[Octopus]: Maui Moonlight (M&M) - O. Briareus

DWhatley

Kraken
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Location
Cape Coral, FL
Hatch Date: March 29, 2014
Mother: Iris (@TMoct)
Shipped: April 29, 2014 (1 month)

TMoct shipped one of the remaining "extras" from Iris' brood. It arrived today and appears healthy. If it survives for the next two weeks I think we can use this as an age marker for shipping. Two others shipped one week earlier and survived shipping but I don't know the current status.

I am trying M&M in a large breeder net with barnacles. If she/he is anything like Kooah's hatchlings, there is little chance M&M will stay in the net but I am giving it a try in hopes that she/he will at least stay long enough to begin accepting and expecting food.

Photos are sorely lacking in definition (I had forgotten how tiny they still are at a month :oops:. The bowl is 6" in diameter and the mantle is about the size of a newly hatched cuttlefish :wink:.

PS Maui Moonlight is a type of Iris
 

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I do wish he/she would start a journal (hint - hint). I know it is difficult to write about animals that have a low chance of survival but we all learn from sharing both the great and miserable experiences. I posted a, How NOT to acclimate an Octopus video, knowing I would take some hits (from outside the forum) but felt it was important to demonstrate why bag release was not a good idea. Keeping esoteric critters is always going to be a learning experience but we get better at it if we can learn from other's less than wise choices or attempts that fail and direct documentation is far better (and more convincing) than hearsay.

Please tell your daughter that I took the name she gave the mother and found an Iris name to suit her offspring (note the PS edit in my original post). I think we are going with M&M as a nickname but may use Maui depending upon personality.

M&M is tiny compared to the unnamed WC I will post next. If I have been so lucky as to end up with a male and female and they both survive (M&M being my biggest concern) the current size difference will equal out when they are "of age". I would wait well past sexual maturity (about 5 months for males and somewhat later for females) to attempt a mating but maybe a month less than with Mama Cass in that I don't know if prolonging the match making was part of the reason the hatchlings did not survive more than a couple of days.
 
She's a pistol for sure. She was out investigating early this AM (late last night) and kept sticking her arms through the netting to find a way out. I am not sure if she went back into the shells or managed to leave the net as I have not been able to find her during my several rounds. Little ones are a constant worry
:goofysca: .
 
M&M is still in her net (her for the next few months until I know otherwise and don't want to keep using her/him) and sassy. I offered several things at the pointy end of a stick (point retained because the items need to be VERY small) but she would have none of it and anthropomorphically acted quite put out at the offering. She investigated the bamboo and had no interest in the food but did come fully out of hiding to show her indignation. She even sat out in full view for awhile and I could not help but think she was observing me. I sucked up several amphipods from the other's tank and put them in M&M's net and now cannot find a single one. I don't think they can get through the netting but they could be hiding in her shells (or in her stomach :biggrin2:). I thought my shore shrimp would arrive today but my mental calendar is a day off so I will try them tomorrow.
 
M&M's brother enthusiastically took a piece of silverside last night. The piece was about the size of his mantle, but he was unintimidated. As far as I can tell, he got a good healthy meal out of it. I bet M&M will do the same when hungry.
 
I put a newly killed shore shrimp in M&M's den last night. She found it and appeared to eat it. The live shrimp still swims in the net but I can't find any of the amphipods. I will continue with the shore shrimp, leaving one live but offering a fresh kill on a stick. I tried offering this one but she ignored it until the stick was removed (not fully by intend :roll:).
 
As expected, M&M is very reclusive but unexpectedly has stayed in the net. She alternates between a large and a small set of barnacle shells but may move when I feed her and she feels that she has been "discovered". Last night she was quite aggressive when I tucked a shrimp into her shell and was hoping to see more direct interest in eating but tonight she had no interest in her shrimp, threw it out of her shell and moved. The shrimp are as large as her mantle (at least) and it may be that I need to offer smaller pieces but she has shown no interest in the chopped table shrimp we feed to the tank. I am never quite sure about the Cyclop-eeze but she may be eating daily in addition to the shore shrimp.
 
Sadly, I had a tank accident last night and lost M&M today. I purchased a new skimmer for the tank where the cuttles will eventually go if they grow out (the original died over a year ago and was not replaced). Unfortunately, the new unit would not fit in the cabinet (missed by 1/4") and I had to settle for swapping it out with the one in M&M's tank (only tank with no cabinet to restrict height). I removed, cleaned and set up the smaller skimmer for the larger tank but decided to wait until today to install the new skimmer on M&M's tank. Sometime during the night or today, the fan I keep over the tank fell into the water. It did not short the breaker and I am not sure if it was turned on (but is was plugged in) since the weather has been quite varied. I noticed the serpent star sitting in the tube (unusual), the polyps curled up in an odd way and the thorny star up against the front glass but all were still alive. As soon as I pulled the fan I looked for M&M and found him out of his den and on netting alive but not very active and out during the day. When I replaced the skimmer I noticed an oily film in the sump that disappeared as soon as the skimmer ran for a few minutes and was not visible in the main tank.

M&M stayed out of his shells and refused to go inside even when encouraged. Tonight I found him dead on the bottom of the net. I am not sure if there was enough electricity running through the tank to do damage (or where it would have had a ground) and suspect the actual killer was the oil in the motor. Everything else is alive tonight so I am watching the remaining animals but distraught over the loss of M&M.

MM6weeks_AfterFanSubmersion_04.JPG mm6Weeks_FinalPhoto_01.JPG mm6Weeks_FinalPhoto_05.JPG
 
So far the serpent has lost two arms but is still alive, the starfish is not looking good (swollen), the polyps are recovering and the hermits and pencil urchin seem unaffected. The viewable "oil slick" was only about the size of a silver dollar and I did determine the fan was running when it went into the tank but I would think shock would have been immediate death so I think it has to have been something from the motor. One thing I did not not think about was heat but would not have expected the motor to run very long once submerged.
 
Funny that the pencil urchin seems unaffected since it is related to the stars. I always found that the urchins were more sensitive than the stars. Hopefully the serpent star will just regrow the arms and recover.
 
As it turns out :oops: there are two pencil urchins, both seemingly unaffected. The thorny star is still alive, dark purple (usually orange) and still looks somewhat bloated but less so than yesterday and has not lost any arms. I can't find the serpent star but that is not particularly unusual. I don't see any cast off arms but they disappear quickly.
 

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