blue ringed octopus
 

would it be possible to keep a blue ringed octopus in a 24 gallon aquapod.

bleh.. i hope it bites you for trying to keep it..

It depends on the the species. H. lunulata and other tropical species should be fine in a 24 gallon system. H. fasciata and H. maculosa require cool temperatures. The real problem here is keeping the octopus from working its way into the fitration section of the system or escaping. H. lunulata will crawl above the water line and if an animal got into the filters, it could be dangerous trying to extract it. When working with blue-rings it is essential that you know where they are at all times.

Since you asked the question, I assume you know the risks of envenomation and the difficulty of keeping these animals for any period of time. For most people it is not worth the effort or risk.

Roy

Knowing where they are is easier said than done too...
I spent over 20 minutes at the Melbourne aquarium staring in to the blue rings tank.
The tank was 1'x1'x2' with very little in the way of hiding places. Eventually I gave up and asked a staff member if it was even in there.
She walked up and pointed to the very front of the tank and said there he is!
I couldn't believe it. I know cephlapods are capable of some of the most amazing camoflage but this was somthing else!
He'd picked up a bunch of shells and rocks and held them in such a way that he just looked like a pile of shells...
I'm not sure about all of the species but the ones we get down here can be tiny. I'd imagine quite a bit more difficult to contain than other species.

All of the species of blue-ring are about the same size - 4-5 cm mantle length. They all are fairly accomplished at camouflage. That is why I questioned the use of a cube. We keep our blue-rings in simple sealed glass cubes with only a thin layer of sand and a piece of pvc to hide in. Filtration is via canister filter and the water outlet is sealed and filtered with foam. There is no way in or out of tank unless we remove the glass lid.

Roy

I kept a blue ring, for a little over a half a year before a marine bio student convinced me to sell it to school. It was one of my favorite pets. I kept the blue ring in a 5 1/2gallon tank with no sand, and just a couple of plastic colorful toys for him to hide around. I made a screen for the top so he doesnt get out and so no stupid people put their hands in the tank (I kept him on my counter top at the shop). Fed him peppermint shrimp and sometimes fw ghost shrimp when I was out of peppermints. He seemed really happy.

Here's sort of a dumb question, but if you don't mind, Gonodactylus what exactly do you do for a living.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11455571#post11455571 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by barnett8 [/i]
[B]Here's sort of a dumb question, but if you don't mind, Gonodactylus what exactly do you do for a living. [/B][/QUOTE]

He's a professor at Berkley I believe.

Here's his webpage.

[url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/aquarius/roy.html]http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/aquarius/roy.html[/URL]

So thats where doctor roys mantis list is from