Help Needed Urgently...EGGS...EGGS

[octopus9]

octo:Aculeatus
name: othee
temp:79F
salinity:1026
tank:20gal

Day1:
when i woke up today morning 9/9/2009, there are eggs in the glass of the tank and othee is protecting them and does not want to move from that spot...!!!there are between 100-200 eggs...what shall i do ? can eggs hatch in the aquarium ? shall i remove them or not ? can i move them to another tank and put them in a breeder net?

the eggs:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5844/09092009138.jpg

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/5961/09092009140.jpg

1h later othee is laying more eggs , maybe 300-400 now , if you look at the first pic's you will see 2 clusters of eggs only , now there is 4-5 clusters.

look at this:

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/5051/09092009142.jpg

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/1640/09092009143.jpg

another one on the side of the tank:

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/745/09092009144.jpg

at night othee laid more eggs , over 1000 now...soon im going to need a tank to keep them just befor they hatch ,im still thinking on what is the best way...to move all of them or keep some , but they could get sucked into the filter which i dont want to turn off for water quality.
the nice thing about these eggs they are white and you can see thro them so we will see the development of the baby inside the egg.

[OB]

http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/rearing.php

Might also be of help, outside of the vast experience and sources here on TonMo...

[octopus9]

Please somebody help , as i posted 1h ago othee is laying more eggs , maybe 300-400 now , if you look at the first pic's you will see 2 clusters of eggs only , now there is 4-5 clusters.

look at this:

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/5051/09092009142.jpg

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/1640/09092009143.jpg

another one on the side of the tank:

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/745/09092009144.jpg

[octopus9]

http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/rearing.php

Might also be of help, outside of the vast experience and sources here on TonMo...

thanks but this is talking about briareus Othee is an aculeatus...i just need to know , shall i move them now or wait few days ,she is laying more eggs as we speak..
the artical says best way is to move them ,,,,

[OB]

My apologies, I was reading your earlier posts incorrectly. As far as I'm privvy to the "previously known as Octopus horridus" species complex, my understanding is them to be of the small eggs variety, giving rise to planctonic paralarvae and therefore (as yet) impossible to hatch and rear to adulthood in an aquarium environment....

[DWhatley]

I think what OB is trying to gently explain is that we have not been successful (collectively on TONMO as well as most aquariums and labs) in raising small egged octos of any species. Sedna has had the best luck at 11 days with Once-ler's young and a special DIY aquarium (http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14522).

[octopus9]

I'm going to do my best to keep some alive...

[Neogonodactylus]

I have tried several times to rear A. aculeatus eggs with no success.. They will take about a month to hatch, will swim free as paralarvae for two or three days, and will starve to death. The brooding female will die around the same time as the last eggs hatch. About all you can do is enjoy watching the female brood and the eggs develop. Such is life.

Roy

[octopus9]

othee is still laying eggs , i think there is over 1000 eggs now...

[DWhatley]

Please take more pictures. A daily photography session would be nice to record any development in the eggs that might be seen since they are on the glass.

[octopus9]

Please take more pictures. A daily photography session would be nice to record any development in the eggs that might be seen since they are on the glass.

will do no problem , i will start from tomorrow but when i will start seeing baby's inside the eggs im going to move them in a separate tank for safety so im going to setup a tank soon befor hatching ,you should see what othee is doing inside the tank to protect the eggs , anything that moves will be killed , he just killed a crayfish in the tank with out eating it.
i must try my best to keep some alive.

[DWhatley]

I would suggest leaving the majority with Othee (you really should stop saying he at this point :wink:) and only taking a few for your experimental hatching. The eggs need constant movement and cleaning and she is the best candidate to get them to the hatching stage.

I wonder if the reason she went after Blue was a concern to free the area of preditors before she laid her eggs.

[octopus9]

Day2:
othee was very aggressive last night , i moved some big snails that could harm the eggs , but left a crayfish ,you should see what othee is doing inside the tank to protect the eggs , anything that moves will be killed , she just killed the crayfish in the tank with out eating it.

