- Joined
- Mar 17, 2003
- Messages
- 662
Rearing O. chierchiae
Colin,
That has always been the plan. This is a small, attractive, reasonably hardy octopus with demersal young and and a relatively short development time. The only thing that could be better would be if they were strictly diurnal, but at least they sit in ambush at the entrance of their cavity during the day so you can usually see them. This is not an octopus that people are going to be able to interact with, but for those who want to be able to keep a small octopus in a reasonably size tank (probably as small as 10-15 gal), it will probably turn out to be a good solution. And of course there is the added benefit that a female will not die after one reproductive event so you can observe the entire reproductive cycle at least three or four times.
There may be a couple of glitches that could nix the whole concept. I'm not going to discuss them yet until I'm sure, but don't plan on rushing down to your local LFS to purchase a cultured O. chierchiae..
Another serious issue is inbreeding. So far, all the hatchlings that Rich and I have are from one female and three males. We have yet to rear these juveniles to reproductive size, and even if we succeed, we have no idea how severe inbreeding depression might be. This is why I was so disappointed that we couldn't get one of Jon's hatchlings last spring. We desperately need genetic diversity!
And finally there is the issue of price. I had no idea how labor intensive and expensive it might be to rear these guys. The hatchlings require live prey from day one and daily care. I figure I have spent on average about 3 minutes a day per hatchling.. Let's say we considered them marketable at 100 days. That is about 6 hours per hatchling and at a salary of $10 per hour (not counting our time supervising ), that would be $60 each plus live food, aquarium supplies and maintenance. Then there is the cost of brood stock, if any more could ever be found, shipping,, etc., etc. Suddenly we are looking at a 1 cm octopus that costs well over $100 a piece. I think I just talked myself out of a new career!
Roy
Colin,
That has always been the plan. This is a small, attractive, reasonably hardy octopus with demersal young and and a relatively short development time. The only thing that could be better would be if they were strictly diurnal, but at least they sit in ambush at the entrance of their cavity during the day so you can usually see them. This is not an octopus that people are going to be able to interact with, but for those who want to be able to keep a small octopus in a reasonably size tank (probably as small as 10-15 gal), it will probably turn out to be a good solution. And of course there is the added benefit that a female will not die after one reproductive event so you can observe the entire reproductive cycle at least three or four times.
There may be a couple of glitches that could nix the whole concept. I'm not going to discuss them yet until I'm sure, but don't plan on rushing down to your local LFS to purchase a cultured O. chierchiae..
Another serious issue is inbreeding. So far, all the hatchlings that Rich and I have are from one female and three males. We have yet to rear these juveniles to reproductive size, and even if we succeed, we have no idea how severe inbreeding depression might be. This is why I was so disappointed that we couldn't get one of Jon's hatchlings last spring. We desperately need genetic diversity!
And finally there is the issue of price. I had no idea how labor intensive and expensive it might be to rear these guys. The hatchlings require live prey from day one and daily care. I figure I have spent on average about 3 minutes a day per hatchling.. Let's say we considered them marketable at 100 days. That is about 6 hours per hatchling and at a salary of $10 per hour (not counting our time supervising ), that would be $60 each plus live food, aquarium supplies and maintenance. Then there is the cost of brood stock, if any more could ever be found, shipping,, etc., etc. Suddenly we are looking at a 1 cm octopus that costs well over $100 a piece. I think I just talked myself out of a new career!
Roy
). Given the market for captive raised bandensis, I think we could be selling these guys for what they are worth before 100 days. It just an issue of stock...
