[Octopus]: Maya - O. hummelincki

[CaptFish]

Ohhhh, well in that case it sucks!

 

[Tommycs]

Is it possible that the collecting is only a sign of being unfamiliar with it's environment? Maybe it's not collecting to brood but instead collecting because it's still a little nervous about being added to the tank. Fletcher collected things when I first added him/her and fletcher never brooded even two and a half months later.

 

[DWhatley]

It is the obsessive collecting, the mantle growth and excessive time spent in her den (all signs I saw with Beldar) that make me expect brooding. I have kept more males than females but the behavior is distinct.

 

[DWhatley]

Eggs 10/27 5:16 I so wish I was wrong about Maya's behavior. I noticed something unusual a minute ago. Her den door was pushed open and it looked like she was way in the back with all her arms pulled sucker toward the opening. This is not a normal posture for her (she has shown something similar to the mercatoris defense posture but not with all arms up). A closer look told me that white was not suckers but strands and strands of eggs. This is the first time I have seen eggs as Bel chose a den that gave no view and the mercs blocked the view with their bodies. I could not get a focus into the den and tried to manipulate a flash light and the camera unsuccessfully before Maya returned. The fact that she left the eggs makes me wonder if this means they are not fertile but time will tell. She was out foraging so maybe she will eat for awhile and slow down the process. Bel lived a couple of weeks after giving up on her eggs and Trapper a full 11 weeks after her eggs hatched. Trapper ate during most of her brooding but she only had a few young, there are strands and strands of eggs in Maya's den. I hope they are fertile and have been being economically inventive on ideas to try (and to keep from being depressed about loosing her so soon). Trapper brooded for 10 weeks but she was large egged (mercatoris). My best guess on small egged is roughly 1 month but Sedna's aculeatus eggs hatched in 2 weeks so I will prepare for the shorter time. I am posting the one picture that suggest eggs more for historic reference than really being able to see anything. She does not seem to be moving them or grooming them, only protecting the clutch. This may be because they are newly laid (I am assuming today or last night) or a lack of fertility. I have no clue but will watch and record. 6:30 I believe she is either laying more eggs or aerating these. She has turned her body toward the eggs and I can see her eye. Initially her pupil was wide open (I have never seen it open like this before and was worried she was dying). As I watched, it would open and close with her breathing (unfortunately, there is not enough light to get a video). Very interesting and I am comfortable that she is involved with egg tending and nothing worse. 8:30 We tried several times to get her to accept food tonight but she would have none of it. I even tried putting a priorly frozen fiddler next to her but she just blew it away. We feed the tank cyclop-eze and mysis shrimp (she would scrounge for the shrimp we discovered) so we also tried squirting some of that near the den but so far she does not appear to want anything. She may be too tired to eat today and we will continue to annoy her with food at feeding time in hopes that she will eat something.

 

[Tommycs]

Sorry to hear it , lets just hope they are Fertile and you can do some experimenting with them.

 

[gholland]

At least you finally got to see some eggs D!

 

[Nancy]

That's such a good video you took of Maya and the gorgonian! The eggs come as no surprise, but they bring a loss in your relationship with your octopus, we all understand your sadness.

Interesting about the wide eye - I noticed the same thing with Ollie.

I hope Maya eases up a bit and does eat something. What are your plans if the eggs are fertile?

Nancy

 

[bluespotocto]

My aculeatus i had laid infertile eggs. She did go and scavenger hermits and much on them about once a week. So maybe a sign they are infertile.

 

[DWhatley]

I am not sure if it is a good or bad thing that we had so little time with her, she was so full of personality that it might have been a lot more painful.

I am working on several, low budget experiments (surprise, surprise) based on ideas to raise pelagic fry (obviously not octopuses), primarily concentrating on water movement. What I cobble together over the next couple of weeks will depend upon what I win cheaply on eBay that provide the types of motion I am trying to create (A foot bath with heat, vibration and air bubbles and a hot dog roller are high on my list in addition to slightly more traditional items). Once I have my assembly together, I will photograph and describe my set ups. If the eggs do not prove to be fertile, I will at least have documentation of what I wanted to do and how I set everything up in order to repeat the process for the next time (and the positive activity will keep me from brooding about Maya brooding). Additionally, I hope to get some input from some of our experienced members (failures and successes) for fine tuning.

If anyone has an old hot dog rolling machine they don't want (heater does not need to work but rollers do), I will pay shipping+ and be grateful but I cannot borrow it and return it as it has to run all the time and that will require modification and likely burn up a motor.

 

[DWhatley]

Maya is now refusing food

She has not taken shrimp for several days but would reach for a crab placed near her den (and it appears may have hunted some in the tank) up until today.