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/9862/10092009147.jpg

othee seems relaxed today , she slept under the bunch of eggs that are on the top corner of the tank ,
all she did is check both bunches and gave them a hug and went back on the rock

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/995/10092009146.jpg

this is the first bunch she made at the back of the tank near the censer

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/4506/10092009148.jpg

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/4363/10092009152.jpg

this is the second bunch she made at the top front corner of the tank

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/1376/10092009153.jpg

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9421/10092009154.jpg

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/2561/10092009155.jpg

othee is not eating , as we know she will not ,all she will do now is make sure the eggs are protected and well oxygenated, I Raisd tank temp to 81F , and will raise it more in the next few days , as i think that will help the hatching process.

[DWhatley]

So she is not constantly with the eggs and only goes to them for a short period of time?

[sedna]

That's cool, thanks for sharing the picts! The aculeatus moms that I had laid their eggs in their dens and I never saw one egg with either of them. It's strange to me that she is coming out of her den, aculeatus moms build elaborate barricades and hole up for about 3 weeks- never coming out until the babies hatch out. It seems that she's so aggressive because she didn't take the usual route...

[octopus9]

Day3:
First raised Tank temp again steady at 82.2 and im keeping it like that for 1 week to speed up the hatching.

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5076/11092009177.jpg

The Skimmer is shut down for now, and we are going to have less oxygen in the tank in the next few days, I put an air pump with an air stone in the tank to also Increase surface area and improve circulation.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/1549/10092009175.jpg

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/1595/10092009176.jpg


Othee laid more eggs, we have about 7 branches at the front and 8-9 branches at the rear each branch has about 80-100 eggs. I came to take pic’s as she was protecting the rear eggs, but as soon as I came close she came down looked at me like she is telling me don’t cross the line my friend or I will kill you just like that crayfish and went back and hugged the eggs let the pic’s do the talking:

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/2708/10092009167.jpg

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/7554/10092009168.jpg

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/3104/10092009169.jpg

I went to seashells and got a crab and talked to my friend there, and got some info and idea's on what i could do, thanks seashells for the sponge filter ,I guess im going to do a water change soon with the eggs inside the tank we will see how we are going to do that because the front eggs are on the edge of the tank, and we don’t want them to stay with out water for not even seconds , , this is the crab I got just to see what she will do with it:

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/9177/11092009178.jpg

She looks weaker every day as she is not eating and just protecting the eggs
look at her eyes:

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6287/11092009179.jpg

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4822/11092009184.jpg

If you ask me today which do you want to keep the eggs or the mom I will tell you the mom because of what im seeing every day and what she is doing as a mom is unbelievable to protect her baby’s.
This is just a small clip but very interesting, here she is trying to raise a live rock and hang it on the glass to hide her eggs from predators.

10092009012.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ozmtz2kngxz)

[DWhatley]

Would you pretty please consider uploading your files here in stead of imageshack or the really terrible site that has the mp4? I would really like to see these pictures and the video but the images on imageshack are huge and not resizable (hosted on TONMO they will be resized and allow enlargement) and the other site does not seem to play the mp4, just offer to let you download ... something but is so full of advertising junk, you are not sure what.

To upload photos, click on the Go Advanced button then on Manage Attachements and you can upload as many as 4 images to display directly in the post.

To upload a video, click the VIDEO link on the top menu bar and select upload video (http://www.tonmo.com/forums/vbtube_add.php?do=up&part=0)on the left (I am not sure if TONMO hosts mp4's though).

