I am goin to keep this journal as a record of my experience.Tuesday morning my 2 kids and I were goin down in the fishroom to check to see if any of the eggs had hatched over night like we had been doin for the past week and as we gazed upon the eggs and seen how active the little ones were inside,we spent a few more minutes extra and to are amasement the first egg started to hatch.My little girl(3) turns to me and says "here they come daddy".We sat and watched untill the Broke free and started jetting around all over the tank.In about the 20 minutes or so we watched this one 3 more came popping out of the cave.2 1/2 hours later there was about 2 dozen. As of tonight there are about 35 or so that have hatched and about 30 or 40 left to go.I thought it was kinda odd that it is taking this long for all of them to hatch,but I don't know anything about it so maybe it is normal.I have taken about 2 dozen to a friend who owns the LFS and he put about half of them in a ecosystem and the other half in a 120 gallon tank all to themselvesand the rest I have split up between 2-20 gallon longs that have been setup empty (thriving with pods)just for them,and the eggs that are still unhatched are goin to stay in where they are at.Momma is still eating very well,She eats a crawdad or sometimes a emerald or sallylightfoot crab every other day with assorted frozen foods soaked in selcon on the other days.So far I have only lost 2;one got caught in the overflow prefilter and when i went to take the filter off to get it out I guess I smushed it(felt really bad) and the other was killed by a bristle worm (witnessed with my very eyes)that rubbed up against it(as soon as the bristle worm touched it,it rolled up in a little ball and about 4 or 5 seconds later it quit pulsing).That is all for now........

I almost forgot,Here is a picture of one.....

Congratulations and the very best of luck to you in your attempts to raise these hatchlings! It may be a long time before you know whether any survived. The one hatchling that survived from the 6 briareus hatchings in my 19 gallon tank hid for 4 months. She hid so well that I thought all had died.

It's normal that all the eggs don't hatch at once - may even take a couple of days.

We've found that many of the mothers do continue eating if you provide them food. Most don't last more than a couple of weeks beyond the eggs hatchings, but then we've had exceptions, too.

Nancy

Brstile worms? They kill baby octos from touch? Can i have a photo of the worm thing so I know what not to buy since its all in Chinese here.

How exciting!!! Congrats!! Please keep updating!!! Also your 3 yr. old is having quite an adventure she will always remember! I think that's a wonderful enriching experience for kids!

Carol

I've never heard of anyone buying a bristleworm! They come uninvited on your live rock. You'll recognize them - they have lots of bristles.

Nancy

Dunno, I wonder do they have it in HK?

They will appear in any tank...

Good luck on rearing the babies, Sharkbait!!! Please keep us all up to date :)

Good luck with the baby octos.

Ok,all of the eggs had hatched by thursday morning and I estimate between 60 and 70 babies and I have passed out about half of them to be reared by other people.They all jetted around in the water column for days after they hatched and as of saturday afternoon ,they have all disappeared into the rock.This tank is loaded with pods thanks to all my friends who donated sand out of their aquariums.I guess now I'll just wait and see what happens.....I'll keep you informed on any future sightings.....

Excellent!!! Please update us frequently!!!! Good luck!

Congrats. :grin: Happy to hear that they're out.

Looks like things are going well for the babies. By giving them to other people as well, it increases the chances that some will live. But remember, you may not see any young octo for a LONG TIME - it was 4 months for me. Make sure there are tiny hermits and other things for them to eat as they grow. After about three months, I noticed that my amphipod population was declining. A litte later, a hermit crab "died" as well as a small snail or two. I still didn't realize I had a little octopus until we were cleaning the tank, and an angry red little briareus came out of the rock.

Nancy

wow...so if i find a bristle worm in live rock i should take it out? even if i have a larger octo?

No, bristle worms are actually beneficial.

From what I've observed, octos are annoyed if bristleworms are in their den, and don't tolerate bristle worms around their eggs. My bimac killed bristle worms after she laid eggs.

Nancy

Bristleworms are beneficial because they're good scavengers, they're normally redish with bristles. A larger octo wouldn't really mind the worms but for a smaller octo it could kill. If you had a larger octo leaving the worms in would be better as the worms will help clear up leftovers.

Any sightings????

No sightings yet.All the people I gave them to tell me the same thing.After a couple of days they just disappear and only one person has seen one since,and that was just for a second as it crawled out of one rock to another.

That's hopeful though!!! Lots of luck!!!!

That's exactly what happened with my briareus hatchlings. I woudn;t have thought it possible that they could hide so well. I expected to see one from time to time, so that's why I thought they were all dead. Imagine my surprise to find that a four month old briareus was living in my tank!

