Pet octopus?

Basing your desire to want to house an animal on a show that barely goes into how to properly keep fish will always end up in disaster.

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He said that he's looking for people with experience housing octopuses, not needless negative feedback. He also mentioned he looked into it, and he has a big enough aquarium.

I agree that an octopus would be a fascinating animal to have as a pet, but it would definitely be tough. Number one - short life span/expensive. You might buy an octopus and have it only live for 6 months or so, which would be ashame. I believe shipping them is difficult as well, because if they're stressed, they'll ink themselves and die in it. (this also applies to when kept in aquaria, though far less likely I presume?) I've heard of people having some kind of charcoal emergency filter ready in the scenario that it does ink, but it would be pretty diluted in 200G of water. Keep us updated! Hopefully someone with actual experience can chime in.

I've kept a few on different occasions and they are easily the coolest aquatic pet I've ever had.I'll get another some day.I have never had a problem with any of them escaping but I guess you can't be too careful...It's probably best to keep them alone in their own tank as it will probably be kill or be killed if they have any other tank mates...Jag didn't mention if he had prior salt water experience but pristine water is a must as is the case with most marine inverts.

I've kept a few bimac's before and they are definitely a really cool pet. They are readily available in my area since they're found locally and they are one of the few diurnal species so you can see them move around during the day. The one on tanked was a giant pacific octopus and your 200g would be too small for a full grown adult. If you want to keep one, I highly recommend a bimac for the reasons I just mentioned, cuz they stay on the smaller side, they are perfectly happy in a 55g for life, but keeping them in the tank is the hard part. They also like cooler water, low 60's at the highest so a chiller is a must especially during the summer. I would stay away from the warmer water species cuz they almost always come in as adults so you don't know if it'll live 6 months or 6 days.

For a tank your size, you can definitely keep a large group of dwarf cuttlefish. They prefer reef like conditions so if you want, you can set up a reef tank and keep them. You also don't need to worry about them escaping and they readily breed in captivity so you can pretty much keep them for however long you like since you'll always have new babies being born. Their lifespan is about 6 months to a year and watching them eat is freaking awesome!

If you don't have saltwater experience, though, you should start off with just normal fish and making sure you're able to keep all the params in check at all times. Cephalopods are EXTREMELY sensitive to changes. Even acclimating takes forever cuz you need to slow drip them. It always took me at least 3 hours to fully acclimate my bimacs cuz they are that sensitive. Just make sure to do a lot of research and make sure the species you buy is exactly the one you researched cuz all their needs are different b


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The cuttlefish are interesting too but I have yet to even see them for sale anywhere.

My friends dad used to have one. They are very very awesome to watch. They do hide really well though, so you'll only see it at night when they are hunting.

Unfortunately I can't help much on care I wasn't involved, but the guy keeping him wasn't an expert by any means (he just bought it one day since the store had it). Lived over a year, then I lost touch so don't know how long it lived.

The big thing though they can fit through a hole the size of their beak (the only hard part of their body).


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I have had much experience housing and caring for octopi. I believe the octopus tracy morgan has is a pacific giant. This is not an animal that i reccomend for a 200 gal tank or someone who hasnt kept octopus species before. A pacific giant is a large species and is very strong, if you were in the water with one, it would drag you to the bottom of the sea with ease. Id suggest a dwarf species which is what you will commonly see avaliable in stores anyway. Most octopi sold in captivity will be fine in a 40 gal tank or even smaller depending on species. Feeding can be a struggle at first as these animals are all wild caught so usually crabs or crayfish are suffice until you can get them to eat frozen foods. The only real down side to these amazing creatures is their life span, most live only a year or so in captivity. My one friend managed to get 3 years out of a coconut octopus. Clean water parameters are a must, definitly not a beginners fish. Good luck!!