New with babies! Crazy right?

[rryyddeerr]

great improvised little situation youve got there. best of luck!!

 

[Shrimpy Brains]

Linda; I just call it like I see it and that stick didn't look to be near the mouth! lol Live and learn.

Yes, poop was an explitive. I got it now!

Thanks to all of you who have taken an interest in this thread!

I am still living in hope that the other 3 are hanging on. I still haven't seen them, but parameters are still testing well and when I found the one dead, it was just floating. I am hoping that hiding=alive.

Anyway, the clown babies did not hatch last nite, but I am def. expecting them tonite. Thought I would add about 30 or so to the octo tank and raise the rest seperately. Then add as needed.

I added some more pods from my fuge tonite. Hope they are eating them. It is not easy getting those little bugers out of there.

If I see any octos tonite, I will try to get some mysis close to them with the pippette. Otherwise, I will just put a little in the tank.

Did a 1/2 g water change today. I think that is about it for now.

 

[Shrimpy Brains]

Ok, this is day 4! I certainly think I should haveat least caught a glimpse of one of these little guys. So, I was staring at the tank.......again. Desperately, looking for those two little eyes...somewhere. I've been thinking that the only thing I am feeding are pods.
Hmmm......so, where are the pods? I have certainly put at least a hundred of the little guys in there. With all the time I have spent staring at this tank, you would think I would have at least seen an amphipod running around somewhere.
So, is there at least one Octopus in there that is eating them? Or am I clinging to a desperate hope? Wanting at least one to be alive so badly that I am fooling myself with false logic.

Ammonia still holds at zero. So, I will continue to act as if I am feeding/raising something.

So, in the area of feeding: I am still feeding frozen mysis and cyclopeeze soaked in vitamins and garlic twice a day. Only a very small amount since spot feeding is out of the question. I try to suck out any leftovers I see with a 1/2g waterchange.

Clownfish eggs still haven't hatched. Maybe I am incorrect about the spawning day, but I was sure they would hatch Sunday night. I know I haven't spoken out loud about my intentions for the larva, so I don't know why they won't come out. The eggs have become the largest I have seen, if they don't hatch tonite, I think I can skip he rotifers and go straight to newly hatched baby brine as they will be thru metamorphysis (sp?)by then. Picture of eggs attached.

Snails? I think I read on here that someone fed their octopus snails? I didn't know they might eat these. Correct me if I am wrong.
Well, I always have lots of baby snails on the glass in my Seahorse tank. (pic attached)
So, I scraped some off with my mag float, caught them in a net, and added them to the octo tank. Figured if they don't eat them, I could always use some clean up crew.

Also, attached pic of tank with 1g removed. That's it for today! I will be staring at the tank for awhile now. Maybe I'll see something!

 

[SabrinaR]

Dont be discouraged... Nancy, one of the staff here... at least I believe it was her... anyway she had a one day old octo she got from somewhere. She put it in a tank and after not seeing it for a long while believed it was dead... Well, around 4 months she looks in the tank and what does she see.... an octopus. And she didnt even feed the tank. It had survived that whole time on the stuff already in the tank. So have faith. You can do this... and it seems like youre doing a great job. The first one you lost was the learning curve, keep the faith.

 

[SabrinaR]

By the way, I am so super jealous right now you have no idea... I wish I was WAY closer to Atlanta

 

[Shrimpy Brains]

By the way, I am so super jealous right now you have no idea... I wish I was WAY closer to Atlanta

Thanks for the encouragement! I would just feel way better if I could just catch a glimpse!

Anyway, the clown babies finally hatched. They are much larger than normal. 2 extra days incubation!
So, I added about 30 or 40 to the octopus tank, and the rest are in my Kressel(or whatever you call it)

If I think they are being eaten, I will add more. If not, I'll have some more Clowns to sell! (in a few months) Win, win!

 

[Shrimpy Brains]

Day 5: Well for starters, I have been talking with Linda(Lmecher) and she refered to the little ones as "inklets". Don't know what you would really call baby octopus, but I like it and will be refering to them as inklets from here out!

So.....still haven't see the little inklets.

