First Time: Octopus keeper

[fishy12]

How long do octos live for someone said only 1 yr

 

[DWhatley]

The ones we keep in home aquariums live from 8 months to 18 months in the wild (as best we can tell). Neogonodactylus (Roy Caldwell) had a lab bimac that lived close to 3 years as I recall. Since most of our animals come from the wild and hatchlings are very rare, 7 months is a guestimate average for octos that survive the first month. O.mercatoris is listed with a life span averaging 10 months. My merc hatchlings that lived more than a month ranged from 10 - 13 months before dying.

 

[fishy12]

Ok, So thanks for the threads to! And If you can keep urs breeding you never run out of lil octos! Haha

 

[DWhatley]

Both Greg and I stopped after the first captive bred generations.

 

[fishy12]

I have a few other questions. Will they only be active at night? Or will they come out during the day and be active occasionally? And how should I acclimate them I use the measuring cup method. How do you sex them? And are purple barnacles availabe at drfostersmith.com?

And what are my chances of getting a pair? And at a there mid age like 6 months

 

[DWhatley]

Did you get my PM (check your notifications), the little document I have covers most of that.

The purple barnacles are usually found at sea side junk shops and often on eBay.

I use a turkey baster but many people prefer the drip method (a cup is too fast). Acclimation is generally about 3 hours.

Here is a thread on trying to determine a male from his specialized arm. One of the photos is of a pair of mercs.

O.mercatoris will not acclimate to daylight. On occassion, Greg saw his out in shadow but the only time I have seen them out during daylight is just before the end. My females have been mostly inactive all the time.

 

[fishy12]

Did you get my PM (check your notifications), the little document I have covers most of that.

The purple barnacles are usually found at sea side junk shops and often on eBay.

I use a turkey baster but many people prefer the drip method (a cup is too fast). Acclimation is generally about 3 hours.

Here is a thread on trying to determine a male from his specialized arm. One of the photos is of a pair of mercs.

O.mercatoris will not acclimate to daylight. On occassion, Greg saw his out in shadow but the only time I have seen them out during daylight is just before the end. My females have been mostly inactive all the time.

Ok if the lights are on at dusk or night will they still come out? And if not are there any lights that could be on when they decide to come out to help viewing?

I also never got a pm...

And my under standing of sexing is if the arm is curled up it is a male?

Also when u guys breed ur octopus do you remove the male when you keave the young in moms tank?

 

[SabrinaR]

I think if you read through the threads you will find ALL of your answers. Mercs wont be avalible until it cools off anyway so you have a lot of time. I know that now you have decided you want to give this a go and are excited but you have to slow down and .

 

[fishy12]

I know it will be 3 months on top of the initial wait for the tank to be reef ready and setup good

 

[fishy12]

I took the advice I started reading sum but ill start reading more later. I am exhausted today from other activities. And I saw moonlights like what coralife offers(i am assuming thats what was ment) will be good to see him at night. And I can feed frozen but i didnt read any plans to get him on it... And Finally soft corals is what I should get for the tank? Since they won't sting.

 

[DWhatley]

If you will PM me your personal email address (we can't send attachments through TONMO mail), I will send you a not ready for prime time compilation I wrote on setting up and caring for a merc as well as some info on the young. Babies will need to be kept in breeder nets. Neither Greg nor I have never separated our males and females but Roy nevers leaves them together for anything other than mating.

You will need a red light to view the mercs, they won't stay out in white light. You can either buy a red bulb for your hood or alter the lighting using velum (paint does not work well but could also be used if thick enough) so that the active time lighting is red and dimmer than daylight. They will tolerate enough red light to view them well and I recommend leaving the red on 24/7. Two people have found a screw in fluorescent that may work well (I have not tried it yet but plan to). There are also a number of options for red LED lights available.

 

[Lmecher]

I love reading these threads, new folks have so much enthusiam!

 

[fishy12]

Ok so what your saying is get a red light and use it all the time? Or just for night? And if I do get a pair I really hope I can sucessfully breed them. Cause Ill keep one and get a different one. Also what should I keep the salinity at? And if I use redlights then corals aren't [pssob;e right? Cause I either plan on corals and octo or being able to see the octo quite often

 

[DWhatley]

I leave my red light on 24/7. You would have to create a daylight time with additional lighting if you want even low light corals. Quite often is not on the menu. You will see much more of the octopus if you have a red light on all night. I leave mine on 24/7 but you could turn it off during the day. If you turn it off at night, the animal will most likely come out after it turns off.

Mixing the blood lines is a positive step but octopuses are not off the shelf items and the vendors cannot sex them so your model is way over simplified. Please strart reading the care articles and journals to get a better handle on the current state of this part of the saltwater hobby.

 

[fishy12]

Ok, So you said if I leave the light on 24/7 he'll come out at night and ill be able to see him. And I can turn it off during the day to run t-5 on low light corals. I think for my first octopus tank ill just have the octopus and when I talked about breeding that would be when I have a few years under my belt and I can sex them on my own.