Thanks for the journal entries so far - but I want to see too :wink:

[octopus9]

Day4:
Today othee looks better and relaxed even thou he is protecting the eggs all day , but when I come near her she start moving around , here she is hugging the eggs as usual:

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/355/12092009190.jpg

Regarding the temp. and what some members said about it , well i know this could be stressing her and you guys are right ,because octo's don't like high temp maybe around 74-76 is good but let us not forget and im sad to say this , that we are here for the eggs not the mom , as we all know that she is going to pass away soon so what im trying to do here is best for the eggs and not the mom.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5457/12092009192.jpg

othee tricked me today , i came to check if she eat that crab we got yesterday as she was around it , so there was an empty shell and no movement , i was happy that she eat it , but later on when i came to look again there was nothing in that spot so i was like were did he go how did he move if he is dead !!! well he was not , he was only hiding to protect himself i guss.so he tricked me too tell me does this look alive...!!!

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/9219/11092009185.jpg

othee plays basketball but uses the crab for a ball...very interesting video:

12092009016.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kdnqbdcwgcq)

[octopus9]

Would you pretty please consider uploading your files here in stead of imageshack or the really terrible site that has the mp4? I would really like to see these pictures and the video but the images on imageshack are huge and not resizable (hosted on TONMO they will be resized and allow enlargement) and the other site does not seem to play the mp4, just offer to let you download ... something but is so full of advertising junk, you are not sure what.

To upload photos, click on the Go Advanced button then on Manage Attachements and you can upload as many as 4 images to display directly in the post.

To upload a video, click the VIDEO link on the top menu bar and select upload video (http://www.tonmo.com/forums/vbtube_add.php?do=up&part=0)on the left (I am not sure if TONMO hosts mp4's though).

Thanks for the journal entries so far - but I want to see too :wink:

im really sorry , but http://imageshack.us/ is one of the best uploading sites , why dont you save them to your pc and then look at them , and i don't know if the web will except mp4 format.:confused:

[CaptFish]

True imageshack is great, so is photobucket but TOMNO likes the pictures on their server that way they will be there forever. If in the future you clean up you imageshack gallery or lose the account the pictures are lost and we cant use them for future reference. as for the mp4. you can use windows movie maker to convert it for upload on here. TOMNO has a great setup for videos it's super easy to use.

:sink:

[octopus9]

Day5:
All systems normal today , I found out that she will not die of starvation. Endocrine secretions from the two optic glands are the cause of genetically programmed death, so whatever I’m going to try is useless,here is a pic and a video of her guarding the eggs and gently blowing currents of water over them so that they get enough oxygen.

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/7688/13092009198.jpg

13092009019.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?johjydqwnmw)

Regarding the temp again we know octo’s like cooler temps but because we want to speed up little bit this is what is going to happen 82F until wed.that is 7 days since they came out then we are going to drop the temp. Slowly 1 degree every 2 days so we will need another 16 days until we reach 74F that is the temp i want at the time of hatching and my son agrees on that.

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/6464/13092009209.jpg

NO…you can’t have 2 Aculeatus octos in the same tank, this is how octo’s reproduce, in the wild males use a specialized arm called a hectocotylus to insert spermatophores (packets of sperm) into the female's mantle cavity. The hectocotylus in benthic octopuses is usually the third right arm. Males die within a few months of mating. In some species, the female octopus can keep the sperm alive inside her for weeks until her eggs are mature. After they have been fertilized, the female lays the eggs, so othee did what ever before I got him and not after so she kept the sperm inside her.

this is my baby briareus blue,that i have in another tank.

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/2193/13092009200.jpg

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/2735/13092009201.jpg

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/2493/13092009203.jpg

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/5854/13092009204.jpg

othee and the air stone ...

12092009017.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?fjgbdmjmhlb)

[sedna]

Nice job journaling! Thanks for the great picts. All my mom octos did their thing in secrecy so it's really cool that you are taking so many photos/video!

[octopus9]

Day6:
Every thing looks good, tested water parameters Ammonia and Nitrite are at 0.0 ppm and PH is 8.0 SG is 1026; othee is still with his hunger strike, it’s been 2 days and she is protecting the front eggs.

http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/9372/14092009218.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/4662/14092009219.jpg

I decided not to make any water changes now because I don’t want to risk the front eggs , most will stay in the 20g easier to maintain for constant quality and temp but I might move some of the eggs to this 15g that I got from seashells , just to have it incase of an emergency.

http://img136.imageshack.us/img136/5240/14092009217.jpg

This is the closest i got to othee today with the cover open , and you can see the eggs around her.

