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Questions on new octopus

Bibet

Blue Ring
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Joined
Sep 17, 2005
Messages
31
Today I bought a Briareus Octopus, when she was she was taken out of the tank from the place we bought her, there were eggs under the rock she was under, the store keeper still gave her to us, Is this going to be an issue? We acclinmated her correctly. If someone could tell me if she's going to be alright and if there will be an issue with her eating???
 
Oh dear........this is not good! Generally speaking female octopus die after egg laying. Some do feed for a bit afterwards........but she is at the end of her life.

Check out the threads on Ollie, Nancys Bimac, she survived some time after egg laying......but the prognosis isn't good. I hope the store didn't charge you too much!
J
 
After laying eggs, they will be hesisant to take food and eventually die. This is normal and means the one you purchased is pretty old.

Sorry to give you the bad news, but you may need to take your local fish store up on thier offer soon....
 
Even if it's eating..?? How big are they supposed to get when going into adulthood?she's pretty small, I would say her tentacle is only about 5-6 inches long.
 
Briareus usually have longer legs than that. Search for Jetta, she's a briareus who laid eggs and there are some pics of her with the eggs hatching.

It could also be that your octo is not a briareus or that the eggs under the rock are not hers. However, I think he should have given you the rock, too!

Was she very upset at being removed?

Try to get her to eat - what are you feeding her?

Nancy
 
Yes she's easting, she's only been in my tank for 6 hours and seems happy, she's moving around, checking things out and eating crabs and crustaceans. She was the only thing in the tank before she was in there they're were seahorses, no other octopuses. The piece of rock the eggs were under was a fake center piece and huge. She seemed to transport fine.
-B
 
Well, this doesn't sound like the behavior of a mother octo who's been separated from her eggs.

If she's eating like that and exploring the tank, sounds like everything will be OK.

Nancy
 
I hope so, she's climbing up the walls and floating around. Could it be that we got her close to when she laid her eggs and never had a chance to "get close" with her eggs? or is it when they lay eggs is it just a part of nature for them to die after laying eggs?
 
Maybe some of our marine biologists could give you a better answer. My observation has been a real intensity and devotion to egg laying even before it takes place - den building, retreat to the den.

They lay eggs at the end of their lives - although some live on for some time afterwards.

Can you post a pic of your octo sometime?

Nancy
 
Octopus are incredibly devoted mothers (at least pre hatching :lol: ) but even squid who are not tend to die after egg production (although there are variations on thhis theme!)....one of the big issues seems to be that when they are producing eggs in the ovary (called oogenisis) many species divert energy from food from rebuilding body tissues to egg creation, or if they cease eating then their body tissues are used to create the eggs. Once the eggs are laid they then use their body mass to keep them alive until the eggs hatch.

But as Nancy says your octi is not behaving as if they are hers. When we've removed octi's in tha past from eggs (to tank clean and we didn't realize there were eggs present til we moved a shell/rock :roll: ) the octi invariably starts to stress out, more than you would expect from and animal habituated to aquarium procedures.

cheers

J
 
From where I got the Octi, I've been very good friends with the fish guy for years, I know for a fact that no other octi was in or ever lived in the tank she was in. They have to be hers. Today (day 2) she spent the whole day building a den and hasn't eaten today.
 

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