Crap. I just typed up a nice long resonse and my computer dropped the connection.
Anyway, the natural lifespan of this species is about a year. Most of the ones that you can find in the hobby live a year or less.
This one cost me $40 at the LFS. The last one I had was captive bred, and it cost me about $20 online, but then there was another $45 shipping. I'd suggest that you get a captive bred one if you can, that way you know appoximately how long they'll live. If you get one from the LFS they could have 6-8 months or 6-8 days. For this species this one doesn't look full grown so I figured I'd have a few months at least.
The cost of the octo is just the tip of the iceberg I'm afraid. To start with you'll need a 30-40g tank minimum. You should plan it as if it's a species-only tank. They're consumate predators and you should be ready for anything you put in the tank with it to get eaten. You can go cheap with lights, because they don't like a lot of light, and lights generate heat, and you need to keep the tank under 75 if possible. I keep my house pretty cool, (70), so I've been able to keep the tanks about 74-76 with fans alone, but lots of folks seem to need a chiller. You will need to have oversize filtration for the system, and yes you HAVE to have a decent skimmer. They don't tolerate spikes of ammonia at all. Then you get into food. These guys will generally eat more than most other predators. They will sometimes take to frozen seafood, but it's very iffy. Like any other predator they generate a lot of waste. One estimate I read said they generate 3 times the ammonia of a comparible sized fish. Hence the need to over filter. I think it's totally worth it. They're smarter than cats, and the last one I had was the most interactive aquarium pet I've seen yet.
B
