Blue Ringed Octopus

[Pearsondesign]

they are cool, but i do not agree with what you have done

also, there is no antivenom for BRO bites
gloves will not help at all, i used to keep caimans and had chainmail gloves, they still bit through it easily, a BRO beak will bite through them like butter.

theres no if's, buts or maybes, one day you will get bitten.
have you also checked whether you need a license to keep this? im pretty sure you need some paperwork to go along with it.

 

[Kizz]

As much as i disagree with you takin it from the wild ! That has got to be the Ultimate Fish Keepin Experience ! Wouldn't do it myself as i would be too much of a woose to put my hand in the tank ! He looks healthy and hopefully you get a few months with him before he dies

 

[bae1994]

they are cool, but i do not agree with what you have done

also, there is no antivenom for BRO bites
gloves will not help at all, i used to keep caimans and had chainmail gloves, they still bit through it easily, a BRO beak will bite through them like butter.

theres no if's, buts or maybes, one day you will get bitten.
have you also checked whether you need a license to keep this? im pretty sure you need some paperwork to go along with it.

i dont agree with this at all saying one day you will definitively get bitten is not true
its not a definite at all its a possibility its like say if you had a bee in your front room you would get stung theyde only sting if you angered it same as the BRO

 

[Stevescort]

I appreciate all the advice i;m getting from this thread. Really, it's great to hear from people with all opinions on keeping the BRO, even if i disagree with some.

He is still doing great. Eating A LOT. I've now got him up to eating crabs bigger than him (i started small because i was unsure of what size crab he'd like).

He still hasn't even attempted to climb above the water level, which is a good 3 inches down from the top of the tank. I am putting this down to him being well fed and quite happy with his conditions.

P.S. I'm not dead

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Call me strange, but if I had a poisonous creature, I would want the tank rim to water level disctance several inches beyound the reach of said critter!

So I would have the tank rather tall with a low water level, so BRO could not pull itself out of the tank with its tenticles...

 

[Stevescort]

Call me strange, but if I had a poisonous creature, I would want the tank rim to water level disctance several inches beyound the reach of said critter!

So I would have the tank rather tall with a low water level, so BRO could not pull itself out of the tank with its tenticles...

I swear i just said that

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Call me strange, but if I had a poisonous creature, I would want the tank rim to water level disctance several inches beyound the reach of said critter!

So I would have the tank rather tall with a low water level, so BRO could not pull itself out of the tank with its tenticles...

I swear i just said that

So are you therefore saying that your BRO's tenticles are less than 3 inches long?
"He still hasn't even attempted to climb above the water level, which is a good 3 inches down from the top of the tank."

Maybe I've got the scale of your BRO wrong, but I was expecting him to have tenticles at least 6 inches long

 

[nmonks]

The amount of glass above the waterline is neither here nor there; octopuses can, will climb well above the waterline, both in the wild and in captivity.

If you do some research on the maintenance of octopuses in labs, you'll find they're often maintained in open "ponds" rather than tanks, but certain synthetic materials are used to create barriers above the waterline that the octopuses won't climb. Either their suckers don't work on them or they don't like the texture. At the university I went to, something like filter wool was used, but I can't remember precisely and I'd recommend you do your own research of the scientific literature.

With that said, occasional specimens still escaped, even under the best of situations. Keeping octopuses in tanks is extremely difficult, and requires an enormous degree of careful design to prevent.

The flip side to lowering water levels is that you end up with less water, and that means poorer water quality. Strikes me as a pointless trade-off given that it won't dramatically reduce the chances of escape. As I stated earlier, you absolutely must read the Dunlop and King book, and act accordingly. Maintenance of octopuses is hard enough; maintenance of an octopus that can kill a human is borderline nuts without extremely careful planning and security.

Cheers, Neale

 

[Stevescort]

Call me strange, but if I had a poisonous creature, I would want the tank rim to water level disctance several inches beyound the reach of said critter!

So I would have the tank rather tall with a low water level, so BRO could not pull itself out of the tank with its tenticles...

I swear i just said that

So are you therefore saying that your BRO's tenticles are less than 3 inches long?
"He still hasn't even attempted to climb above the water level, which is a good 3 inches down from the top of the tank."