Nancy

Momma and babies were moved to their new residence,a 75 gallon in wall tank.I carefully placed each piece of rock in a five gallon bucket so i would not disturb or injure any babies that might be in there and placed them down in the tank.Now for the real challenge,(so I thought) getting momma.I got my big net and put it down in the water slowly,to try to minimize the inking.what happened next just amazed me.She reached out to check it out for a minute and then she just hopped right on ready for the ride.I had a bucket ready to put her down in but she was so willing to go i just carried her over to it and put her in.No need to acclimate as half of the water was from her old home and I made sure the water parameters matched perfect to minimize stress on her and the babies.after i was all done I needed about 5 gallons of water to get to the level i wanted it at and when I poured it in I guess it disturbed the little ones cause here they came,about 25 or 30 little angry octos.they were climbing all over the glass checking things out for about 5 minutes or so and then they went back to their hiding.I was amazed at how much they have grown.Size of a quarter now compared to the dime size they hatched at.I don't know if they are eating pods or the frozen brine shrimp soaked in selcon I put in after lights go out.That's all for now.........

your doing great!

It wonderful that you can see the babies grow - sometimes they hide so much that you never see them. As Colin says, you're doing great!

And it was interesting that moving them went so easily. What a cooperative mother briareus!

Nancy

octos sure are smart

Wow!! That's wonderful!!! Any new pics?????

That mother briareus is smart!
Great job with the little ones!
Keep it up!
I can't think of any more exclamations!

-Squidman!-

I can't think of any more exclamations!

How about just: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it sounds like you have the perfect setup for raising them!!! maybe this is why u are doing so well!

what age do they start fighting at?

nothing to do except exclaim i guess... "!!!!!!!"

hehe... but really... it sounds like you are doing great - any reports on the mother or the babies in the other tanks?

Every since i have moved them to their new home,4 or 5 babies are out at all times.Today while i was feeding my other tanks i thought I would try to give the baby octos some mysis.I got my pair of tweezers and presented it to the first one and he grabbed it right away and started eating it.Then I fed it to the rest that where out and threw a couple pieces down in the tank to see if any would come out of hiding.But no luck there.I got excited seeing them eat and started feeling like I really have a good chance at raising them.I don't have any light on the tank,but it receives some lighting from the flourescent room lights over head.later on in the evening i noticed that one was really taking interest in me as i sat and watched so I stuck my finger down in the water and moved it around and the little booger started chasing it around and finally caught on to it and held on for a bit and then took off swimming again so i started chasing it around with my finger and when i got close to him he let out some ink and took off for cover..I know I am just kinda jumping all over the place but I am trying to type this as i remember it.That's all for now.

SOUNDS VERY PROMISING IF THEY ARE COMING OUT ALREADY

What an exciting update!!!! Sooo glad to hear they are doing well!!! How are the others doing at the other places????

Carol

sounds really exciting! :grin:

Please continue these detailed reports on the baby briareus - very interesting. Everything seems to be going well. It amazing that you are able to interact with them when they are so young.

What are you feeding them? You mention mysis, but are they alive or dead (frozen?)

Nancy

I am feeding frozen mysis soaked in selcon.All of the other people that i have given them to tell me the same thing.They have not seen any since they put them in their tanks.I keep goin to the LFS where my buddy works and put 2 dozen in a 120 filled with lr and a lot of sps corals but I still have not seen any since we put them in.

Please tell the others with the hatchlings in their tanks to continue feeding and not give up. It's quite unusual that you've had such a sighting! The little ones are very good at hiding.

By the way, Happy Birthday!

Nancy

is it ur birthday? happy birthday!!! glad everything is going well!! It is amazing that there is such a difference in your tank to the others!!!

I don't know if it makes a difference but I do not have bunch of rock in this tank.There is a big cave for momma and then I have 2 big pieces of homemade live rock that is very porous and then a few small pices of other liverock.There is no direct lighting on it and my main sightings are when I first turn on the room lights and they will be all over the glass.Some are quick to scurry off to their tiny little holes in the liverock and then others will stick around for hours like they are watching me.Me and my kids spend most of are time down in the fishroom when we are home.The tank they are in is in the wall right behind my bar(Fishbar is what my wife calls it)as that is where all my supplies and foods and stuff are kept and I do all my water testing and food preparations right there so I am around the octo tank quite a bit.

How is the mother doing, is she still eating? This is really phenomenal.

I used to have a tank with a gar on my bar. :)

Dan

Momma is not looking good at all.Getting very thin.She is not eating much at all.I give her live food and frozen food but I pretty much have to stand around and wait for her to get done and then take the leftovers out so they don't spoil the water.I still give her the occasional emerald crab or sally lightfoot and she just nibbles on it and that used to be her favorite.

