O.vulgaris

[Kharn]

G'day

Very soon I will be stepping into the Cephalopod side of marine aquarium keeping and I was wondering what peoples thoughts are on tank size for an O.vulgaris seeing as most of the information based around them ends in "take it back" but what of those of us that might be targeting a Vulgaris in the hopes to provide its needs ?

Whilst I'm more then confident with everything the system has to act as the Cephs life support I am just slightly concerned about the Cephs overall potential space within the Display Tank it will call home...

The subject on O.vulgaris 95% of the time tends to be "Gets to big", but I have seen many people keep them before in aquariums and so know it's not only plausible but as just stated, people are doing it.

What would a GOOD tank size be for an adult O.vulgaris ?

Currently the planned tank is a decent 48"L x 24"W x 36"T @ 170g est. / 650L est.

[Bacon_Boss]

I'd definitely go bigger than a 4 foot tank, O. Vulgaris mantles are like a foot themselves, let alone the arms that can get near 4 feet long themselves. I'd recommend at least 380 gallons and even then your pushing it. If you can provide the space necessary they would be great pets and I'd love to see it when you get it rockin.

[sirrealism]

As much as I would like to agree with Bacon Boss He is not correct. Although bigger is always better 170g would work. It might be on the small side and a 6' tank might be better IMO a 4' tank thats that wide would work. I have kept many octopus "9 and counting" My first one 17 years ago before we knew much about what they needed was a vulgaris and I had him or her "Didnt know how to tell the difference back then" In a 40" 65g tank were he/she lived for 16 months. when he was older he would reach end to end in the tank. Was this right. No it wasnt but it did work. The octo was quite large when I got him and he went onto senescence after about 15-16 months so to me that means he lived out a natural life span. Mind you once again bigger is better but if you keep the octo entertained I believe that tank will do ok. I plain on getting another vulgaris again very soon and he will be in a 6' 180g so water volume is almost the same. I have had 5 different species of octo and of all of them I liked the vulgaris the best. So much personality and the fact that they live longer then most is a big plus. If you really want to know more about keeping them check out Tonmo. There are lots of blogs of people keeping them and lots of people with tons of information
Wile writing this I checked on Tonmo and see you asked the same question. Dwhatley Is a wealth of info. If she says its ok then I agree with her. I think you will be ok

[Lmecher]

My O. vulgaris was definitely not as large as Bacon Boss claims. His arm length was 18" mantle apps 3+ inches. I kept him comfortably in a 120.