For the record, the way that I've been collecting the little babies is the classic "catch the spider" approach: cover the octopus with a shot glass against the side of the aquarium, then slowly slide a plastic playing card underneath it. The only trick is to move slowly, and the little guys normally swim into the glass, making it easy to lift out.
amazing ... maybe one day I will find a large egg layer and be able to see the same in my tank.
OK! That picture needs to go to a photo contest! Wow!
I never saw one kill or eat the other but believe it must have happened. It will be interesting to see if you can document it happening. The hatchlings I went to collect in Charleston several years ago started showing red spot. It was assumed that these were sibling nips, the hatchlings always died once the red spots showed. The animals we took home had been kept in a separate aquarium and none had red spots. After having my own batch, I suspect the spots were bacterial infection and not bites as non-of my hatchlings ever exhibited the marks.
I never saw one kill or eat the other but believe it must have happened. It will be interesting to see if you can document it happening. The hatchlings I went to collect in Charleston several years ago started showing red spot. It was assumed that these were sibling nips, the hatchlings always died once the red spots showed. The animals we took home had been kept in a separate aquarium and none had red spots. After having my own batch, I suspect the spots were bacterial infection and not bites as non-of my hatchlings ever exhibited the marks.
I did not read the rules on any of these but want to encourage you to think about entering this picture somewhere 
http://www.discoverwildlife.com/wil...ontest/april 2014 photo contest: baby animals
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Weekly photo contest: Animals!
Aquarium Photo Contest
https://reefbuilders.com/tag/photo-contest/
http://www.discoverwildlife.com/wil...ontest/april 2014 photo contest: baby animals
Weekly photo contest: Animals!
Aquarium Photo Contest
https://reefbuilders.com/tag/photo-contest/
I am so enjoying these photos. Could look at them all day! 
Thanks! I'm glad you like them. I could look at them all day too...
Some sad news: I picked up three corpses from the bottom of the buffet yesterday. Of course we all know that most of the little guys won't survive, but it's still really heartbreaking to see the little white bodies. I should have kept better track, but I think I put around 6 or 8 babies into the buffet. Whoever is still alive in there is doing a good job hiding. (Any corpses in the main tank will be promptly cleaned up by the bristleworms.)
In the main tank, I counted about 75 alive on the glass last night at around 10:00. It's possible that there are more that come out later in the night, but somehow that number seems reasonable. I'll try to keep counting each night, and I'm probably accurate to within 5 or so, given the activity level while I was trying to count. I could be imagining it, but I feel like I can tell who has been eating and who hasn't -- some of the babies really seem larger and more vivacious than others.
I also put about 5 babies into the sump, but there's way too much live rock "rubble" in there to have a hope of seeing them, dead or alive.
Iris (mom) is still alive, and hasn't moved from her den.
Some sad news: I picked up three corpses from the bottom of the buffet yesterday. Of course we all know that most of the little guys won't survive, but it's still really heartbreaking to see the little white bodies. I should have kept better track, but I think I put around 6 or 8 babies into the buffet. Whoever is still alive in there is doing a good job hiding. (Any corpses in the main tank will be promptly cleaned up by the bristleworms.)
In the main tank, I counted about 75 alive on the glass last night at around 10:00. It's possible that there are more that come out later in the night, but somehow that number seems reasonable. I'll try to keep counting each night, and I'm probably accurate to within 5 or so, given the activity level while I was trying to count. I could be imagining it, but I feel like I can tell who has been eating and who hasn't -- some of the babies really seem larger and more vivacious than others.
I also put about 5 babies into the sump, but there's way too much live rock "rubble" in there to have a hope of seeing them, dead or alive.
Iris (mom) is still alive, and hasn't moved from her den.
I look forward to your posts every day!
You have gotten me thinking again about hatchling foods and I have added a few more articles on the subject to the care forum. I have decided to make a trip to our semi-local Asian market as soon as I can validate they have live blue crabs. Since I don't have an octo at the moment, I won't be scrounging claws but I decided to see if I could "rescue" a sexually mature female crab, try to keep it alive and see if it will produce zoeae. I have never had any luck with fiddler zoeae (or at least I have never seen any and only one female has ever survived being berried in my tank) but it occurred to me to try the larger animals to see what happens. I found a site to show me what to look for in the female and what to expect if eggs are going to be brooded but that is the extent of my knowledge so far.
You have gotten me thinking again about hatchling foods and I have added a few more articles on the subject to the care forum. I have decided to make a trip to our semi-local Asian market as soon as I can validate they have live blue crabs. Since I don't have an octo at the moment, I won't be scrounging claws but I decided to see if I could "rescue" a sexually mature female crab, try to keep it alive and see if it will produce zoeae. I have never had any luck with fiddler zoeae (or at least I have never seen any and only one female has ever survived being berried in my tank) but it occurred to me to try the larger animals to see what happens. I found a site to show me what to look for in the female and what to expect if eggs are going to be brooded but that is the extent of my knowledge so far.
Last night I counted about 60 on the glass, but there seemed to be more moving around in the rocks, so I'm not sure if the change (from 75 previously) is significant.
Tonight I counted 65. There is also at least one still alive in the buffet, because he expressed his annoyance when I went to move the macroalgae out.
Still plenty of mysids hanging around on the floor of the main tank.
Here's a photo from tonight. This little guy somehow looks more grown up, even after just a few days.
Tonight I counted 65. There is also at least one still alive in the buffet, because he expressed his annoyance when I went to move the macroalgae out.
Still plenty of mysids hanging around on the floor of the main tank.
Here's a photo from tonight. This little guy somehow looks more grown up, even after just a few days.
Net time you pull some out for close-up/feeding check the arm tips visually. It is hard to be sure but the tips look truncated. One arm could be missing but there is a "spare" that may be connected or the lighting may make things appear different than reality but you may have just captured evidence of cannibalism in the hatchlings.
What else is in the tank? Hermits?
What else is in the tank? Hermits?
Really incredible shots! You are right, in the pic w/ three, the one looks less developed than the others.
I think it may be an illusion from that photo. The rear two arms are shorter (and whiter in the last photo), and right arm 3 is hiding underneath, but you can see the end of it curled up below right arm 2. It almost looks like left arms 1 and 2 may be a little clipped at the end, but I can't really tell if it's just the angle of the photo.
One thing is for sure -- I can tell a lot more from the high-res photos than I ever can looking in person. These guys are tiny! I have loads more photos that I don't post, which may have better arm-tip-viewing angles. I'll check.
Two larger (~1") hermits and about 10 tiny (< 1 cm) hermits. Lots of mysids, copepods (presumably, though I can't see them), and amphipods. Three or four shore shrimp. Several large (~6") bristleworms, and many small ones. One large octopus, and between 60 and 100 baby octopuses.
Longer arms in the front are diagnostic for the species so no issue with length. Missing tips could be bristleworms, hermits or fighting.
I have definitely noticed more in the photos, even with the larger animals, than I do with my eyes. However, your photos make me want to look back into seeing what I can do for a maco. My camera is a high end point and shoot and not a DSLR so I can't add a lens and my macro setting is really hard to focus in low light but I need to play with it again
I have definitely noticed more in the photos, even with the larger animals, than I do with my eyes. However, your photos make me want to look back into seeing what I can do for a maco. My camera is a high end point and shoot and not a DSLR so I can't add a lens and my macro setting is really hard to focus in low light but I need to play with it again
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