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my octo is hiding?

rc

GPO
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Sep 30, 2003
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my octo has been hiding for about a week now, i fed him last week, he ate his clam and retreated to his home as usual, but he has not come out sinse, this is not tipicall, i used to see it all the time day and night, i was re-aranging some rocks last night and accidentally dropped one on his home, he came out looked around and went right back in, it didnt look unhealthy and is obviously still alive, this makes me beleive maybe its a female that just laid eggs??
are there any other causes for this behavior?
 
Hi,
How long have you had your octo? Is it a bimac?
There are cases of octos taking some "quiet time", but egg laying is also a possibility.

Nancy
 
that sounds like a possibility...

only other case i had of 'denning up' was a bocki that was feeding on amphipods and wanted nothing to do with my offerings
 
ive had it for about 5 months, i beleive it is a briareus, it has always been a very aggressive eater, no matter what ive put in there, lately ive been giving it live clams that i bought at the grocerie store, there fairly large so the octo cant get them open, i usually let it play with the clam for a while then i crack it open for him/her the octo does the rest ive been feeding these clams for almost 4 weeks now so i dont think they have done anything to the octo.

its hiding place is a plastic shipwreck, the spot where it likes to hide in there is facing the back of the tank so i cant see whats going on in there, although im tempted to turn the ship around to see inside, i dont want to stress the octo out, im sure it picked that side for a reason
 
yes it sounds likely that its eggs.. i peeked at my briareus when she had eggs with no problems... other than an angry octo pulling me in lol...
 
i figured i would try feeding it, i put a peice of fresh shrimp (dead, figured it would smell) on a feeder stick hoping the smell would entice it to come out, the octo came out snatched the food and went right back into its den, which is also not normal, previous to this, the octo never ate inside of its den, it used to eat just in front of it, then when it was done it would discarge the shells if any and then retreat into its den.
and again i managed to get a good look at it, it looked perfectly healthy, i guess ill have to wait and see.

if it is eggs what should i expect?
 
probably about 50 - 200, 10mm long eggs hanging from the roof of cave in festoons of 10 or so... very obvious to see.. oh and an angry mum!
 
the time i dropped a rock on the den and the octo came out it was deep red, i figured this meant it was mad at me :frown:
 
the octo now seems to be more agresive, whenever the damsel gets near the den opening the octo shoots an arm out at it, not so much as to catch it but seems more like an agresve act to scare the damsel away
 
That along with the other stuff nearly confirms that the octopus is caring for eggs. If you want to protect the eggs and the babys, I would take the damsel out .
 
i hadent thought of that, good idea although im not sure how im gonna catch it.
how long will it take before the eggs hatch?
will anything else in there be a problem, i have a small seahorse two serpent stars and one pretty big green brittle star?

once they hatch what should i do, from what ive read if i dont seperate the babies fast they will start to kill each other?
 
you will need to take out all the inhabitant to protect the octo-babies.. or have another tank ready and safe for them so you can catch them as they hatch, but i'd prefer the 1st option

They may take somwhere between 30 - 45 days depending on temp.

and yes, briareus will need to have seperate chambers each or they will be cannabalistic, maybe thats a good way to thin them down to more manageable numbers to start with :?
 
Just to let you know what could happen if the inhabitants aren't removed, initially the seahorse will eat the babies as they swim a bit more, as they get a little larger the star might get to them and the damsel will also play a part in eating and stressing the babies.

I'm not sure if the mother will ink after death, but if she lets out a lot, it can coat the babies gills and suffocate them if not removed quickly.
 
as far as being canabalistic, will they kill each other right away or does their population thin gradually? in other words if they hatch while im at work, would they all have killed each other by the time i get home? :frown:

how big are they when they hatch, will i be able to see them?

im assuming that briareus is a large egg species so the babies will not be planctonic

im open to suggestions on how best to separate the the babies

are they prone to climb out and escape when so small?
 

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