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Cyanea-Shooting for need to know facts.

Omega

GPO
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Nov 30, 2009
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158
It's been very hard to find info on the Cyanea so far. And since there are potentially two of us right now that are looking to get one, I'm starting this separate thread to help people find info on them.

-They life 12-15 months, with females laying eggs at roughly one year.

-The female will refuse food and brood over the eggs once laid, so expect females to have a shorter lifespan

-breeding them in an aquarium would likely be impossible as the women eat the males after mating, sometimes before

-They stay in one den at a maximum of 40 days, so keep this in mind when designing the tank for it.

-They grow very quickly, but if anything is off during their juvenile period it can vastly influence how large they grow

-reports are conflicted if its truly diurnal so its possible there are multiple species

-They seem to be on average about 4 feet, but there are multiple Hawaiian websites that claim they've seen them at 6 feet

-They are the most common octopus to Hawaii and are commonly food or bait.

-this link CWTG - NCEI Coastal Water Temperature Guide - Hawaiian Island Coast table has average water temps around Hawaii and other pacific areas, based on this Id say a Cyanea could easily be comfy in the low 70's.

-They have large dark oval eye spots below their eyes, and have spots covering their tentacles. Spots can be hard to see depending what color the octopus is at the time.

-Scientists believe the Cyanea may be the best octopus at camouflage due likely to the fact many hunt during the day.

I'll add more as I find it. I have several emails out to fisheries/fishery watchdog agencies trying to find which ones have a bycatch of octos. Hopefully I'll be able to find a source for the species =].


Everything Octopus
http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=553
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/...nt/media/MBA_SeafoodWatch_HIOctopusReport.pdf
 
copy of recent Neogonodactylus' post:

If I were looking for a large octopus to keep in a very large aquarium, I would choose O. cyanea because:

1. It gets large. Mantle length of 7 inches; arm length of over two feet.

2. It is diurnal and active using a diversity of hunting techniques.

3. It uses a variety of shape, texture and color patterns as camouflage and for displays.

4. Probably because it often is found in shallow water, it is tolerant over a fair range of temperatures and salinities.

5. It is one of the most common large octopuses in the world found on reefs from Hawaii and French Polynesia to East Africa.

6. At most locations where it is found, it is not threatened - although it is often eaten.

7. It accepts a wide variety of live prey from fish to crustaceans and mollusks. I have even seen one capture and kill an 18 inch green turtle.

8. They live at least a year. The longest I have kept one in captivity is 15 months, but I suspect that at cool temperatures and moderate feeding they live longer.

Negatives:

1. They are very prone to inking and produce massive amounts of ink.

2. They bite.

3. To be suitable for the aquarium trade, suppliers should catch juveniles - which are difficult to find. I've had the most luck collecting young animals from coral rubble at moderate depths 10-30 m. I'm not sure if they settle deeper and move up onto shallow reefs as they mature, but it is a possibility.


Here are images of a 1 cm juvenile that I caught last summer on Moorea. Note the false eye spot characterized by the physical ring and bump in the center.

Roy
 
If I were looking for a large octopus to keep in a very large aquarium, I would choose O. cyanea because:

1. It gets large. Mantle length of 7 inches; arm length of over two feet.

2. It is diurnal and active using a diversity of hunting techniques.

3. It uses a variety of shape, texture and color patterns as camouflage and for displays.

4. Probably because it often is found in shallow water, it is tolerant over a fair range of temperatures and salinities.

5. It is one of the most common large octopuses in the world found on reefs from Hawaii and French Polynesia to East Africa.

6. At most locations where it is found, it is not threatened - although it is often eaten.

7. It accepts a wide variety of live prey from fish to crustaceans and mollusks. I have even seen one capture and kill an 18 inch green turtle.

8. They live at least a year. The longest I have kept one in captivity is 15 months, but I suspect that at cool temperatures and moderate feeding they live longer.

Negatives:

1. They are very prone to inking and produce massive amounts of ink.

2. They bite.

3. To be suitable for the aquarium trade, suppliers should catch juveniles - which are difficult to find. I've had the most luck collecting young animals from coral rubble at moderate depths 10-30 m. I'm not sure if they settle deeper and move up onto shallow reefs as they mature, but it is a possibility.


Here are images of a 1 cm juvenile that I caught last summer on Moorea. Note the false eye spot characterized by the physical ring and bump in the center.

Roy
 
you mentioned they are hard- impossible to breed because females eat the males. Is this only in captivity? Because I just watched a national geographic show on cyanea this morning and it had a clip of them mating, and none were eaten. Then again they have trillions of gallons of water. Does amount of water influence octo behavior drastically?
 
Roy has mentioned that lab and in situ behavior are significantly different and certainly space (not specifically water gallonage) and food supply will influence behavior. Mate cannibalism is likely to be common in the wild but not "every time or with "every" octopus pair (unlike the preying mantis or black widow spider behavior).

There is still a whole lot we don't know. Smaller quarters does seem to promote cannibalism, regardless of sex, in many species. I don't know of a cannibalistic reference for adults on TONMO but we have had very few attempts at paring (with good reason) and almost no same species pairings. Attempts recorded wtih mix species pairings have ALWAYS let to aggression and death of at least one of the pair if not separated.

Also keep in mind that scientific videos often set the stage and control the outcomes to be able to give you good photography. There was some recent discussion on this over the GPO eating the dog shark video. I can't really object if the presentation is valid but it gets a little scary if there is misrepresentation by a resepected organization.
 

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