Octopuses are fascinating creatures. They’re lovely and clever, and since they’ll dwell in an aquarium, they appear like they’d be low-maintenance pets.
However is a pet octopus a good suggestion? It is dependent upon whom you ask.
Clever Companions
Octopuses are clever creatures that wish to discover their atmosphere and sometimes work together with their human keepers.
Gainesville, Georgia, resident Denise Whatley, who has had 33 octopuses since 2006, teaches them that if they arrive to her hand within the tank, they will get consideration. Watch her eight-month-old octopus named Cassy go to her on this 2011 video:
“The house-kept species typically appear to get pleasure from a brief petting session in the event that they acclimate to people,” she stated. “Nevertheless, I attempt to be aware that petting could also be extra like a cat scratching an itch than any type of affection. Then again, they do know people and work together in another way with totally different folks.”
Rose Blanco-Chamberland maintained two saltwater aquariums earlier than she added a bimaculoides (aka a California two-spot octopus) named Cthulhu to the combination.
She was impressed by how sensible the octopus was and offered toys to entertain him. Cthulhu loved chasing toys round his tank and had fairly an affinity for zip ties.
“One among his favourite issues was once I would put dwell meals in a child meals jar, screw on the lid, after which drop it into his tank,” she stated. “He must work out methods to open the jar and that was unbelievable to observe.”
Care Necessities
Whereas interacting with an octopus will be enjoyable and interesting, these creatures have specialised wants that require time, house, and cash. The tank (and the continuing meals provide) is prone to be much more pricey than the octopus, which may value anyplace from $20 to $1,000, relying on the kind and the place you get it. (Be aware: By no means purchase a blue-ringed octopus. It is so poisonous that even its sneeze may kill you.)
Whatley says the animals want not less than a 55-gallon aquarium with a second massive tank to carry filtration tools. Others say 70 gallons is the minimal dimension for a softball-sized octopus and that you must go for a protracted and low type over a tall one because it greatest replicates the octopus’s ocean-floor dwelling. A sturdy lid is a requirement, too, as octopuses have a fame for being gifted escape artists. They’ll squeeze by way of impossibly small areas.
Feeding an octopus will also be difficult and costly. Your common pet retailer does not carry octopus meals. Octopuses will hunt and kill something their dimension or smaller; they will conceal from something bigger. They need (and wish) to eat dwell prey corresponding to grass shrimp, crayfish, and fiddler crabs, all of which you have to hold in a second tank.
“Octopus are hunters so it’s actually necessary to feed them dwell meals. I had a holding tank in our again bed room the place I’d hold his meals and I usually dropped two or three dwell critters in there a day for him,” Blanco-Chamberland stated. “I additionally did have frozen krill however solely fed him that if I occurred to expire of dwell stuff. He did not actually get pleasure from it.”
Downsides to Octopuses as Pets
Katherine Harmon Braveness says they do not make good pets even when you present the very best look after an octopus.
Braveness, the writer of “Octopus! The Most Mysterious Creature Within the Sea,” factors out that as a result of octopuses are troublesome to breed in captivity, most pet octopuses are wild-caught and higher off there.
“They’re extremely clever and appear to simply get bored,” she wrote about octopuses in Scientific American. “One research revealed that octopuses in small tanks outfitted with flowerpots, stones, beads and shells nonetheless confirmed indicators of misery and even self-mutilation. Your common fish tank setup in all probability is not going to chop it.”
Octopuses are usually not designed for captivity or companionship. They’ve by no means been domesticated. There’s one thing distressing about retaining such a superb, clever animal able to technique, problem-solving, reminiscence, and playfulness and retaining it for leisure, novelty, or a background aesthetic.
Braveness additionally notes that cephalopods in captivity in all probability will not be as entertaining as anticipated. Many species are nocturnal and can spend daylight hiding. Usually, the animals spend a lot time of their dens, and as they get to know a confined atmosphere, they will spend even much less time outdoors of them. Absolutely, that is an indication that they shouldn’t be dwelling in captivity, that retaining them confined is a type of cruelty if their pure habits start to fade away.
“Octopuses are shy animals so it takes time to determine a relationship,” Whatley stated. “Some by no means acclimate to a captive atmosphere or to human keepers.”
One octopus proprietor described his pet’s tendency to squirt water from the tank throughout the room when it craved consideration from its human proprietor. It even squirted ink onto the ceiling on a number of events, which value him a safety deposit. In contrast to a canine or cat, it will probably’t beg or whine when it desires to play. The proprietor wrote, “They will not grasp the Rubik’s Dice, however they’re doubtless smarter than your canines and cats. It is a totally different form of sensible, although. You possibly can’t throw a rubber mouse and anticipate your octopus to parade round with it. These animals require interplay and enrichment. They want interactive toys to play with. They want attention-grabbing habitats. They should work together with their folks as a lot as potential.”
Octopuses are additionally very delicate to modifications of their water, particularly pH stability, and would require a variety of consideration.
Blanco-Chamberland stated retaining her pet’s water clear was the best problem. “Octopuses are very messy eaters and the water high quality degrades in a short time in consequence. When you do not do common water modifications and have correct filtration, your octopus is not going to survive lengthy.”
When taken care of correctly, an octopus saved in a house aquarium will dwell solely a few years, so even essentially the most devoted and accountable pet proprietor will not have lengthy to spend with them. “The largest draw back by far is the quick lifespan. The house-sized animals solely dwell about one 12 months and the dwarfs typically much less,” Whatley stated.
Blanco-Chamberland urges potential octopus house owners to make sure they’re ready for the monetary and time commitments the animals require. She additionally recommends shopping for from a good supply. “I’ve heard too many horror tales of individuals buying a sick or dying octopus from a fish retailer as a result of the shop was extra fascinated about earning profits than promoting a wholesome pet.”
Whatley advises folks to do husbandry analysis and keep away from unique species as a result of even skilled keepers have problem with them. “Correctly put together a tank for quite a lot of species and perceive that your tank set-up will take longer than you’ll hold the primary octopus residence,” she stated.
Take into accout, too, that these are extremely quick animals, accustomed to swimming at speeds of as much as 25 miles per hour (that is 4 instances sooner than Michael Phelps). A tank won’t ever allow them to interact in that pure habits; it is just too confining.
On this clip from Animal Planet’s “Tanked,” actor Tracy Morgan appears to be like to construct a greater aquarium for his big Pacific octopus, Bwyadette, who Braveness says lives in a tank too small for her dimension.
Perhaps as a substitute of this, you can be like Giovanni DiGarimore, the proprietor of a fish market in Morro Bay, California, who made headlines in 2019 by buying a 70-pound dwell octopus dubbed Fred from a fisherman and releasing him again into the ocean.
Whereas it could appear odd for a fish market proprietor to take such a stance, DiGarimore professed a gentle spot for octopuses. “It is simply been a fruits of occasions by way of the final 10 years.” Whereas scuba diving as soon as in Fiji, he met one which made an impression: “Primarily, we performed a recreation of conceal and look for quarter-hour below the ocean. It was an expertise I am going to always remember.”