Octopus Thread :D She's A Mama!!! I got EGGS! WooT!

[jessiesgrrl]

I got a dwarf octopus (naturally short lived in the wild, lays eggs and then dies, but you get to try to raise the babies. It's cool because when they mate in the wild, the Mom saves the sprem internally and then lays the fertilized eggs when she finds a home she likes later.. Wish I could have done that!)

I'll try to get a better shot of the eggs. She is all curled up on them, but I've been waitng for her to feed to get a good shot. She's been eating silversides and mysis so far. When she first had the eggs, I put the silverside in to her too fast, and I swear she grabbed itout of my fingers and chucked it straight out of the tank at me!!!! It was crazy. I had to go rinse it off from the floor and then put it in really slowly onto the other side of the tank before she would go take it.

I cut a piece of tempered plate glass to specially fit to whole top of the tank so she can't get out- way too heavy for her to move, and it fits with no gaps. I'm excited!


Laurie

 

[rdvab]

That is soooo cool!
Ron

 

[msman825]

awsome, did you get her local around here

 

[ficklefins]

what do the babies feed on? You should put together a thread on your octo tank.

 

[MarvinsReef]

nice octo..

 

[Marine Flora]

nice stuff laurie.

 

[Raptor]

Thats sweet! I have always wanted an octo. I will have a cuttlefish one day.
Still trying to track captive raised cuttles down.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

I got it from Ken at SeaLifeFlorida.com. I believe he dives for them himself- not only because I think I read it somewhere, but also because he only charges like $25 for her. There's no way you could retail it for that cheap after a distributor, imo. Plus I think he treats them very well, from what I have seen of his livestock.

The babies haven't hatched yet, but the eyes are almost clear in the eggs, so I hope in not too long they will hatch. I'm going to try them on soacked mysis since I think they will be very small!

She is really, really cool to watch- wicked smart and will play with you through the glass, following your fingers and waving tentacles on the glass trying to figure out why she can't get to me. She inked once, in a 32 gallon tank and I almost had a fit! Did a 35% waterchange, no coral losses, most of them didn't even blink. I was AMAZED. And she really only inked because I scared her trying to feed her a fish <--- idiot... LOL Also, she blushes when you first walk up to check her out. Pretty neat- the rest of the time she is extremely light colored to match the sand.


Laurie

 

[Azurel]

That's awsome Laurie.....Way to go.....Yea we need a thread started on your tank.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

She's livingin the Finnex since I still haven't gotten my Angler yet. I started her out in the front display portion, but for some reason she likes to slip into the refugium and hide in the macros in the back of the tank. It must feel safer for her eggs there I guess!


Laurie

 

[minibowmatt]

how big will the babies be when they hatch? Mysis may be too big? Maybe pods or rotifers would be worth considering too?

 

[jessiesgrrl]

No joke, Matt! I plan on having her try everything up and down the size chain when they hatch. The eggs are about the length of your pinky nail, and about 1/4 as wide, so copepods are definately going to be worth a try. As a matter of fact, they are abundant in that tank right now anyway because I really have no natural predators in there for them besides the tube anenome- and he really doesn't 'hunt' per se...


Laurie

 

[da6d2003]

That is soooo cool. Good luck with the babies. How fun.

 

[gflat65]

Awesome. I've always wanted to keep something that has been touted as being smarter than grad students by the researchers studying behavior.

 

[jessiesgrrl]

ROTFL, Gary!!!! I am not sure if I should be offended or proud... lol


Laurie

 

[JGoslee]

Thats awesome! I've always wanted an octopus. Have you fed the mother octo any live crabs or shrimps?

 

[jessiesgrrl]

Yes, I fed her some gorilla crabs from my refugium. She is lighting gast and slammed them repeatedly against the glass. I'm not a very violent person, but even so man, was it ever fun to watch! Very primal. I haven't done shrimp yet- most of mine are ornamental and I like them too much!!

Laurie

 

[Azurel]

You need toget us a video of it.....

 

[jessiesgrrl]

There she is with eggs. I can do a video, but for the moment, she is just tehre protecting the eggs, until you feed her across the tank. The next time I feed her, I'll try to remember. I think our camera has a short vid option on it.


Laurie

 

[jessiesgrrl]

And dang it, what I thought was eyes in the eggs, up close looks like Octo poop... lol

Laurie