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/2627/14092009220.jpg

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/5044/14092009221.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/5761/14092009222.jpg

In this video Othee is playing around picking up a plastic hiding place and as usual trying to cover the eggs.

13092009020.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?qwgqynr2et1)

[octopus9]

Day7:
Othee is still protecting the front eggs 3rd day now…

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/3324/15092009230.jpg

The emergency tank is running , we have 1 filter that will be covered and we have a sponge filter running so they don’t get socked in and have bubbles at the same time , and nothing at the bottom for now except these pots for hiding. Babies will be floating mostly at the surface so we need something they can hold on to, so I added this green stuff.

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/8168/14092009225.jpg

http://img180.imageshack.us/img180/1245/14092009227.jpg

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1161/14092009229.jpg

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6919/15092009233.jpg

Othee cleaning the front eggs, and finally moved and left them

14092009021.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nyxii2mzlnt)

15092009026.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?gangjjzzmwd)

A small egg going down to the bottom of the tank (Don't Ask Me how I Saw That)

15092009024.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nmmjmlty5my)

A guy is asking me what filters im using well, in the main 20g tank I upgraded to marineland hang on Tank Magnum 250GPH it is an efficient, powerful, compact canister filter for up to 50g

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8828/15092009246.jpg

In the 15g I put this Millennium 1000 Power Filter Wet / Dry Multi-Filter 90 GPH

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/5456/15092009248.jpg

In this video she grabbed that crab again and I thought she was going to eat it but …

14092009023.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?zjyzdk1izm4)

[ceph]

I would leave all the eggs alone until she is done laying them. Then, if you like, you can move some and artificially rear them. If you successfully keep on batch at a warmer temp they will hatch first and give you a chance to "test" your rearing system. Otherwise they all hatch at once and its all or nothing with little chance to learn from your mistakes - I think this one shot only problem is one of the reasons aquarists haven't had more luck. A batch at a colder temp will give you a third try if you don't succeed at first or second.

You will have lots of eggs and might also want to share some of your eggs with others on TONMO. The more people that have a crack at it the better the odds. You can scrape off an egg festoon with a razor blade and use superglue to reattach it to something else (I used microscope slides but it doesn’t matter). I would ask for help covering shipping and any supplies you need (coolers).

If you remove some eggs, you will need to create an artificial mom - a slow but steady current around the eggs does the job. You can use an airstream near but not to close for this. Keep the eggs suspended. I glued or tied strings to the microscope slides and hung them.

Small egged octopuses are really hard to raise from eggs. There is some recent work out of Spain; they are trying to commercially raise O. vulgaris. . .

You will need filtration that won't "eat" the hatchlings or their food - crysal (spelling?) tanks would be what I would try if I could get my hands on one or three. I would try to raise these in several batches - separated in time by different development temps - and not in individual rearing containers as I have advised for large egged octopuses. Once they settle out I would then move them to individual containers. At that point I would throw a huge party!

You will also need appropriate food - live marine crustaceans - such as baby mysids, copepods, crab zoae, etc. I advise against brine shrimp, anything not alive, anything freshwater. Octobabies should double their weight every few weeks - it takes a lot of food to do that. . .

Since the eggs are clear, you can watch their development. If you decide to ship some, do it within the next 2-3 weeks (e.g. don’t ship them near hatching, stress can make developed eggs hatch preme).

Good luck and keep us posted.

[octopus9]

Day8:
Othee moved to the rear eggs after 3 days, you can see how she changed colors because I came close.

