anyone have a pet octopus??? (or any cephalopod for that matter)

[Mferko]

just watched this YouTube - my pet octopus playing/eating
omg i want an octopus so bad

[jman]

I never own an octopus before but i heard keeping them alive is quite tricky and their life span is usually quite short too.

this site might help: Octopus Basics -- Keeping an Octopus as a Pet

[reeferious]

never had an octopus b4 couldn't find any at lfs but have successfully kept few cuttlefish that grew to 2+ inches from egg stage and just as abruptly kicked their buckets within a year's time. voracious little beasts that hunted down all the little shorecrabs i could throw into tank. shortlived they may be but i had tons of fun watching them and feeding them those crabs dinners.

[Rogue9]

Island pets has them once in a blue moon.

[snow]

I once saw one at hidden reef before they went out of buisness. It was around $500, they had it in a 10g biocube. They are really hard to take care of though. I looked into them b/c my aunts friend had one many years ago then it died or something, it was huge though and in a 600g 12ft tank all by itself. This one looks in good shape though, never seen that kind before.

[Mferko]

yea, i wonder why theyre so hard to keep in captivity

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Had one a few years ago.

Observations:

Octopus are mostly nocturnal, so really quite boring as pets - only see them at feeding time. Rest of the time they're hiding in their cave.

Octopus are escape artists and can fit through any opening their beak can squeeze through.

Octopus have short lifespans (most live a year, breed then die). By the time the Octopus gets to the pet shop, its several months old so you're buying a temporary pet (will live under good conditions for another few months).

Octopus need to be in a species tank. They will pretty much eat any fish or crustacean you put inside the tank.

Octopus are very, very smart.

On the other hand, when they are active, Octopus are extremely cool.

King Ed's can order them in for you if you have a species tank for it (ask Robert).

Anthony

[BigFatLyre]

I had a pet pacific small octopus (cold water, if the Hermosa pier in Los Angeles can be considered cold). They would wrap around the bait at night and get caught in the hook; so this old Chinese guy had one in his bucket and I brought him home to a twenty gallon saltwater I had already setup.
He recognized me: mottle pattern was different for me as opposed to visitors. When I left Santa Monica I let him go at the pier and came north to Vancouver! I had him for over a year and he was the size of my hand palm.
His name was Aristotle, after the internal beak they have i.e. Aristotle's lantern!
And that, Antony, was before you were ever born!

[Mferko]

i was told that if you give an octopus a peanut butter jar with food inside it can figure out how to twist off the lid and get to the food
Mike deGruy: Hooked by an octopus | Video on TED.com rly cool octopus video

[AvianAquatics]

Me too! It would be nice to have an octopus if only I can afford to keep them