Moma Briareus and her new babies......

[corw314]

What an exciting update!!!! Sooo glad to hear they are doing well!!! How are the others doing at the other places????

Carol

 

[chrono_war01]

sounds really exciting!

 

[Nancy]

Please continue these detailed reports on the baby briareus - very interesting. Everything seems to be going well. It amazing that you are able to interact with them when they are so young.

What are you feeding them? You mention mysis, but are they alive or dead (frozen?)

Nancy

 

[sharkbait]

I am feeding frozen mysis soaked in selcon.All of the other people that i have given them to tell me the same thing.They have not seen any since they put them in their tanks.I keep goin to the LFS where my buddy works and put 2 dozen in a 120 filled with lr and a lot of sps corals but I still have not seen any since we put them in.

 

[Nancy]

Please tell the others with the hatchlings in their tanks to continue feeding and not give up. It's quite unusual that you've had such a sighting! The little ones are very good at hiding.

By the way, Happy Birthday!

Nancy

 

[oscar]

is it ur birthday? happy birthday!!! glad everything is going well!! It is amazing that there is such a difference in your tank to the others!!!

 

[sharkbait]

I don't know if it makes a difference but I do not have bunch of rock in this tank.There is a big cave for momma and then I have 2 big pieces of homemade live rock that is very porous and then a few small pices of other liverock.There is no direct lighting on it and my main sightings are when I first turn on the room lights and they will be all over the glass.Some are quick to scurry off to their tiny little holes in the liverock and then others will stick around for hours like they are watching me.Me and my kids spend most of are time down in the fishroom when we are home.The tank they are in is in the wall right behind my bar(Fishbar is what my wife calls it)as that is where all my supplies and foods and stuff are kept and I do all my water testing and food preparations right there so I am around the octo tank quite a bit.

 

[DHyslop]

How is the mother doing, is she still eating? This is really phenomenal.

I used to have a tank with a gar on my bar.

Dan

 

[sharkbait]

Momma is not looking good at all.Getting very thin.She is not eating much at all.I give her live food and frozen food but I pretty much have to stand around and wait for her to get done and then take the leftovers out so they don't spoil the water.I still give her the occasional emerald crab or sally lightfoot and she just nibbles on it and that used to be her favorite.

 

[chrono_war01]

End of her life perhaps?

 

[cephalopoder]

Briareus is cannibalistic. Unless separated, they will prey on each other. Letting hatchlings go into a tank of live rock can be dangerous too if you have allot of bristle worms. Large bristle worms will home in on the smell of a baby octopus eating its prey. The prey gives of a odor trail and excites the worm. The young octopus backs into a nook with no back door and while grabbing for food the worm rips off a few baby octopus legs at the same time. I saw this when I raised the bimacs. Some could fend them off ok, but the spines from the worm would stick into the hatchling and irritate it. They are like quills on a porcupine it its the worms first line of defence. I lost a couple I think to the quills alone. In every brood there is the bigger and stronger of the bunch even with bimacs I saw one munching on a sibling before I seperated the big guys from the little ones... This happens to Jim D as well.

 

[sharkbait]

I'll just have to wait and see what happens......I have several that do not go in the live rock.They hang out on the glass right up under neath the trim.Hopefully some will make.

 

[Nancy]

Last year we did not have good success with keeping the baby briareus in individual cups. They seemed to have a better change in a normal aquarium. Even if they do eat each other, at least that provides some food and maybe you'll have one or two left.

Mysids are good to feed and maybe there area some amphipods and other small types of food in the tank.

Nancy

 

[corw314]

Any new pics??? How old are your kids? What an exciting experience for them!

Carol

 

[sharkbait]

Any new pics??? How old are your kids? What an exciting experience for them!

Carol

No new pics but I do have lots of video but I have no way nor how to put video on here.My kids think it is the coolest.My little girl turns four the end of march and my boy is two.My wife thinks it is neat but she is not really in to the hobby and thinks I have way to many tanks.