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Greater Blue ringed octopuses (Hapalochlaena lunulata)

fang

Blue Ring
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Mar 15, 2019
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Location
New york
Hello, I hope everyone is doing well. My friend and I each bought a greater blue ringed octopus. One is larger than the other and they are in great health. If we have a pair, the goal is to eventually introduce the male into the females tank and try to breed them. I understand these are a very venomous species. We octoproofed an aquarium with Astro turf and a very tight fitted lid. The lid has two clips that secure it and make sure they can’t lift it. We have puncture and slash proof Kevlar gloves and sleeves. Even though they are very docile we are making sure there is no room for error. The aquarium has been ready and cycled for 2 and a half years. We have been looking for them for awhile haha.

I am going away tomorrow and my friend will be taking care of them. I will keep posting updates as I get them. If the videos I have are good enough to be able to sex them, any input would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise once I get back I’ll look a lot closer. Thanks again!
 

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Hello, I hope everyone is doing well. My friend and I each bought a greater blue ringed octopus. One is larger than the other and they are in great health. If we have a pair, the goal is to eventually introduce the male into the females tank and try to breed them. I understand these are a very venomous species. We octoproofed an aquarium with Astro turf and a very tight fitted lid. The lid has two clips that secure it and make sure they can’t lift it. We have puncture and slash proof Kevlar gloves and sleeves. Even though they are very docile we are making sure there is no room for error. The aquarium has been ready and cycled for 2 and a half years. We have been looking for them for awhile haha.

I am going away tomorrow and my friend will be taking care of them. I will keep posting updates as I get them. If the videos I have are good enough to be able to sex them, any input would be greatly appreciated. Otherwise once I get back I’ll look a lot closer. Thanks again!
Seems the videos I uploaded are not working so I have a youtube link of them. Hope this is ok.

 
Well, if you’ve never sexed/bred/raised baby octopuses, this is a lousy species to start with. Hatching and raising cephalopods is a lot of work. Start accumulating prey items now for the babies.

if one of your octopuses is a male, it will develop a little mitt at the end of an arm called a hectocotylus. I’m not sure with Haps, but it appears on Right Arm #1 or 2 on most species. Some octopus’s hectos are very small and hard to see, but again I’m not sure about BRs. I’m afraid it’s completely impossible to see on your video.

Is Roy Caldwell still on TONMO? He’s the go-to guy for Blue Rings.

I don’t know why you chose to try this with such a dangerous species, but good luck to you! It’s not an endeavor to be taken lightly. Cheers!
 
Well, if you’ve never sexed/bred/raised baby octopuses, this is a lousy species to start with. Hatching and raising cephalopods is a lot of work. Start accumulating prey items now for the babies.

if one of your octopuses is a male, it will develop a little mitt at the end of an arm called a hectocotylus. I’m not sure with Haps, but it appears on Right Arm #1 or 2 on most species. Some octopus’s hectos are very small and hard to see, but again I’m not sure about BRs. I’m afraid it’s completely impossible to see on your video.

Is Roy Caldwell still on TONMO? He’s the go-to guy for Blue Rings.

I don’t know why you chose to try this with such a dangerous species, but good luck to you! It’s not an endeavor to be taken lightly. Cheers!
Thanks for the info, I think the hectocotylus on BRs is on the third right arm or second? I was just asking just in case I missed something. They are usually curled up so it’s hard to tell. We will let them settle in and sex them before we attempt to breed them. We are going to culture tigger pods and apocyclops copepods as the food for the larvae since they are pelagic paralarvae. I think the southern blue ring is the one that just has miniature versions of the adults while greaters have a full larval stage.
 

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