[Octopus]: Iris - O. Briareus

Fratricide and cannibalism...
The victim here definitely started out alive and fighting. The bully not only took down the victim, but fought off a third party midway through.
I get the feeling that I will end up with exactly one surviving octopus.

(I apologize for the lousy focus on these shots. It was all happening fast on the back of the tank and I didn't have a chance to think through the best camera settings.)

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What amazing photos! Is it noteworthy that the bully has a lot more pigmentation than the other two in the shot? More mature? Better fed?! Or just an emotional statement?
 
EXCELLENT!!!! (photos that is, not the result). This is something we have only suspected and have so needed to document! Now we know for sure that at one month they will hunt and eat each other. I believe this is about the time I noticed a dramatic decrease in counted population but will go back and check.

Edit: No, Kooah's main die off occurred around the first week. You have more available food in the tank and that may account for more remaining at this point. Since they are taking down food their own size, you may want to add larger food offerings but I suspect it won't stop the slaughter. I ended up with one per 60ish gallon tank. I put two well developed animals in Cassy's tank and the smaller of the two disappeared in a week or two so I suspect there is no getting around 1 per tank at any age for this species.
 
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I wish these would ship, I would love to raise another pair but I tried retrieving some from Charleston (by car) a few years ago and sent several hatchlings home (also by car) with a few local people and none of them made it even a day.

Presumably once they grow "old enough", they would ship. Any idea how old this is?

(As of last night, I was able to find 18 little guys.)
 
Unfortunately, I am guessing three months would be a minimum. The conjecture is from some I guestimated ages found in the wild and shipped to me (they may have been a month older but not younger). I looked back on some of the posts for Zyan Silver's bimacs and it appears he waited 5 months to ship them and I believe all recorded shipments survived. I have tried transporting by car (both to and from me) animals under 2 weeks and all cases failed.

That being said, if you want to try, the loss would be no worse than keeping them together and would provide more data on what we can and can't accomplish. Ship with lots of water and overnight (for any octo). I would recommend at least 1 month. I'm up for the experiment if you want to try.
 
PMd u also I agree with DW its worth a try when I had the dwarfs I shipped them at 2-3 weeks. Just have to give them enough room as well as oxygen in the bag. Ill jump in on the journey if your willing to try.
 
Unfortunately, I am guessing three months would be a minimum. The conjecture is from some I guestimated ages found in the wild and shipped to me (they may have been a month older but not younger). I looked back on some of the posts for Zyan Silver's bimacs and it appears he waited 5 months to ship them and I believe all recorded shipments survived. I have tried transporting by car (both to and from me) animals under 2 weeks and all cases failed.

That being said, if you want to try, the loss would be no worse than keeping them together and would provide more data on what we can and can't accomplish. Ship with lots of water and overnight (for any octo). I would recommend at least 1 month. I'm up for the experiment if you want to try.

The way I looked at it is a small octopus in lets say a 8 inch bag filled half water and half oxygen. Id say its better then a larger octopus in the same bag producing way more ammonia/waste, in return making the water toxic. Will likely make a over night trip, only ever had a few that didn't fend well in shipping. When I shipped dwarfs they were around a inch to 1.5 inches in a 8 inch bag. :smile:
 

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