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/6705/16092009249y.jpg

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/2908/16092009252.jpg

As of today we are going to lower temp every 2 days until we reach 74F, we are going to move some eggs maybe in 1 week, when we will see development and it’s probably going to be the front ones.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/5065/16092009254.jpg

The main tank today

16092009027.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?xgzwy5fixzr)

That crab is still alive, so I said lets try something else I gave her a crayfish and guess what she eat it,

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8499/16092009250.jpg

http://img509.imageshack.us/img509/3856/16092009251.jpg

Here she is checking the grounds, something she does when I turn on the lights every day.

16092009028.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?4a2nodvekmj)

Note:
What im doing and experimenting is from experience and info i have,but we still don't know what is going to happen ,it is a really good experience,
Alot of members PMed me asked me if im going to sell them octo's or eggs, but lets wait for now to see what is going to happen.
Thank you James B. Wood PhD-Director of Education-Aquarium of the Pacific-Long Beach CA, which gave me valuable information and will post that tomorrow.
For this thread to continue i need your help ,post something and if you have Q's i will answer as the journal continues.

[ceph]

Sharing this experiment is really helpful. Please keep it up.

[octopus9]

Day9:
Othee is with the rear eggs today …

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/6858/17092009256.jpg

We still have about 2 weeks so Yesterday we started lowering the temp as planned, also water level went down a little bit it is easier now to move the front eggs but until I see development nothing will be moved

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/473/17092009258.jpg

These are 2 snails I have in the tank

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/6682/17092009255.jpg

This is what James B. Wood had to say:


I would leave all the eggs alone until she is done laying them. Then, if you like, you can move some and artificially rear them. If you successfully keep on batch at a warmer temp they will hatch first and give you a chance to "test" your rearing system. Otherwise they all hatch at once and its all or nothing with little chance to learn from your mistakes - I think this one shot only problem is one of the reasons aquarists haven't had more luck. A batch at a colder temp will give you a third try if you don't succeed at first or second.

You will have lots of eggs and might also want to share some of your eggs with others on TONMO. The more people that have a crack at it the better the odds. You can scrape off an egg festoon with a razor blade and use superglue to reattach it to something else (I used microscope slides but it doesn’t matter). I would ask for help covering shipping and any supplies you need (coolers).

If you remove some eggs, you will need to create an artificial mom - a slow but steady current around the eggs does the job. You can use an airstream near but not to close for this. Keep the eggs suspended. I glued or tied strings to the microscope slides and hung them.

Small egged octopuses are really hard to raise from eggs. There is some recent work out of Spain; they are trying to commercially raise O. vulgaris. . .

You will need filtration that won't "eat" the hatchlings or their food - crysal (spelling?) tanks would be what I would try if I could get my hands on one or three. I would try to raise these in several batches - separated in time by different development temps - and not in individual rearing containers as I have advised for large egged octopuses. Once they settle out I would then move them to individual containers. At that point I would throw a huge party!

You will also need appropriate food - live marine crustaceans - such as baby mysids, copepods, crab zoae, etc. I advise against brine shrimp, anything not alive, anything freshwater. Octobabies should double their weight every few weeks - it takes a lot of food to do that. . .

Since the eggs are clear, you can watch their development. If you decide to ship some, do it within the next 2-3 weeks (e.g. don’t ship them near hatching, stress can make developed eggs hatch preme).

Good luck and keep us posted.

James B. Wood PhD
Director of Education
Aquaium of the Pacific
Long Beach, CA 90802

Thank you for this valuable info , this is what im thinking even thou i don't have all the equipment, i already started with the temp trick in the 20g tank which is 82F going down to 74F, then befor hatching im moving some eggs to the 15g tank which will be 74F, then im thinking to rear more in a 3rd tank which will have warmer temp at 80-82F but im still planning on it.

Here othee was moving around and looked nervous and I don’t know why…!!!

17092009031.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?5nh112t5y3t)

Here I know why, I was bothering here with a stick while she is guarding the rear eggs, she was pulling the stick from me

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jigt2twdnmh

My son insisted that I take him a pic.

http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/2404/17092009257.jpg

This is a video of my baby briareus blue

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?j2dxihrojr3

[octopus9]

Day10&11:
othee looks weak; she did not move from her spot all day but still will not try another crayfish until the weekend

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/6029/18092009261.jpg

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/6792/18092009262.jpg

I checked the front eggs today with a flash light, some eggs look white and some are see thro...

