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O. mercatoris babies!

Thanks Guys!!

I am located in Maple, ON, which is a small town near Toronto.

Today marks the first week of these little guys existence. They're all still alive, and doing well. I will try to get some pics tonight. One thing I've realized is that some of the octopi that are in the tank crawl into the containers intentionally! There are holes on the bottom, for circulation. There are about 2 containers that have 2 octopi in them, and I don't see any cannibalism yet. It's probably because they're fat and get fed frequently. They've had 2 Octopi in them for about 4 days. Today I found a container with 3! I took the third one out and put him in another container though, as I think 3 would cause some problems in feeding.. Otherwise, everything is all good, they seem to be growing quite nicely. I still can't believe I've only had 2 deaths, but I don't want to speak too soon. I don't see what's going on in the tank, so there were probably more deaths, but the ones in the containers are all still alive, thankfully.

I ordered 100 Amphipods and some Macroalgae for my 'fuge from Florida Aqua Farms yesterday. Hopefully they all come alive and tasty! It will be a relief because I have to constantly scrape out pods from my old 'fuge on my reef.
 
Lev;86814 said:
I ordered 100 Amphipods and some Macroalgae for my 'fuge from Florida Aqua Farms yesterday. Hopefully they all come alive and tasty! It will be a relief because I have to constantly scrape out pods from my old 'fuge on my reef.

When I have been desperate for pods - I have asked my LFS - and they were happy to shake some out of their filter medium for me. 100 amphipods is not going to last long...
 
It doesn't matter now, I guess, as I have just been informed by Florida Aqua Farms that they don't ship live things to Canada.. I guess I will need to look somewhere else for them.. But I still have quite a bit (at least 100-150) in my fuge...
 
I was fortunate and my eggs hatched. I let some remain free in my tank and put some into individual containers. The lesson I learned is that some mysids are not friendly. The babies made it for a week and then began to die off. I thought they needed more food, but that wasn't it. In fact it was the food that was the problem. The mysids were attacking the babies. So be careful with those guys, you have done so well and they look great. I wish you the best of luck.
 
Thanks! and Thanks for the tip about Mysis.

All of the babies on Day 8 are still alive and kicking.

I called Paul this morning, and he said he won't get the license to ship out of the states until about June. He recommended a place called SeaGris (SP? he wasn't sure how to spell it either) Farms. I couldn't find anything on Google. I e-mailed two places asking about shipping to Canada, they haven't replied yet. My available amphipod numbers are dropping quickly. I will ask my LFS to supply me some, and hopefully they can..

On the upside, though, I've gotten one baby octopus to eat Frozen mysis Shrimp. Maybe it was just luck and he probably will never eat it again, but at least he's not hungry..
 
How big are they now? Reason I ask is that I feed mine live ghost shrimp which I buy by the 100's and some of them are pretty small when I get them.
 
They're about half/ quarter of a centimeter in total length. I am going to go to a not so LFS in Mississauga to pick up some ghost shrimp, as they said they had them in various sizes. Thanks for the Tip.
 
Indiana OCHO;86846 said:
The babies made it for a week and then began to die off. I thought they needed more food, but that wasn't it. In fact it was the food that was the problem. The mysids were attacking the babies. So be careful with those guys, you have done so well and they look great.
I know of someone else who found a similar thing. There appear to be more than one 'variety' of mysids out there, one being more predatory and a danger to young cephs.

Cheers!
 
Day 9; They are all still alive. They are visibly growing, as they seem larger than the day I first saw them.

I bought a bunch of Ghost Shrimp and a couple of Pregnant Female Guppies yesterday. The ghost Shrimp seemed larger than the octopi, but the octopi accepted the ghost shrimp with gusto. Meanwhile I am still trying to locate a place that would ship Amphipods to Canada.. I have a lot of very small snails, but the Octopi ignore them rather than eating them. At least the problem of food finding has been somewhat resolved..
 
I don't know if you want to rely on ghost shrimp for food (assuming we're talking about the freshwater species). There's been a lot of debate about feeding fresh to salt, and I can't say I would recommend it (just based on common sense, no experience). If you're still in the mood for something small, check out this thread. Just more to think on.

Cheers!
 
Thanks for the Tip. They will probably not be feeding on Ghost shrimp and/or baby Guppies for long. Now that I know that they can eat fairly large food items, I can maybe try to obtain some P. Vulgaris to feed them. As a last resort, I might have to order some shrimp from Paul, having them shipped to a friend in Ohio and then picking it up there.

Day 10:

There has been one death in the tank yesterday. It went the same way as the other two did. The octo was pale and wildly swinging his arms around and rolling around on the substrate. Then he died. Maybe from a bite of his sibling? Ghost shrimp do the same kind of thing before they die when they get bitten..

The mother is also dying. She no longer has the ability to hold things over her little cave the way she used to.

On the upside, all of the babies in the containers are alive and well (and hopefully it stays that way)
 
Day 11 and 12 went normally, but I didn't get to watch them too much. No deaths visible.

Day 13 however (today) is very action-packed. I counted 40 (!) babies, and that was only the visible ones! I predict there are around 50. There have been a few deaths in the tank, about 3 or 4. In the containers everyone is still alive. I found 7 in one container once. They seem to know that they get fed in there.. Mom on the other hand, is dying. She is walking about the tank in broad daylight. She probably isn't going to live for more than a week.
 

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