Molly - A. aculeatus

One of the reasons I like keeping serpent stars is that they will usually clean the shells and often leave them where I can extract them.
 
THE END IS NEAR!

well molly has found a new home, she barricadded herself in this rock structure and grabbed all the shells and pebbles she could find and blocked all the ways in and out of the rock. she hasn't been really active and is refusing to eat (its been 3 days) she ignores live crabs and when i put shrimp on a feeding stick and try to give it to her she blows it away from her with her siphon. also her mantle is WAY bloated, and its shaped like a peanut. im guessing all this behavior means that she is ready to lay eggs. I have not seen any eggs when I have looked for them. Ive had her for about a month (i got her on my wifes birthday) and I am sad to know that our time is coming to a close. Ive read ALOT about the small eggs that come from the aculeatus and I know that they will all probably die, but i will not disturb them and see what happens. is there anything that i could do to encourage their growth? I mean, I want them to have the best chance even if its impossible
 
As you have surmised, this is typical brooding behavior (and typical of the timing for aculeatus - and O.hummelincki - after they are placed in an aquarium. It is likely they are caught because they are out foraging to prepare for egg laying rather than anything to do with the aquarium environment but we don't really know if the environment change is impactive). The eggs are likely to hatch but survival has not been achieved by anyone on the forum (a few small egg successes with other species have been documented but not in home settings, best food success was with crab larvae). The maximum time we have seen is 21 days. The best environments have been in the main tank vs attempts with kressel type containers. Look at the Raising Octopus From Eggs forum for some of our attempts and outside papers on the subject.
 
WE HAVE EGGS!

so i dropped a live crab in the tank and scooted it inside mollys den hoping to encourage her to eat. as soon as the crab fell in her den she demolished it thats when i saw the clumps of eggs on the top of the rock that she was protecting. she didnt eat the crab she just killed it quickly and pushed it out of her den to proctect her babies. now that I know she laid eggs I know the end is even closer. does anyone know the hatch time (3-4 weeks?) also I know that they will probably all die very soon, but now is the time to test different techniques. one minor problem though, i dont have another tank to try to raise the babies in. i want to try in the main tank. i know thats even harder, but thats what i got to work with. what foods can i try, my LFS sells bottled copepods can i just put those in the tank? what about brineshrimp? i also have frozen mysis and krill. I know these are all large and the babies will be planktonic but I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING!
 
The smaller small egg species seem to brood for only abut 2 weeks. The main tank environment has been the most successful (without breeder net) for the planktonics. NO ONE objects to you trying AND enjoying the challenge and observations. The warnings are to prepare you, the challenge is to see how long you can keep one alive. Almost everyone who mentions the ultimate failure also have tried and would try again. I can't be counted in the group though as my two opportunities failed to produce offspring.
 
im going to be feeding live brine shrimp, copepods (in my tank) roti feast and oyster feast. also i contacted live aquaria and told them about it and they credited my account (its been about 27 days) GREAT COMPANY BTW! anywhoo, i was reading about the hatchlings doing well on crab zoeae and i thought that maybe oyster feast would be similar, since it floats and is oyster eggs and ovaries and very small. any other info would be great!
 
I was going to try the oyster egg (since I found it locally) with the hatchlings I did not have thinking along the same lines. When I keep another female hummelincki I will try to source the crab zoeae but don't know where you would find it. The other thing I experimented with was spawning urchins. I could get the males to spawn but not the females in my one experiment.

Be sparing with the easiest food, brine shrimp. It has pretty much been proven that it is null food, but dwarf seahorses survive on new hatch that still has yolk (less than 12 hours old). It might help getting them to begin eating (but we really don't know if not eating is part of the problem) but the food value is so low that they could starve but be full.
 
sweet! im just noticing that your the only one posting to my thread, its kinda a bummer but at least you care! Thanks D!
 
uh humm, I have to do this sooo many times :roll::wink:

Go to forums and click on the Octopus Journals and Photos subheading. Scan down until you see this thread then look at the number of views. I believe you will find that I am not the only one enjoying your journal :biggrin2: just not everyone posts a comment.
 
hey peeps, molly is still going strong and tending to her eggs. bummer that shes not eating because i have about 20 fiddlers that NEED to be eaten. also kinda a side note, but i talked to the owner of red c aquarium in shoreline today and he said he could get and ship cuttlefish eggs and even nautilisis on a regular basis (sorry about spelling) anyway I told him about tonmo and he is gonna join and start a thread about it! I hope im helping and not hurting with this info:biggrin2:
 
today I noticed that mollys mantle is kinda deflated looking. kinda like it was streatched out and now its all flappy. im guessing that means shes laid all the eggs she had. i managed to get a decent looking picture of her eggs. theres ALOT of them, heres the pic
 

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That is the typical look after laying eggs. If she survives the hatching and exits the den (many only come out on their last day) you will see that she has a hard time controlling her mantle.
 
that sounds awful, im hoping she does come out after the hatching. she has been eating a tiny bit when i give her shrimp on the feeding stick. its a real bummer to watch her decay. also i can tell shes looking at me different too, kinda like a "dont mess with mah babies" look. it makes me sad
 
Neal and I are finding that we can get a little food accepted by senescent animals (brooding females and senescent males) if we revert to their baby food. If you can find frozen mysis (they are available as fish food but we found some with decent size at an international market. I have seen them before but they were prepared, these were raw) any kind of soft seafood (possibly fish - have not tried this) or my standard tank food, Cyclop-eeze (very tiny but we have seen definite signs of the octos eating it) it may help to keep her healthier.
 
I've been reading your journal! It's just that it's always between running around doing things- not always time to comment. I have found that it doesn't matter much, though, keeping the journal is most helpful to you, so keep it up! :smile:
 

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