Hello! To everyone

[the reef shop]

A little about myself, I manage about a total of a thousand gallons of saltwater tanks with fish and coral. I set my first saltwater tank up in 1980 and have loved the hobby ever since then. I have never had an octopus until 4 months ago when a buddy of mine went diving off the coast of SC. and brought up a nice conk shell, little did he know until on the way back there was an octopus in it. He brought it to me to try keep alive. She has been happly eating 2 fiddler crabs a day and doing great. I say SHE because this evening at closing I got to see the birth of three babies! I looked in the barnikle, there are more eggs in it. I cut the lights off as I do every night not to distrub her. Can't wait to open in the morning to see what went on during the night. Taking the camera in the morning!!!

 

[dreadhead]

Very cool,look forward to some photos.and

 

[monty]

Do you know what species she is? If the babies are large enough to see, she's probably a large-egged species. In SC I'd think a mercatoris is a possibility. In any case, keep us informed and pictures would be great. Dwhatley and currently gholland have been raising baby mercs and their experiences may be of some value, Dwhatley's "Trapper's babies" threads in particular.

 

[the reef shop]

hey, went in this morning and before i cut the main lights on looked in the octo tank for the babies got to count 27 before they started scrambling for the rocks. they are about a quater inch long and very active!! any suggestions on care would be VERY WELCOMED. WILL TRY to get photos.

 

[Animal Mother]

Wow. Those are big babies. I would try small shore shrimp, small snails, and add mysis and/or pods to the tank.

 

[the reef shop]

THANK YOU. I have noticed there are alot of mysis and pods in the tank. can i add some live brine shrimp also?

 

[Jean]

THANK YOU. I have noticed there are alot of mysis and pods in the tank. can i add some live brine shrimp also?

Only for a treat, they're no good as a staple diet!

Photo's??? please???????


J

 

[dreadhead]

What octos are indigenous to S Carolina?Other then Vulgaris.

 

[Animal Mother]

If they're that big already I'm leaning toward briareus. I don't think it would be far-fetched to find them that far north, although I've never heard of such. It would be nice to find another large-egged species to add to the currently rather slim variety of potential tank-bred octos.

According to this picture on cephbase the O. briareus babies are approximately 1 inch at hatching.

 

[the reef shop]

Not sure what kind of octo she is? She will come out alot when the lights are out, there is enough back light in the shop that i can still see her. that is why i looked for the babies this morning before i cut the maine lights on. I will try to get a photo of her and the babies and i hope you can ID her for me. Since the babies she won't come out and has not touched a single fiddler crab, she was eating 2 a day.

 

[Nancy]

I think that ruler is in centimeters, and briareus babies would be more like 1/4 to 1/2 inch. At hatching, they have very short arms. How do I know? Well, I had some, less than a day old. Put 6 of them in my tank. They did seem to do well on mysids, amphipods and other the other little things in the tank.

I don't think we know all the species that are found along the coast. It could be mercatoris or something else. How big is the mother - mantle length and arm length?

Nancy

 

[the reef shop]

nancy, that sounds like the babies they are about 1/4 inch long with short arms. Is it normal for them to have that many babies? I lost count at 27 because they started scrambling off the glass to the rock, i did not even get to count the ones already on the rock. The size mantel of the mother i would say is about 2 1/2 inches arms are about the same. Thank you

 

[Animal Mother]

Oops... yup, says right there on the ruler "metric"... geez don't I feel retarded.

 

[Nancy]

Yes, it's normal to have that many babies! And more.

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

You are likely to see more babies hatch over the next week to 10 days.

If mom's arms are only 2-3 inches, she is not Briarius and sounds like a large bodied Mercatoris (these were roughly the same measurements for Trapper). However, 1/4" sounds too large for Mercatoris babies (unless you are measuring from arm tip to arm tip) and that many fry in one night has not been journaled for the Mercs so photos of mom would be the most helpful. Does/did she show more than two colors (ie redish brown and white only?). Have you seen little horns over the eyes and scattered bumps occassionally on the body, but not heavy crypting? Is there only a slight webbing or does it run most of the arm length? Have you seen a slight, white star-like pattern on the top of the mantle when she has shown deep red?

You might try squirting some frozen cyclop-eeze (other zoo plankton may do but I have had very good success with this brand and I would not recommend any of the dried kind) in the tank and see if the mother waves her arms around while you feed this to the young. If she reacts to it, squirt some daily just outside her den. If she follows my two Mercs example she is likely to only take platonic food now but you can also try putting a dead shore shrimp (recently killed) in her doorway or suspended with a piece of tubing to see if she will take it. She may not eat until all the babies hatch but the young will benefit from the Cyclop-eeze even if she does not feed.

It would be nice if you started a journal on this brood and title it so that it can be identified as describing tank born octos. Journals give octo keepers a good place to look when they are in a similar situation