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/3014/18092009263.jpg

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/70/18092009264.jpg

temp is going down and its at 80F ...

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/664/18092009270y.jpg

Today i went and got my baby's crayfish, watch blue eating a crayfish twice his size

the crayfish befor:

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/5580/18092009266.jpg

the crayfish after:

18092009033.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?iiyxr3zzzyt)

[octopus9]

Day12&13:

Othee is doing fine , protecting the rear eggs , temp is 78F water perimeters look good , did not give her any food but will do maybe on Monday.
I have good and bad news and i will start with the bad , blue disappeared from the tank im looking for him from 7am and did not see him all day, im really sad because i really love this octo that im raising from a baby , he is really nice , and i named him blue because of his eyes.this octo is very active ,intelligent, swimming around all the time , eats well etc...I couldn't find him inside the tank or in the area around ,200$ Reward if you can see him in this video,,,,this is not funny im very upset!!! anyways...!!!

20092009036.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?jhnnywnjtnm)

this is othee today

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4456/18092009272.jpg

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/4694/18092009273.jpg

after i turned on the lights othee was saying hello

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5016/18092009271.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6084/20092009277.jpg

I ordered moonlights in Aug. then i got the tank , and i set it up and i got the octo and the octo laid eggs and the eggs are going to hatch but my moonlights that i ordered from china did not come yet...
but finely on sat. they came...

http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/2607/20092009282.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/8867/20092009283.jpg

The good news , well the eggs have some development ,today sun. 9/20/09 they look different , i can see small red dots on each egg, the baby's started to form, this is a great development here are some pic's but not very clear maybe if you zoom you can see the dots inside the eggs. its visible in the 2nd pic...The temp trick i believe did speed up little bit and lowering it now is the perfect time, maybe in 1 week , we are going to see some hatching and i think it will be Fri.sat.or sun.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/2630/20092009278.jpg

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7057/20092009279z.jpg

http://img223.imageshack.us/img223/3870/20092009281.jpg

video of othee and the eggs

20092009034.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ngz1nzz1ghi)

sun. at 9:00pm blue is found here

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?limjtznmfne

[monty]

I'm glad blue "turned up"!

[DWhatley]

I'm glad blue "turned up"!

Me too!

[octopus9]

Day 14-15-16&17:

Tank looks good,

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2223/23092009292.jpg

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8307/23092009294g.jpg

egg development looks good, but i did not move any yet maybe in the next few days, the eggs have these red dots inside them and they are gaining some size as you can see in this pic

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/998/23092009293.jpg

Othee does not look good, as we are getting close to the hatching period , she is not moving a lot, not eating, mostly protecting the front eggs, i gave her this big crayfish 2 days ago but she did not touch it

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/8963/23092009290.jpg

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2714/23092009291.jpg

this is a video of the cray fish and you can see how othee cleans the eggs

23092009037.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nzyyij3dhza)

im still lowering tank temp and today we are at 77F , and will stop at 74F

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/6448/24092009297.jpg

i opend tank cover and got the camera very close to othee, but i had to stop as she started moving, i was scared she get out of the tank or even attack me

24092009038.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ymkydkijmwj)

[octopus9]

Day 18-19-20:

As you all know we did not make any water changes since tank was setup , but only added water ,everything looks normal , next step is shutting down the filter , and reducing air bubbles in the tank..

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/6330/27092009312n.jpg

othee still does not look good to me , and i cant do anything about it

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/5853/27092009316.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/3705/27092009317.jpg

the eggs are getting bigger, they are changing some color from clear white at the beginning to brownish white on the 20th day, i don't have much time left they are going to hatch soon so i was going to move some eggs yesterday from the front,to put in the emergency tank , but othee is stuck with them till today, and if she don't move soon we are in trouble...!!!