 

[DWhatley]

Egg Brooding

Maya does not care for the eggs 24/7 but at intervals. Much of the day she will face forward and look out. She would even go on short hunting forays the first couple of days. I have not seen her leave the den in about 5 days. I do see her turn toward the eggs at different times and assume she is cleaning them.

Tonight I tried to use a flashlight to see if there were still eggs as it looked barren behind her. My first attempts showed nothing attached to the den walls where I originally photographed the eggs. She has not eaten anything offered but I have seen her poop daily. I have assumed she is eating the mysis (which she would pickup during her hunting) and Cyclop-eeze (detectable as red in the waste) but now wonder about egg consumption. After more searching, I did seen and shoot an illfocused video of her cleaning several strands of eggs. I am not sure how many eggs remain though as I think I should have seen many more attached to the left side of the den wall.

The out of focus disk you see on the left is a cheap magnifying glass (barely magnifies). I am looking for a stick on magnifier that might help see if there are spots on the eggs but so far I can't see in the den well enough to tell.

 

[DWhatley]

With a couple of attempts using plastic magnifiers, I can get a small glimpse of the eggs from time to time. She keeps them pretty well hidden now where initially she would move an arm while I peeked in the den as if to let me see them. The eggs are tiny and my eyes have a hard time seeing detail for the short intervals I get but I don't see any spots on the eggs and they are an opaque white, not the translucent white of eggs preparing to hatch so I fear they are not viable. It has been 3 weeks since she produced the eggs and it seems that there are very few left (I can see a small cluster she keeps aerating but not the huge mass in the picture and nothing attached to the rocks). I won't fully give up until she does but I will be surprised if any hatch.

I looked up Octavius and Serendipity (the only two other hummelincki broodings I could find) and noticed that Octavius brooded for 11 days (the same as the average vulgaris timing I found) but AM's Grover (Adopus, possibly aculeatus) brooded for 4 weeks so I have a little hope for another week but the missing eggs and opaqueness of the remaining ones is still discouraging.

One thing of note. Serendipity arrived Sept 7/08 and started brooding Oct 6/08. Maya arrived Sept 24/09 and started brooding Oct 27/09. It makes me wonder if one of two things is occuring. Either this is a typical brooding time for the species or there is something about my tank (different tanks) conditions that starts the brooding process. I am inclined to the later if Maya's eggs are not fertile and would shot gun the idea that it might involve temperature (because of something I recently learned about urchins spawning).

 

[Neogonodactylus]

Two of our females laid eggs yesterday. Fortunately, one placed her eggs high on the glass front of the tank. We will be taking photos of the egg development every other day.

Roy

With a couple of attempts using plastic magnifiers, I can get a small glimpse of the eggs from time to time. She keeps them pretty well hidden now where initially she would move an arm while I peeked in the den as if to let me see them. The eggs are tiny and my eyes have a hard time seeing detail for the short intervals I get but I don't see any spots on the eggs and they are an opaque white, not the translucent white of eggs preparing to hatch so I fear they are not viable. It has been 3 weeks since she produced the eggs and it seems that there are very few left (I can see a small cluster she keeps aerating but not the huge mass in the picture and nothing attached to the rocks). I won't fully give up until she does but I will be surprised if any hatch.

I looked up Octavius and Serendipity (the only two other hummelincki broodings I could find) and noticed that Octavius brooded for 11 days (the same as the average vulgaris timing I found) but AM's Grover (Adopus, possibly aculeatus) brooded for 4 weeks so I have a little hope for another week but the missing eggs and opaqueness of the remaining ones is still discouraging.

One thing of note. Serendipity arrived Sept 7/08 and started brooding Oct 6/08. Maya arrived Sept 24/09 and started brooding Oct 27/09. It makes me wonder if one of two things is occuring. Either this is a typical brooding time for the species or there is something about my tank (different tanks) conditions that starts the brooding process. I am inclined to the later if Maya's eggs are not fertile and would shot gun the idea that it might involve temperature (because of something I recently learned about urchins spawning).

 

[DWhatley]

Oh, please post some of the development stages!!! At least I could see what would have happened . From the little I saw yesterday the ones that are left are still inflated but totally opaque and no spots. I don't think she would have moved them but is almost looks like those that I can glimpse are not attached to substrate. The normal album section has still not joined the new forum so could you put them in the Raising Octopus from Eggs sub-forum (forum->Octopus Care->Raising Octopus from Eggs)?

 

[Neogonodactylus]

One day old O. filosis eggs These were taken the day they were laid. I will try to follow their development over the next month until they hatch. Roy