Is it possible?

[Eelzor]

I never really thought about it, but is it possible to own an octopus? Iv'e been to several fish shops but never actually seen them. Are they really keepable?

 

[George Farmer]

It has been but costs a fortune!!! Check out this link for a complete run-down.

http/www.waterzoo.co.uk/Staff/Octopus%20aquarium.htm

 

[Eelzor]

this seems to have EVERYTHING an octopus needs from scatch, yes quite pricey but an octo is so uniques and interesting! well, maybe one day.

 

[Alien Anna]

I'd love an octopus - they had some in a pool at my university. If that is anything to go by, you'd need a marine pool about 12 ft by 8 ft ie literally the size of a swimming pool. Wonderful creatures, however.

 

[smb]

I would love to have an octopus. They are so dang smart. I seen a doc on them on the Discovery Channel where they actually learned to unscrew the lid of a jar to get at the food. Amazing!

How long do they live? I am not sure but don't they only live for a couple years?

 

[George Farmer]

They do live one to two years apparently.

 

[EddieW]

I saw one in an LFS recently - was fascinated, but didn't even bother asking the price, etc. as I knew it would be well out of my league on a lot of different fronts (money, space, etc.....)

Cheers, Eddie

 

[AquaNut]

Down island from me there is a public display aquarium, of sorts. It's called the Undersea Gardens, and it's a barge that floats in the harbour in Victoria. All the fish and marine life on display are native inhabitants of the area. In fact, it's their natural habitat, but it's been blocked off and protected, and you can view it from the lower levels of the barge, though large glass windows, giving the impression that you're looking into a huge aquarium.

They keep several Pacific Octopi in their 'dive tank'. Numerous times a day, a scuba diver swims in that tank and helps point out different marine life to spectators. He goes and finds an octopus and gently urges it to swim past the window so people can have a good look. It's quite a spectacular sight, as most octopus that I've ever seen in public aquariums are wedged into a rock crevasse or cave, and largely not visible.

I asked one of the ladies who worked there some questions about the octopus. She said they don't feed them; their environment within the tank is self sustaining (there are a billion crabs in there). She said they usually keep at least three, so that it's not the same one being disturbed constantly. They're intelligent enough to know different divers, even though they're totally covered in scuba gear. Apparently, some octopi like some divers better than others and one octopus likes one diver enough to come out voluntarily for the shows.

Sometimes they house octopi who've been injured in the wild and brought in by divers or fishers, as they stand a much better chance of survival and recovery in the protected environment of the Undersea Gardens. Otherwise, she said they only keep them for a couple of years (the Giant Pacific Octopus lives longer than 1 - 2 years; I want to say she told me about 8 years, but I'm not positive on that number), as after that, they fail to thrive, even though they're in thousands of gallons of water in their natural habitat. Surely, part of the problem is the disruption by the divers, but still, octopus are not well suited to life in captivity.

Just the same, I agree with all of you; having an octopus would be amazing.

 

[wuvmybetta]

my lfs has one, it just laid eggs and I was told they die shortly after that , a friend of mine who works there was showing me how they try to feed it, they offered it a feeder goldfish and the octopus would stick it's arm out of the nest grab the fish & throw the fish out of the tank , apparently it's intelligent enough to know what it likes and how to get rid of what it doesn't like , they're amazing

 

[teknikz]

there was a thing on telly b4 about squids and that.....and they had a lil thing on octopuss's n theyre amazing......the way they can change colour so quick....the cameraman was swimmin upto a piece of coral and as he got closer it turned white and swam off

the mimmick octopus has also learned that if it swims like a flounder (by curlin its legs a certain way to make the same shape) then its less likely to be eaten

 

[Eelzor]

OMG! I just woke up from a dream about a fish shop that sold all these octopuses and stingrays for about $150 for octos and $20 for mini-stingrays! OMG! I wish it was true! + while im at it is it possible to own stingrays?

 

[George Farmer]

Freshwater rays are possible. You'll need at least a 4 foot tank though.