End of her life perhaps?

Briareus is cannibalistic. Unless separated, they will prey on each other. Letting hatchlings go into a tank of live rock can be dangerous too if you have allot of bristle worms. Large bristle worms will home in on the smell of a baby octopus eating its prey. The prey gives of a odor trail and excites the worm. The young octopus backs into a nook with no back door and while grabbing for food the worm rips off a few baby octopus legs at the same time. I saw this when I raised the bimacs. Some could fend them off ok, but the spines from the worm would stick into the hatchling and irritate it. They are like quills on a porcupine it its the worms first line of defence. I lost a couple I think to the quills alone. In every brood there is the bigger and stronger of the bunch even with bimacs I saw one munching on a sibling before I seperated the big guys from the little ones... This happens to Jim D as well.

I'll just have to wait and see what happens......I have several that do not go in the live rock.They hang out on the glass right up under neath the trim.Hopefully some will make.

Last year we did not have good success with keeping the baby briareus in individual cups. They seemed to have a better change in a normal aquarium. Even if they do eat each other, at least that provides some food and maybe you'll have one or two left.

Mysids are good to feed and maybe there area some amphipods and other small types of food in the tank.

Nancy

Any new pics??? How old are your kids? What an exciting experience for them!

Carol

Any new pics??? How old are your kids? What an exciting experience for them!

Carol
No new pics but I do have lots of video but I have no way nor how to put video on here.My kids think it is the coolest.My little girl turns four the end of march and my boy is two.My wife thinks it is neat but she is not really in to the hobby and thinks I have way to many tanks.

Picked up my kids on the way home from work today and as soon as we got home my little girl ran down stairs to look at the tanks and then I heard her scream "daddy".I went down and she was standing in a chair with her face up against the front glass cryin.I new what had happened because the night before she came out and was stuck to the glass all evening watching us and would not budge when I reached in and gave her a nudge.Momma was layin on the bottom of the tank lifeless.It was pretty sad,my daughter cried for atleast 30 minutes as I was tryin to think of the right words to comfort her finally I explained it to her and said that she had left us a gift,all of these little babies to take care of.She looked up at me with a smile and asked me "Am I their mommy now".I smiled and gave her a big hug and whispered yes in her ear and left it at that...................

Perhaps she knew her life was almost at the end so she came out and wanted to say 'goodbye'. But at least you took good care of her and her babies. :cry: :cry: :angelpus:
The loss of a pet, no matter how small or bone-less is still very sad.

So sorry to hear. What a beautiful way to explain her death to your daughtor.....

Carol

I am sorry momma octopus died, but what a great thread, i didnt even know that they bred in captivity :oops: I cant wait to read the next instalment :smile:

it is a sad part of the life cycle but it sounds like you are making full use of the present she gave you and giving the babies a great start! good luck

oh and I forgot to say goodluck. :neutral:

I have not seen any babies since mother is gone.Checked water parameters just to make sure it was a natural death and not from water chemistry.Everything checked out ok.....hopefully everything is all right with them and they will reappear....

They are over a month old now! It's amazing that you saw them for so long. My hatchlings disappeared after a week. You might try looking at night with a flashlight with a red lens, but I found they hid pretty well.

Hope some survive!

Nancy

one month seems so long for a baby octo to grow up, but then, 1 week seems too short, you can't reven know if they're there are not!

Here are a few pics of mama the night she came out to say goodbye........ http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/shRkbait/DCP_1345.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/shRkbait/DCP_1343.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v281/shRkbait/DCP_1342.jpg you can see it in her eyes......

Thanks for these wonderful pics!

Looks like she had almost entirely lost her color.

Was she this friendly before she had the babies? And was she always nocturnal, or did she become more day active?

Looks like one of her eyes is cloudy - we had a lot of that with the bimacs, too, when they were near the end.

I'm sure Debbie (dbbga) won't mind if I post a pic of Jetta, her briareus, after the eggs hatched. Briareus are beautiful octopuses.

Nice shots...but sad too. Have seen that look in many over the years. One of the ways I have always known the end was near was what I call the curly-que look to their legs. Any sightings lately?

Carol

The octo's eye's look real sad in the pics. :sad:

wow what a beautiful animal! It is a shame it has left us but thankyou for sharing the pictures they are fantastic. It is great to see that she was so confident as to come out like that to say goodbye - all the best for the babies

I just wondered what had happened to all those lovely babies?

yes id love to keep updated on them - its all very new and interesting to me!