Kooah's Hatchlings - O.briareus

[DWhatley]

Tank Statuses Day 12

Individually counted octos at feeding time: 5 (possibly 6), 4 took pipette mysis.

2 Gallon Eggwhite Tank
Discontinued use

Poision Tank
No sighting, zoo plankton doing fine.

Yucky Water Tank
No sightings

Breeder Nets
Found a couple of eyes tonight and determined (through trying to feed) that there is a live octo still in one of Puddles' sump nets - mysis don't ink. It did not take the food from the pipette but I put food in all the nets each night.

Puddles Sump
I am adding the sump as a separate container since I am going to leave the two that have made there way there alone. I was saddened that I could not find them at midnight but about 1:00 the little guy that insists he wants the feeding stick showed and ate (and wanted the pipette) and about half an hour later the other little guy was in his feeding station across the tank and ready to eat.

Brood Tank
I tried rousing them an hour earlier (midnight) tonight but was not successful. I did get to see one climbing around on the LR but was not able to feed it. By 1:00 I was able to find and feed two. One was in its normal spot but the other in a diagonal corner from where I usually find one. It took the mysis but a peppermint shrimp started pestering it before supper was eaten and it was smart enough to give up the food and move away. I have tried over and over to remove the shrimp and am very uncomfortable with them in the tank but so far I have not seen them feast on an octo. Once I lured the shrimp to the other side, I offered another shrimp to the same octo and he was able to eat in peace. Strangely they don't travel far once they come to the wall.

 

[DWhatley]

Tank Statuses Day 13

Individually counted octos at feeding time: 4 (I think) 3 took pipette mysis.

Poision Tank
No sighting, zoo plankton doing fine.

Yucky Water Tank
No sightings

Breeder Nets
No sightings

Puddles Sump
One of my two loose ones showed up for dinner. My stick grabber was nowhere to be found.. A tried one last time at about 2:45 and found the stinker. Unfortunately, I scared him (or he just wasn't hungry) and he jetted off when I came back with dinner.

Brood Tank
The one that comes to the front corner was waiting for me and as soon as the pipette hit the water he was climbing towards it. They eat rather slowly (faster than you or I could eat something the size of our bodies though) so I think he must have lost the shrimp or only got a piece of the initial one because he wanted more later. Later one of them was crawling on the LR but I am not sure if this is the one that won't be hand fed or the one that ate. One appeared on the back wall (at about 2:30 AM) and rapidly climbed. This has been the consistent behavior of one of them and he took the offered shrimp quckly so I am pretty sure I fed and saw 2.

 

[Shrimpy Brains]

So glad you still have a few doing well. Thanks for the updates, pics and videos. Love them!!

 

[Lmecher]

Clever use of ruler
Keeping

 

[SabrinaR]

Keeping

Me too! I love looking in to see how things are going for you... Man has it only been 2 weeks since they hatched? Seems like so much more time has passed.

 

[DWhatley]

Linda,
The tape measure is just underneath the plastic container. The dead ones are just jelly out of water so to even attempt getting some idea of size they need to be floated in liquid and even then getting a pose for measurements is difficult.

 

[DWhatley]

Tank Statuses 2 Weeks

Individually counted octos at feeding time: 6 (I think) 5 took pipette mysis.

Here is where I start having hope. I won't be comfortable with the count until at least a month and I can detect growth but it is a beginning.

For the remaining, I am giving them temporary names and will assume I find the correct ones based on habit/behavior

Poision Tank
No sighting, zoo plankton doing fine, very small popping shrimp active at night.

Yucky Water Tank
No sightings

Breeder Nets
No sightings

Puddles Sump
Pogo: found front left corner (normal location) and fed, still wants the feeding stick, not just the food
Hepzibah: found right side behind net (normal side) and took mysis from pipette

Puddles Tank newly added location
Sam: Newly discovered but ran from pipette (never has been fed), lots and lots of easy access pods in this tank.

Brood Tank
WallWalker: found wall walking on the back (normal location) and pipette fed
LateToDinner: found wandering the LR (normal location) and pipette fed
SittingBull: found front right corner (normal location) later than the rest, came immediately to pipette without prompting when it was placed near by.

 

[CaptFish]

I like the names! I am very excited at how well the feeding are going.

 

[Lmecher]

Your names are quite clever and I imagine that it makes it easier to differentiate between them. Those babies are just too cute, in the close ups, they have a freclked look. Are these spots are developing chromatophores? I don't know how anyone could look at inklets and not fall in love.

 

[CaptFish]

Are these spots are developing chromatophores?

They are. Somewhere I saw the Vulgaris is born with only nine chromies, then obviously they grow more.

 

[SabrinaR]

Love the names! Im sure its got to be tough keeping your emotional connection in check. That one who trys to steal the feeding stick sounds like hes got your number.

 

[corw314]

This is so exciting Di! And I love the names also!!!!

 

[DWhatley]

Tank Statuses 15 days

Individually counted octos at feeding time: 4 all took pipette mysis.

WallWalker was the first out at around 12:15 and I tried a piece of frozen table shrimp. He came to the pipette but pushed it away and kept climbing higher. Each time I would touch his arms with the sliver he would decline interest. I switched to the mysis and he took it immediately.

I am getting a larger quantity of zoo plankton/sea grass skimmings today so I am hoping to have more food to let loose in the tank. I don't want them to stop feeding by hand but I worry that one mysis a night is not enough for them to grow healthily. Hopefully they will hunt, still come to a hand feeding and not attack each other.

Breeder Nets
No sightings

Puddles Sump
Pogo: found front left corner (normal location) Tonight he even released the side wall so that his only attachment was to the pipette. I guided him back to the wall and just release the feeding stick until he was finished.

Hepzibah: was very late for dinner tonight and I started to worry. She did not show up until after 2:00 AM but when I put the flash light in her corner she waved her arms around frantically (normally she sits still on the outer wall and casually accepts her shrimp). It was as if she knew she was late and thought she would not get any dinner.

Puddles Tank
Sam: No sighting - I only expect to catch glimpses of Sam since I have only seen him once in the last week and he has never been hand fed.

Brood Tank
WallWalker: found wall walking on the back wall(normal location) and pipette fed (see top note)

LateToDinner: no sign of him tonight. I looked several times over all the LR but he did not show. I have not seen all three at one time for two days so it is possible there are only two. However, yesterday I fed 3 shrimp and I have not had any of them take more than one shrimp a day.

SittingBull: found on the LR next to the right wall. He came out later than WallWalker and would show himself and then duck back into the LR, more like LateToDinner. I decided it was Sitting Bull because LateToDinner is usually running around mid tank and Sitting Bull dives at the food (as this one did tonight) without me having to touch it to the arms.

 

[sulley]

i want to thank for this awesome detailed thread D...good luck

 

[Nancy]

Yes, D is doing an incredible job taking care of the hatchlings and giving us such detailed reports. I found it interesting that she can distinguish individual behavior at that young age.

I know you're working against the odds, but we all hope that at least one makes it to adulthood.

Nancy