Unknown ‘Large Egg’ Species

[Tmjvb18]

Hey all,
Approximately two months ago I bought a small octopus from my LFS. I put her in a large acclimation box which sits in my ~40 gallon refugium. I fed her peppermint shrimp the first few weeks which she happily ate. Then she suddenly disappeared and sealed herself into a pvc pipe with clam and hermit crab shells.
Since she was still new I thought maybe something stressed her out but upon further investigation I found the pipe to be full of eggs.
I purchased a mesh breeder box to contain the young once they hatch and moved the pipe and some rock in there. This morning I found a single octopus had hatched and is crawling around the box.
I plan to head to my LFS tomorrow and grab some tisbe and tigger pods. I have some brine shrimp eggs going now as well. I also have some cleaner shrimp that are about ready to release a bunch of baby shrimp so ill move some of them into a mesh collector.
I have never raised octopus but from my reading I understand that it is possible to raise large egged species.
I don’t want to disturb the momma or eggs by shining a light in the tube but ill try to get some pictures tomorrow with a high aperture.

 

[tonmo]

I don’t want to disturb the momma or eggs by shining a light in the tube but ill try to get some pictures tomorrow with a high aperture.

sounds manageable -- looking forward to pics!

 

[Tmjvb18]

sounds manageable -- looking forward to pics!

No good pictures yet
Theres about ~12 of them now. Still a bunch of eggs in the tube.
I bought some tigger pods and they seem to be just about the right size for them. I haven’t seen any of them eat yet. They walk and jet around a bit but mostly just stick to the acrylic.
Any tips on what to feed them?

 

[tonmo]

I'm not an expert but let's see if we can get some support here. Meanwhile, check this post (found using our Search feature) re: feeding for large egg hatchlings (the post itself references O. briareus):

Aculeatus Hatchlings

at least 3 out of the 8 that I caught before leaving for the long weekend are still alive in my system. Might be 4.

tonmo.com

 

[Thales]

Brine are not a suitble food source for cephs. Mysis (from US mysis for the best deal) or Amphipods (from Aquarium Depot) are your best off the shelf foods for hatchlings.

 

[gjbarord]

Go with mysis, mysis, mysis, mysis!

Greg

 

[Tmjvb18]

Brine are not a suitble food source for cephs. Mysis (from US mysis for the best deal) or Amphipods (from Aquarium Depot) are your best off the shelf foods for hatchlings.

I can’t find USmysis online. I also don’t see many sites with them in stock.
Do you have any experience with this site?

Aquaculturestore.com

www.aquaculturestore.com

 

[Tmjvb18]

I can’t find USmysis online. I also don’t see many sites with them in stock.
Do you have any experience with this site?

Aquaculturestore.com

www.aquaculturestore.com

^^ Guess this shop shut down but the site is still up.

Any experiences with this site?

Live Mysis / Mysid Feeder Shrimp

 

[Tmjvb18]

I just observed one of the hatchlings eat a tigger pod and another went after a small piece of LRS that my cleaner shrimp was trying to eat through the mesh of the enclosure. He got super excited when the shrimp grabbed it and was moving it around - He was in a brief tug o’ war and managed to snag a little piece.
I moved the shrimp over to one of my other tanks.
Apologies for the lack of pictures. I work on a boat and am out at sea most of the day/days at a time. Will try to get some tomorrow evening.

I’m still trying to find a source for live mysids.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

I’ve seen the MBL Aquaculture site you linked to before, but I don’t know of anyone that’s actually used it. I do know these two sites sell them, and they’re reputable sites:

Mysid

Mysid shrimp for sale aquacultured at RUSALTY. Mysid shrimp for sale to feed fish and aquariums. Buy Mysid or Mysis shrimp to seed your tank and get the best sized feeder shrimp for your saltwater reef tank. Get live Mysid feeder shrimp to supply your seahorses with the best most nutritious...

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Live Mysid Shrimp - Aquacultured - Mysid spp.

Mysis shrimp are great for finicky eaters, such as sea horses, pipefish. Most fish will eat them as well.

www.bluezooaquatics.com

It looks like to order them through BZA you need to email them directly, but Aquaculture Nursery Farms (A.K.A. Rusalty) seems to have them in stock. There are a few other places that carry them too, but they’re either more expensive, less well known (and possibly shady), or both.

 

[Tmjvb18]

I’ve seen the MBL Aquaculture site you linked to before, but I don’t know of anyone that’s actually used it. I do know these two sites sell them, and they’re reputable sites:

Mysid

Mysid shrimp for sale aquacultured at RUSALTY. Mysid shrimp for sale to feed fish and aquariums. Buy Mysid or Mysis shrimp to seed your tank and get the best sized feeder shrimp for your saltwater reef tank. Get live Mysid feeder shrimp to supply your seahorses with the best most nutritious...

www.aquaculturenurseryfarms.com

Live Mysid Shrimp - Aquacultured - Mysid spp.

Mysis shrimp are great for finicky eaters, such as sea horses, pipefish. Most fish will eat them as well.

www.bluezooaquatics.com

It looks like to order them through BZA you need to email them directly, but Aquaculture Nursery Farms (A.K.A. Rusalty) seems to have them in stock. There are a few other places that carry them too, but they’re either more expensive, less well known (and possibly shady), or both.

When I go to click the tab at Rusalty to select a quantity it says they’re out of stock.

Ill shoot bluezoo an email now
Thanks!

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

When I go to click the tab at Rusalty to select a quantity it says they’re out of stock.

Ill shoot bluezoo an email now
Thanks!

I know it's a bit late on the follow up here, but did you have any luck with this?

 

[pkilian]

Too bad I missed this thread when it was fresh. What I have had success with in the past is feeding the hatchlings cut up pieces of live grass shrimp which are typically easier to source but often quite expensive to ship if you cant get them from a LFS. I used a scissors and chopped the shrimp into pieces that were about pea-sized. Typically slightly smaller than the mantle size of your hatchlings.

How were you housing the animals @Tmjvb18 ? Some octopus babies can be cannibalistic when co-housed so typically I put them in individual homes made from PVC. I can post my setup for housing babies if people are interested.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Too bad I missed this thread when it was fresh. What I have had success with in the past is feeding the hatchlings cut up pieces of live grass shrimp which are typically easier to source but often quite expensive to ship if you cant get them from a LFS. I used a scissors and chopped the shrimp into pieces that were about pea-sized. Typically slightly smaller than the mantle size of your hatchlings.

How were you housing the animals @Tmjvb18 ? Some octopus babies can be cannibalistic when co-housed so typically I put them in individual homes made from PVC. I can post my setup for housing babies if people are interested.

Good info to know with the grass shrimp - I don't know about others, but I would definitely be interested to see the setup.