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/2461/27092009315.jpg

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/24/27092009314.jpg

this is a video of how the eggs look like today

27092009041.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nyj2enaigti)

the emergency tank

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/3074/27092009313.jpg

blue came out of his hiding place and he is hungry and looking for food

27092009040.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?kndoefbjnfj)

[octopus9]

Day21: The biggining of the End...

ok first of all sorry about not updating , this is what happened after day 20:

I took alot of pic's&video for day 21 , which was my happy day because most of the eggs hached that day , i downloded all the pic's&video to my laptop , and left some video's on my phone to show friends..next day day 22 i was going to post but i had to travel to TX the next day for 5 days ,so i said i will post from there , when i reached TX my laptop got dameged , and i lost all my data , i was really upset , so i had to wait until i get a new laptop and then download what ever video's i have on my phone and post, today i got my new laptop , so im back to end this thread.

This is what happend on day 21...!!!!
my seahorse tank sold so i had to put blue in the 20g tank temp. untill the mother dies...
this is a video i took day 21, befor i remove the rear eggs ,i had blue in place also you can see the emergency tank.

main tank befor removing eggs+emergency tank.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?ygjmzaziqmj)

after that i removed the rear eggs slowly , now what i did is seperated the babys into 4 places , front eggs stayed in the 20g tank, some babys went into the emergency tank directly , some i kept in a small plastic housing , and some in a glass container , removing the eggs was not easy , othee was waching all the time and because of weakness i gess , she did not say a word,,,

this is a video of the first hatch , you can see the baby's swimming around.

removed eggs and haching.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?oi2wn3gzkyn)

Now , because i had to travel the next day , i had afriend who was going to come and feed them , which did not have any experince regarding fish,feeding etc..., i had frozen mysis shrimp , baby brine , zooplex...the guy was feeding them every day 2 times only , now what happend is alot of them died i guss they needed more food , when i came back after 5 days there were more than 10 alive in the emergency tank only , all the rest died ,othee was still alive too, i started giving them more food every 3h , after 3 days i had 6 alive ,othee died that day which was really upsetting...after a couple of days all died.

it was 20-25 days that i had live baby octo's

this is another video of the baby's

more eggs.mp4 (http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?yeya1yoiajk)

It was a really good experince , i learned alot from my mistakes ,it was not easy and as i said from the biggining "dont try this at home" and i have nothing else to say.

[DWhatley]

Great journal! Thank you for writing up the outcome in spite of all the computer problems (I am doing a long over due back up of my photos as I type :oops:)

Could you clarify a couple of timings for our log? It looks like the brood time was 22+ days, the most successful tank was the one with some algaes, water movement and 10 gallons of free swimming water. The longest lived babies lasted 8 days (10 surviving the 5 days you were gone, 6 surviving for 3 days after you returned and Othee died and 2 more days for the remainder)?

[octopus9]

Great journal! Thank you for writing up the outcome in spite of all the computer problems (I am doing a long over due back up of my photos as I type :oops:)

Could you clarify a couple of timings for our log? It looks like the brood time was 22+ days, the most successful tank was the one with some algaes, water movement and 10 gallons of free swimming water. The longest lived babies lasted 8 days (10 surviving the 5 days you were gone, 6 surviving for 3 days after you returned and Othee died and 2 more days for the remainder)?

thank you , and yes it was about 21-22 days and they hachted ,the ones lived more was in the emergency tank , which had algaes , water movment from one side only with 2 diffrent filters , and i say one side becasue what i did is i closed the area near the filter so babys cant go into the other side and get sucked , while i have good water movment , now they hachtd day 21 which was Sep.28 , after that everything was good 29,30, then we went to Oct. 1st , 2 , 3 , 4th the day i left to TX then we have 5,6,7,8th i came back , and had about 10-12 octo's alive then the 9,10,11th i had like 4-5 only swimming around , they lived the 12,13 and all died after , so its about 16 days only...

[MrED]

UPDATE?