Maybe I've got the scale of your BRO wrong, but I was expecting him to have tenticles at least 6 inches long

from tip to tip of tentacle he's probably only 3 inches long. Quite small

The amount of glass above the waterline is neither here nor there; octopuses can, will climb well above the waterline, both in the wild and in captivity.

If you do some research on the maintenance of octopuses in labs, you'll find they're often maintained in open "ponds" rather than tanks, but certain synthetic materials are used to create barriers above the waterline that the octopuses won't climb. Either their suckers don't work on them or they don't like the texture. At the university I went to, something like filter wool was used, but I can't remember precisely and I'd recommend you do your own research of the scientific literature.

With that said, occasional specimens still escaped, even under the best of situations. Keeping octopuses in tanks is extremely difficult, and requires an enormous degree of careful design to prevent.

The flip side to lowering water levels is that you end up with less water, and that means poorer water quality. Strikes me as a pointless trade-off given that it won't dramatically reduce the chances of escape. As I stated earlier, you absolutely must read the Dunlop and King book, and act accordingly. Maintenance of octopuses is hard enough; maintenance of an octopus that can kill a human is borderline nuts without extremely careful planning and security.

Cheers, Neale

Cheers for the advice. In all i've read there have been many cases of people keeping octopuses and them never even trying to escape. Needless to say, i am extremely careful

 

[nmonks]

Gosh, that's funny; I almost spat out me tea! Seriously. Octopuses in tanks = escape attempts. If you think otherwise, you haven't read enough about them. I was working around Eledone cirrhosa for four years at Aberdeen, and they were constantly trying to escape.

Cheers, Neale

In all i've read there have been many cases of people keeping octopuses and them never even trying to escape. Needless to say, i am extremely careful

 

[the biffster]

i don't condone this keeping
of a BRO but in my younger
years i would of attempted
something like this as i used to
be a bit of a frill seeker but now older
and i might say wiser this still interests me
but now i would prefer to study them in the wild
rather than in a tank but like i have always said
each to there own but just make sure you are safe
when handling one

 

[Stevescort]

Gosh, that's funny; I almost spat out me tea! Seriously. Octopuses in tanks = escape attempts. If you think otherwise, you haven't read enough about them. I was working around Eledone cirrhosa for four years at Aberdeen, and they were constantly trying to escape.

Cheers, Neale

In all i've read there have been many cases of people keeping octopuses and them never even trying to escape. Needless to say, i am extremely careful

That is simply not true. But thanks for the advice and concern.

Steve

 

[nmonks]

"How to make your aquarium escape proof

This topic is most relevant in regard to octopuses, as these animals have perfectly evolved into powerful eight-earmed, sucker-laded, elasticised escapologists. They can climb glass, squeeze through tiny holes, leave tanks via overflows, and if all else fails, open the hood and simply climb out."

Dunlop and King, pages 78, in the introduction to the section on escape-proofing aquaria. If you think octopuses don't climb out of aquaria, you're delusional. They're incredibly good at it. Ordinarily I wouldn't labour a point that you don't want to hear, but in this case you're putting yourself and others at risk because this "pet" is so incredibly dangerous.

Cheers, Neale

That is simply not true. But thanks for the advice and concern.

 

[Stevescort]

"How to make your aquarium escape proof

This topic is most relevant in regard to octopuses, as these animals have perfectly evolved into powerful eight-earmed, sucker-laded, elasticised escapologists. They can climb glass, squeeze through tiny holes, leave tanks via overflows, and if all else fails, open the hood and simply climb out."

Dunlop and King, pages 78, in the introduction to the section on escape-proofing aquaria. If you think octopuses don't climb out of aquaria, you're delusional. They're incredibly good at it. Ordinarily I wouldn't labour a point that you don't want to hear, but in this case you're putting yourself and others at risk because this "pet" is so incredibly dangerous.

Cheers, Neale

That is simply not true. But thanks for the advice and concern.

I am not saying i do not believe that octopuses are extremely good escape artists, i know they are. I am simply saying, many people have kept octopuses without them trying to escape, and so far i have seen no evidence of mine trying to. That being said, the tank is still secure

 

[steelhealr]

Late reply but I highly regard the comments of NM. Has anyone found the answer? Are BRO legal to collect in Australia? Thanks. SH