has taken to frozen foods quite easily.
I've been keeping them for 2 years. "Octopi" has been changed to "Octopuses" recently, as it is understood that "Octopus" is a Greek word, not Latin. Either is considered correct though. FYI...
I've kept dwarf O. mercatoris, "Caribbean 2-Spot Octopus" O. hummelincki (formerly O. filosus), "Caribbean Reef Octopus" O. briareus, and Abdopus aculeatus. So far my favorite was probably the O. hummelincki. They are everything you would expect out of an octopus, and everything you would want out of a pet octopus. Not nocturnal, not too small and remain a size most people could accomodate in a 50 gallon tank. Their skin shows endless texture, color, and pattern abilities.
Dwarfs are pretty boring. Strictly nocturnal, and rarely the least bit interactive. I guess if I was the size of a pecan I'd be pretty shy too.
I would like to get an O. vulgaris whenever I'm capable of getting a 200 gallon tank set up. They get significantly larger, but are similar to O. hummelincki.
So far Kalypso has been with me a little over 6 months. That's the longest I've been able to keep one. My dwarf was likely a juvenile when I got it, and it only lived 4 months with me, but dwarfs life cycles are only typically 6-8 months. Most of the larger species live 12-18 sometimes 24 months. The other octopuses I've owned were either fully grown when I obtained them, or they were collected under poor conditions. I believe the 2 O. hummelincki's I got must have been collected using chemicals because I was in touch with several other people who got them from the same source, and we all lost our octos within a few weeks for undetermined reasons. Someone else who obtained one straight from a different collector who used humane method of capture has had hers for about 6 months, and it has grown to be quite larger than the ones the rest of us had.
