Bimac Hatchlings

I can understand where youre coming from. For some reason bimacs seem to fair better than most other octopus inklets so you could very well end up with 3 fully grown octopuses.

The food D was talking about before the VERY high protein cyclop-eeze... I have found some for sale online. They arent to expensive :biggrin2: but there is over night shipping which is kind of high. You are closer so it might be cheaper for you.

Cyclop-eeze FROZEN

You will have to call to order. But with the VERY high protein content I couldnt pass it up so I ordered some and it will be here next week. You might give it a try for the babies.
 
I think frozen cyclopeeze are about 800 microns in length (0.8 mm) which is probably a good size for these little guys. Cyclops are fresh water animals, so you need to be suspicious that there could be some important nutrient that they don't contain, which I think makes it wise to keep offering different things (ideally live marine things) even if they are eating the cyclopeeze.
 
SueAndHerZoo;174703 said:
...I have sent the Boston student a couple of good leads of places that were interested in taking some so hopefully she's qualifying good homes for a lot of them.
If you haven't already done so, I suggest that you encourage her to give a link to this thread, to anyone she contacts about adopting some babies. They'll all want to find out how to do it, and this thread is blazing that trail for them. Once they read it, they might be more willing to go for it, and more of these little guys will have a chance.

What other Tonmo threads should she include in the adoption brochure?
 
Joe-Ceph;174716 said:
I think frozen cyclopeeze are about 800 microns in length (0.8 mm) which is probably a good size for these little guys. Cyclops are fresh water animals, so you need to be suspicious that there could be some important nutrient that they don't contain, which I think makes it wise to keep offering different things (ideally live marine things) even if they are eating the cyclopeeze.


The special salt lake (pH 9.7, Salinity 72ppt) where Cyclop-eeze grow is unique as it is very rich in a wide variety of inorganic chemicals, several of which are important elements needed for the production of HUFA’s and biological pigments.

And then here...

Cyclop-eeze is a bright red product made of freeze-dried microscopic marine Cyclops about 400-500 µm in size. It is useful in feeding corals, larva, and fry of various creatures.

It is considered a 'super-food' and is reported to be very rich in carotenoids, vitamins, antioxidants and Omega-3 Unsaturated fatty acids.

* It is available for sale throughout the USA and the EU.

I read this and thought that meant it was a saltwater creature.... Why is this considered freshwater? I am a little confused about this now.
 
SabrinaR;174722 said:
I read this and thought that meant it was a saltwater creature.... Why is this considered freshwater? I am a little confused about this now.
I think the important thing is that it doesn't live in a marine environment, and so, like brine shrimp, probably doesn't have all of the nutrients found in marine food, or at least doesn't have them in the same proportions. On the other hand, lots of people feed cyclopeeze to their marine aquariums, with great success, so if the little octopuses will eat them, it's a good thing to feed them. My only warning is to play it safe by trying to avoid feeding them exclusively non-marine food. Vary the diet, and include marine food, as much as possible, just to minimize the chances that they fail to get some important nutrient.
 
Joe-Ceph;174718 said:
If you haven't already done so, I suggest that you encourage her to give a link to this thread, to anyone she contacts about adopting some babies. They'll all want to find out how to do it, and this thread is blazing that trail for them. Once they read it, they might be more willing to go for it, and more of these little guys will have a chance.

What other Tonmo threads should she include in the adoption brochure?

No problem there.... the student had posted her original "Looking for Homes" post on this site - that's how she and I found each other. Also, the people I talk to about them who seem interested I send here to read about what's involved in the care and feeding of hatchlings and then if they are STILL interested, I give them the student's name. :smile:

Sue
 
I think the inklets ate their first crab! I'm so excited! I bought fiddler crabs about a week ago but when I saw the size of them I knew I couldn't put them with the hatchlings. I froze them and then every couple of days thawed and cut one open, offered it to the hatchlings, and always got a negative reaction: they either run away from it or grab onto it and toss it away from them. I have tried every couple of days with the same, unfavorable reaction. Tonight, however, for some reason, all three hathlings were VERY interested! I can't figure out why they all got on the same page on the same day.... is it an age thing? I can't be 100% sure they're actually eating any of the crab but all three of them grabbed on and wouldn't let go and tried dragging it either into their "sleeping shell" or behind a rock. When I would try to help them move it they would get frantic and try to run away with the piece of crab - I'm so thrilled!

If they are going to keep up this interest, my questions are: what part of the crab do the inklets eat.... just the body or do they pick at the legs, too? What is the best way for me to "serve" the thawed fiddlers to them... the way I did tonight (cut in half) or should I put it in intact and let them learn how to get the meat out?

Big day for me and the inklets! (they are a little over 7 weeks old).
Sue
 
Experiment and report :biggrin2: You should be able to tell if they are eating the meat because the shell will be empty like a molt. I do think age impacts what they will attempt to eat. I saw this with table shrimp and think it is to tough for them until about 5 months (for O.briareus) but they had no trouble with mysis or shore shrimp from the beginning.
 
DWhatley;174933 said:
Experiment and report :biggrin2: You should be able to tell if they are eating the meat because the shell will be empty like a molt. I do think age impacts what they will attempt to eat. I saw this with table shrimp and think it is to tough for them until about 5 months (for O.briareus) but they had no trouble with mysis or shore shrimp from the beginning.

Every day I defrost a raw, frozen shrimp, cut it into tiny pieces, and offer it to the hatchlings. Every day, they ignore it (so the fish, anemones and corals in my other tanks get a shrimp treat). Maybe I'll only try once or twice a week until they're older. One less thing to stink up my fingers would be a good thing. :smile:
Sue
 
One advantage of a good clean up crew (and I count my polyps cause I have seen them eat octo poop but could not locate the photo) is that you can always feed the whatever you try and fail to coax the octos to eat :biggrin2:
 
They seem to come to life about 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. and are still out and about when I turn their light out at midnight or 1:00 a.m. They are in a room that gets a lot of natural daylight but I don't actually turn their light on till I come home for lunch (about 1:00 or 2:00 p.m.) and they are no where to be found at that time. I put some food in their individual habitats at lunch anyway, just in case they get up and are hungry while I'm back at the office. When I check on them early evening (7:00ish p.m.) they are usually still not out and about, but then later in the night when I go down to do the daily cleaning and maintenance, they are out and active. I don't know if that's a result of me always being the most active in their tank at 9:00 or 10:00 p.m. or if it's coincidence.

Last night they were VERY active, all three were climbing the walls of their breeding nets (making me nervous). I took advantage of the opportunity to start interacting with them. two out of three were very tolerant of my finger.... I was able to repeatedly put it right next to them, leave it there for a few seconds, remove it, and then do it again. The third one runs away when I do that but two out of three ain't bad. We've only just begun. :smile:

Sue
 

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