I'VE GOT INKLETS

[Jon Crossan]

Hey guys I ordered some more mysis shrimp and released them into the tank. The good news is I saw one of the babies spit out the head of a shrimp the other day so I think they are starting to eat! Last time I counted I'm at 12 or 13 little guys. Charlotte is doing just fine also and I am constantly checking water parameters. I'll try to get some pictures as soon as I can.

Also, I was wondering...

Didn't someone mention that O. Chierchiae is a community species octopus? I have seen the little babies get right up next to eachother but I still have yet to see any aggression in them. I am assuming that none of them have become canabalistic yet but I am wondering if O. Chierchiae IS a community species is it possible that the babies will not eat eachother and that Charlotte will not be interested in eating them once they get bigger?

And about the cyno, I haven't actually seen any of them eat it I have just seen them sit on it for awhile and was just curious to see if that might be a possible source of food for inklets maybe.

 

[Neogonodactylus]

The cyno is not a food source. Octopus ingest it only incidentally.

When I kept O. chierchiae juveniles, they were cannibalistic and the only paper published on keeping them (by Rodaniche) reports the same thing. He also observed that when the female resumed eating, she ate the juveniles.

I saw no evidence in the field that they were social or communal.

Roy

 

[shipposhack]

Roy did you keep them from the egg or collect juveniles? We have seemed to have good luck with raising octos together from the same batch of eggs that otherwise would have fought or killed each other if introduced individually.

BTW, did you ever try to find out where the collectors are finding their supply of Chierchiae?

 

[Thales]

Hi Jon,

I sent you a pm, but I am not sure you got it. Now that I have babies as well, it seems even more important to try to breed them and get more genetic diversity in the mix. Would you please contact me at [email protected] to see if you and I and Roy can arrange something?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Jon Crossan]

Hey Thales I sent you an email about the babies. I never did get that pm though.

 

[Neogonodactylus]

When I hatched clutches in the late-70's. the brood was kept in a small aquarium with the mother. She ate some and I moved the hatchlings to another container. However, I did not have a very good source of food, so they could have been starving when the cannibalism occurred. However, Rodaniche reported the same thing and he was working at the Naos Marine Laboratory in Panama, so he should have had access to proper food. Also, his PhD was on octopus behavior and life history, so he was experienced with keeping several species.

I never collected juvenile O. chierchiae. I only found mature adults.

Roy