Mongo, the mighty merc

[DWhatley]

Sorry but this is lost on me - looks like a crossword puzzle of questions (I do, however, know of Vogon poetry)

I will not RUSH into second guessing (with the help of the internet) but suspect a melodic influence knowing your spouse's hobby (addiction).

 

[sedna]

minor housing change

There must be no men from the ages of 50-35 reading this journal- if there are, they haven't listened to a rock radio station in years... like maybe since MOVING PICTURES were invented!

A quick note that I took Mongo and her den out of the critter keeper. I happened upon an super tiny baby octo on Tues. at my favorite LFS. (S)He's so small that I had to put it in the critter keeper in the 55 gal., otherwise I'd loose track of it altogether. Think it may be a baby macro, but so young it's too hard to tell. More after I've lived with it a bit and get a photo.

So now Mongo and her den are no longer enclosed, I'm not sure how I want to proceed. I've read D and Greg's journals, you two rock for keeping such great info! I can leave her the way she is, or get another large keeper and cut windows in the sides then cover the sides and top with fine mesh. The thinking here being the babies will be easier to keep corraled until I take them out, and I can leave a few in with mom. I've purchased one breeder net for the babies, for $5 each it seemed so much easier than making my own stuff this time. I'm not sure how much I want to invest in little boxes when I'll be needing to spend the $$ on FOOD...

BTW, Day 30 of Mongo's brooding will be 3-23, when should I order food? I'm thinking whatever I order will work for new mystery baby, too, it's SO tiny!

 

[DWhatley]

Cyclop-eze, Cyclop-eze, Cyclop-eze (frozen not dried )
The stuff is expensive and then you add shipping costs but almost every marine critter eats it. Greg did not think his first group of merc were eating it but did use it with this second set. It is the only thing my post brood Trapper ate and if you go back to here thread you can see he "sucking it up" in a video that was taken well after post hatch.

Picture, Pictures Pictures - you know they don't stay small for long. The picture I took of Bel in the critter keeper where I could get very clear proportions (your fault I did this) was ideal for taking measurements since the tank itself gave both dimension and perspective.

 

[sedna]

Monty is the coolest member on Tonmo! OR, I am not the biggest geek... depending on how you choose to look at it. Mongo is named (sort of) for a song by Canadian power trio, RUSH.

Mongo blew away the cyclop-eeze that I offered last night, but I'll keep trying that along with traumatized hermits with smashed shells. I'm not fond of the idea that smashing their shells might scare the crabs, but then I never mind that getting eaten alive by an octo might cause some alarm.

 

[sedna]

Still brooding...

Today is about day 32 of brooding for Mongo. With my aculeatus, I was spot on with my prediction for hatching date (it's 3 weeks exactly). This is about the busiest week I've had (they never come when it's convenient for your schedule) so I though for sure they'd be here...

I decided to put Mongo's den in a large filter bag, the top raised a full 3 inches out of the water. There is still a giant bristle worm in her den with her, but I'm thinking at least they'll be corralled until I move them into their own breeder nets.

Mongo has stopped eating everything I've tried to give her. I noticed the tip of the arm she sweeps food away with is missing, I'm thinking she's autophagic. Even her favorites, hermit crabs, are rejected despite the fact that I've "de-shelled" them for her...

Still hanging in there and keeping my fingers crossed for babies!

 

[DWhatley]

Sedna, the mercs seem to take longer and I believe that parallels with other larger egged species (based on the length of time Conanny - briareus - brooded her lot). Even with your warmer tank, I would expect 6-10 weeks of brooding.

Hummm, I don't recall any of the mercs missing arm tips after entering the aquarium.

 

[sedna]

Yeah, I knew large eggs take longer, I guess I getting impatient. I keep this tank a 75F because I thought mercs like a few degrees cooler than the other octos I've had. Is that right? Taking that into account maybe it will be more like 10 than 6 weeks? If that's true, and you haven't noticed your mercs loosing arm tips I'll keep trying to feed her!

 

[sedna]

messing with Mongo's house, AGAIN

Just making a note here, too, about the move. On 3-31 I moved Mongo into the 55 gal. tank so that Izabela could have more freedom to roam. As Mongo is brooding, it should make no difference to her which tank she's in. I just hope all of this moving around doesn't have a bad effect on her eggs somehow. As far as I can tell today, she's got everything sealed up tightly and exactly as when she was in the smaller tank.

I'll also note that I continue to have NO LUCK when it comes to feeding her. She still will not eat food offered to her, although there are giant white "pods" of some sort literally running in and out of her den, so it's possible she is eating something. Also, the move did not get rid of the GIANT bristle worm that's been in hen den since she started brooding.

 

[sedna]

Mongo is a MOM

Yes, of course, it makes so much more sense that I found babies in the nursery this morning as we are hosting a birthday party for my younger one today (Thank You, Fredrik Banting and insulin, my kid would be dead 100 years ago!). There are 2 babies, one in each of breeder nets now. Mongo and the rest of the brood are in the critter keeper. I imagine that since 10 other second graders are due at 1 pm, that babies will show up for the party, when I have no time to go fishing them out.

 

[forever27]

Congrats !

 

[monty]

 

[DWhatley]

Sound like everything is normal around your house It took me several days to catch some of the second group (and then there was Wiley who took me 5 months to catch). I am surprised that they hatched during the day though.

 

[sedna]

I noticed them first thing in the morning, I was lucky enough to catch them before it got too bright! No new onew this morning but we noticed one had made it's way into the big tank last night...

 

[sedna]

I haven't seen any more babies today (this morning or evening). In fact, I haven't been able to find the ones I put into the breeder nets, either. Of course, there are plenty of sneaky places to hide if you're that tiny, plus I added a couple of shells to each net. There are so many places to hide in the same piece of barnacle that Mongo's den is in that several could take up residence and I wouldn't know.

I have added tigger pods and cyclop- eze to the nets and "brooding box." They seem stupid small compared to the other pods that are crawling all over the barnacle. The "native" pods are white and come in a large array of sizes, these things have been living with Mongo all through brooding, in the den with her and crawling on her. Again, I've got to believe that a hatched out baby could live in the den with her and have plenty of food coming to it!

For the moment I still think it was a good idea to move her into the larger tank. However, I can foresee that babies are going to get out into the larger tank. I'm not going to be able to retrieve a couple before this whole experiment is over- I have visions of the 55 gal overrun with free range mercs. Yippie iye aye....

 

[sedna]

Just saw a baby out in one of the nets! I can tell he's hunting but it's too dark with only red lights to see clearly.