Varys' babies (O. mercatoris)

[gholland]

Greg,
I hate to be a spoil sport, but should you go and hunt it up, Trapper would do that in her last week or so. I would finally have to put her down before my hand became a prune. She seemed to like the softer surfaces (pump, glass, my hand) over the live rock, almost as if her arms had become very tender and the live rock was uncomfortable.

It looks like you were right D... about 10 days after you said that (11/20/08) Beluga had an encounter with a very large dead bristleworm (I had stuffed snail shells full of mysids and frozen them as convenient feeding portions... one must've had a bristleworm living inside!). Beluga kept holding the dead worm out and then pulling it back under his mantle. I only saw Beluga hanging out of his shell one more time a day or two later and then a couple of arm tips a few days after that... and then no more. I haven't inspected his shell too closely, but I think he is gone. Made it almost 9 months. He was so much like your Sisturus...

Umm... Hold that thought... I couldn't resist and just went to try and pull the snail shells out of the opening of Beluga's large shell... they won't come. NOW I'm wondering if there's another reason I haven't seen Beluga in two weeks... Something more... reproductive...

 

[DWhatley]

I hope one of the other octos was a male!

As much as we tend to want to shy away from bristles, they don't seem to be any kind of problem for the adult cephs (possibly not the young either but I am not sure about size) and live with them in their dens. I have removed dying octos from their homes to avoid MY problems with the clean-up crew doing their job but even when Sisty was half paralized, they were not a problem.

Unfortunately, at 13 months, Wiley is facing the end. He would not eat last night and wanted to play with my fingers. Tonight I found him half out of his den (never happens) and willing to climb into my hand. His eyes are very dark and he has very little coloration. I will post some pics in a few minutes.

 

[gholland]

New shells had been pulled into Beluga's den this morning. Jen says she actually saw an eye so the report of his demise is premature. This is such a departure from his (her?) normally outgoing personality...

 

[gholland]

I decided to try an old trick tonight... I started shining the red LEDs around Beluga's den, which used to be the sign for feeding time back when they were small and not quite so brave and social. Sure enough, several arms appeared and began groping about. Beluga took about 3 frozen mysids... only to spit them back out moments later! This is exactly the type of behavior we saw from Varys when she was brooding. D... did you ever have this experience with yours?

The other 'pode was more than happy to pick up the rejected pieces... guess I should just pick one of the other three names and use it for this 'pode since I don't really know which one it is that has survived other than Beluga...

 

[DWhatley]

I didn't know you found a second! I wonder if he is the proud papa.

Keep trying to feed her. I did not have luck with any frozen even when they were not brooding but neither of my brooding females would take live after a short time in their brood dens. I was able to feed Trapper both freshly killed fiddlers (initially only) and freshly killed shore shrimp (for most of her brood time). If you have some Cyclop-eze handy, try that as Trapper ate Cyclop-eze until she died but yours ate a larger variety than mine so something else may work as well.

As an asside, I did not have problems leaving the males in the tank with the brooding female. I might have lost babies to the males after they were born (anectodally evidence: most of my second generation just disappeared without carcases, eventually I caught one of the males inside the breeder net) and would not leave the fry and roaming males together in a tank again. Also, after the babies hatched, the male mated a second time with the female. Miss Broody chose a different den and was never seen again. About the time a second hatching would have occured, I found a shell no longer covering a hole but no body (I suspected she was brooding here but could never confirm it).

 

[gholland]

Actually, I've always known about the other one... thought I started with three in the tank... discovered a fourth... lost two... thought I'd lost Beluga... but didn't. Sorry if that wasn't clear. (How could it be? HAH!)

I will keep trying each night with something new... cyclopeeze, dead shore shrimp, fiddler claw, etc. If this is truly brooding, we might expect to see some results around New Years maybe?

 

[DWhatley]

I think (memory may not serve) it was 8 weeks before Trapper's eggs hatched but I was not 100% sure when she started brooding. I found my notes that show Miss Broody's to have hatched at 6 weeks after locking her den.

 

[gholland]

Varys was about 40 days... but we could actually see eggs with her. No such confirmation in Beluga's case... pure speculation based on behavior.

 

[gholland]

Well... the fiddler crab claw produced a positive response. A flurry of arms (and that's all I could see) before Beluga pulled the base of the claw-arm deeper into the shell. No rejection so I assume it is being eaten.

Quattro (as I've randomly decided) came out of the barnacle and pounced his own crab before hauling it back for dinner.

 

[DWhatley]

No sign of enlarged suckers on Quattro or one arm always curled at the tip while the others are doing something else?

 

[gholland]

Nothing that seems distinctive... I've never been able to positively identify enlarged suckers or a hectocotylus (by tip or posture) on any of these guys. Here's a pic of Quattro from last night... tried to keep the suckers in focus. One looks like it might be larger than the rest... what do you think?

 

[k0mpresd]

do they all sit with their front 2 arms up over the top of their head like that? mine is always in that position in his den.

 

[gholland]

It's a very common posture for mercs... either 1 or 2 arms between the eyes.

 

[DWhatley]

I see the one you are referring to so maybe. I could not always see Sisty's except when he would wall walk, then they were huge compared to the others. The fact that he has not gone into brooding may also be a good sign. Do keep in mind that I think MIA may have been visiting the breeder net finding midnight snacks.

 

[gholland]

Do keep in mind that I think MIA may have been visiting the breeder net finding midnight snacks.

Ah yes... I should probably get my rear in gear with even just a potential hatching only 1-2 weeks away... Don't wanna get caught unprepared!