[Octopus Eggs]: Trappers Grandchildren - Tank Bred Mercatoris

[DWhatley]

With the death of HideNSeek, I am starting a new thread for his two surviving captive bred offspring.

This link:
http://www.tonmo.com/community/index.php?threads/7853/

is to the journal of their birth and the lives of their parents and includes a link to the journal of the original wild caught mother.

These two are the only surviving offspring from a brood of an estimated 50 CB Mercs. They were born the week of November 17th 2007. I believe one is female and her sibbling male. The female has acquired the name Little Girl (LG for short - thanks gholland ) and the assumed male is named Wiley for his refusal to stay in the breeder net.

Little Girl was transferred this week to a 15 gallon hex tank with small skimmer and overflow that successfully housed two of her uncles for 9 months.

Wiley has escaped capture several times and only last week was confirmed to be surviving with his father in a 45 gallon aquarium (also hex shaped).

It is my intent (if not out witted) to have Wiley join LG in the smaller tank with hopes of producing one more generation. If successful, I am hoping to obtain a new blood line from gholland (a lot of maybe's here) with the hope of producing future generations.

 

[dreadhead]

Sorry to hear about HideNSeek, good luck with the next generation.

 

[DWhatley]

LG died today - 7+ months

She was out in the open most of last week and was obviously disoriented. On arm was curled up tightly very much like Sisturus just before he died. I am still thinking it is something like a heart attack, stroke or just heart failure of a single heart (two adjoining arms curled up and became useless in Sisty's case). She was born the week of November 17th and was exceptionally small.

Wiley still roams the larger tank and is seen much like his uncle, MIA, about once a month. During his last appearance he took a shrimp from a feeding stick so I hoped he would return to the same spot but, like his other appearances, he did not show up again (and has never appeared where he knows he has been seen).

GHolland has offered the opportunity to mate him if his own brood produced multiple females but I do not have much confidence in his continued survival. I have high hopes that Greg will be successful with mating his CR's to see if the small size of my CB's is normal for in-bred and tank bred or if there were other factors. His group is eating and growing well so I am hoping that tank raising is not the concern.

 

[gholland]

LG.

So sorry D. We really would love to help continue Trapper's line if we could just identify a female among our 4-month olds!

Here's to hoping Wiley comes back around!

 

[gholland]

Hey D,

Any sign of Wiley?

 

[DWhatley]

Hey D,

Any sign of Wiley?

Unfortunately, no. I look every night and keep shrimp and snails available but have stopped the nightly Cyclop-eeze to try to cut down on the brissle worm and aptasia (both thrive with Cyclop-eeze) populations. The aptasia is not a major problem but the brissles are out of hand.

I have thought about closing the journal but everytime I report that he is gone, he shows up - maybe I should have made the report .

I am at a bit of a crossroad now and am holding off deciding what goes into a couple of tanks. I am 99% sure I am going to put a mantis in Sisty and Dusa's tank but the 45 is still under consideration. I really liked little OP and the tank should be very well suited for an aculeatus but I find myself missing the dwarfs when I look at their tank. Hopefully, we will get Octane moved into his new home and that will free up another species only tank. To add to the mix, I have always wanted to raise a vulgaris and have given serious thought to converting the 140 and moving the reef critters to the 45. I have not added much to my reef in a year and it is not over crowded and it would look nice in the living room and ... decisions, decisions. Since our lives are on hold right now, I am just kind of waiting to see what serendipity puts on my plate.

 

[Nancy]

D, I can imagine you adding other octopuses and inverts, but I can't imagine life without your little mercatoris! I've been reading about them for so long!

Nancy

 

[DWhatley]

D, I can imagine you adding other octopuses and inverts, but I can't imagine life without your little mercatoris! I've been reading about them for so long!

Nancy

Yea, I had decided to keep daytime critters since Neal never got to enjoy the nocturnals but the tank is in our eating area and I find myself looking for Sisturus subconciously. I am keeping an eye on Thales' progress with the o. chierchiae and always read Greg's terrific posts on his little Mercs but I have not asked Ken to find me another Merc ... yet. Something will come up that makes up my mind, maybe I he will have access to a Merc when I get my shrimp . Since I am slightly weary of the 45, leaving it empty for awhile won't hurt. I have entertained cuttles in that tank as well - just call me wishy-washy.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Yea, I had decided to keep daytime critters since Neal never got to enjoy the nocturnals but the tank is in our eating area and I find myself looking for Sisturus subconciously. I am keeping an eye on Thales' progress with the o. chierchiae and always read Greg's terrific posts on his little Mercs but I have not asked Ken to find me another Merc ... yet. Something will come up that makes up my mind, maybe I he will have access to a Merc when I get my shrimp . Since I am slightly weary of the 45, leaving it empty for awhile won't hurt. I have entertained cuttles in that tank as well - just call me wishy-washy.

Cuttles, cuttles, they would watch you eat!

 

[sedna]

I have a Q about bristle worms. I never noticed how many are in the tank Al is in now, I never spent so much time looking at the tank after lights out. Could the large pop. in his tank be a problem for Al and if so, how can I get rid of them?

 

[DWhatley]

The small ones in the substrate are considered very positive, however, I have a serious brissle worm over population in the 45 and am debating what I will do about it besides reducing the food that they thrive on. The traps work for about 1 week and then they seem to learn and ignore them (and they only catch a couple anyway). I found (by accident) that a mesh laundry bag filled with lettuce algae will catch a goodly number of the larger ones in the live rock if you suspend it in the tank. At the time, I was aggravated that they were such a pain to remove from the bag of macro algae and pod I brought back from Charleston but now I am considering ordering some just to bring down the brissle population.

 

[DWhatley]

Cuttles, cuttles, they would watch you eat!

Octane already does that (as well as the newf and the wolfhound).

I am a bit shy of trying the cuttles again since my two little guys did not live very long but I get tempted when I read some of the posts. I am particularly interested to see if Paradox is successful in raising young from his captive bred group. Daniel has not posted in awhile so I fear they have not reproduced.

Eventually, I will try them again and they would be interesting in the 140 reef . I would not have to go through the intended major overhaul I will eventually do for an octo but my mandarin is still doing well in there and would be impossible to catch.

 

[DWhatley]

Guess who came to dinner

Hey D,

Any sign of Wiley?

It seems I am not yet ready to close this journal. I have looked every night for Wiley and have not seen him for well over a month (I think it has been over two months!). I finally stopped feeding the tank nightly but did make sure there were shrimp and snails in there and they seemed to have their numbers slowly reduce but I could not be sure. Even though I had given up on him a month ago, I have continued to cruise over to the tank before bed just to check ... Tonight who should be at the front of the tank but an 8 month old O. Mercatoris!. This time I was able to catch him and transfer him to the smaller tank. He was not in the least bit pleased with the transfer and inked several times. The tank change may not have been the best idea but after his multiple long term disappearances, I am giving it a shot with hopes of seeing him more often.

 

[gholland]

That's great D! I hope you get to interact with him more now... Were you able to confirm that Wiley is a male?
Greg

 

[monty]