I woke up this morning to maybe 4 of the 30-40 clown babies I had added last night! I broke out an air line hose for a siphon hose. Ran it all around the bottom of tank, on top of my little filters(airline filters, so no strong suction) and on top of live rock. Looked in container and had only 2 dead clown babies in there.

4 alive and 2 in bucket means at least 26 dissappeared. Eaten? I hope so.
I think I will wait a couple of days and let the clowns get a little bigger/stronger and add some more.

Also, ended up doing 1/2g water change this morning looking for dead clowns and did another this evening for good measure. I was a little concerned as in addition to the clowns, I added live rotifers for the clowns to eat and phytoplankton for the rotifers to eat.

Tested ammonia after second water change and it remains 0.

That's all for the inklets today.

I will mention that my sister is the best bargain hunter in the world. Called me today to say she found a tank with stuff in it including a smaller tank for $7.95. Do I want it?

I said, "absolutely"! Picked it up from her after work. Turns out to be a 30g tank with screen top that locks down. 2 azoo hang on back pumps. 2 heaters, a 10g with screen top. a large clamp light and a timer! Score!

If these inklets get larger I have an upgrade tank now! Woo-hoo! I know they can't live in the 30g forever, but it's a start!

 

[DWhatley]

One word of caution. That is a glass tank (with the screen, I would guess it was used for a dry critter but the pump concerns me about freshwater) and has silicone seals. There is on going discussion about any use of copper (almost always the case with freshwater and many saltwater fish) being deadly to all cephalopods in even the tiniest amount. The recommendation is to avoid tanks if you don't know copper was never used as it can leach for a long time if absobed in the silicone. If you can find the history of the tanks use, it would be a good thing.

 

[corw314]

Wow...Awesome!! Wish I lived closer! Keeping fingers crossed..and hiding may be a normal behavior because think of all the predators that want to eat babies in the wild!

 

[CaptFish]

I think the hiding is normal. When I dropped my six inklets in my tank they disappeared and i actually forgot about them then one day an octopus appeared.
the journal is here

 

[Shrimpy Brains]

D- Just about all my tanks are used. My intentions were to clean it aggressively with vinegar. Then fill with water and test for copper. This has proven effective for me in the past, but maybe I have just been lucky.
I have no way of finding out what it has been used for in the past as it was purchased from a thrift store. There has been much discussion lately on the reality of copper storing in the tank and leaching later. Do you know of anyone who actually had this happen?
However, this is a risk I am aware of and your info about cephs being intolerant to even trace amounts of copper leaves me concerned. I will take it to Fishscales(he does sw and reptiles) and see if they will make me a trade! Maybe if I throw in some cash I can get something a little bigger! Did you say a 55g would be a good size longterm?

corw314: Thanks! I wish you lived closer, too! Then you could help me with water changes, feedings and the desperate hunt for a glimpse of my invisible inklets! Oh, maybe that's not what you meant!

CaptFish: I beleive hiding is normal, but you dropped your inklets in a 125g. A large fish can dissappear for a while in there. Mine are in a 10g with maybe 4 lbs. of live rock and a handful of chaeto. If they really double in size weekly, they shouldn't be able to hide too much longer! I'm up to page 5 on your thread. Very awesome!

Day 6: 1/2g water change Ammonia still 0.

I added 10 clown larva along with some rotifers and newly hatched brine.

If one of the invisible inklets ever does turn up, maybe I should name him "Harvey"!
(If anyone is old enough to remember that movie!)

 

[DWhatley]

I am not trained or experienced with copper since I have always avoided using it but here was a recent situation that brought together a good collection of the discussions and experiences . You may want to wait to see if any get to be thumb sized unless you are already hooked and will go hunting one regardless of the outcome with these. We used to recommend 55 for brieareus but have upped the recommendation to 65+. The problem is the size range for all species vary. Kooah was relatively small, Legs and Kalypso were very large and a 65 was a tight fit. My tanks are somewhere inbetween at about 60. The tube tank offers about 8" of extra swimming space so that is my briareus tank.

 

[Shrimpy Brains]

Maybe I will wait! I can't say that I am hooked, but mostly because I am staring at an empty tank!

I was definitely excited by your pics/videos and seeing them at your house, but now I am just waiting. I want to call you everyday to ask for some more, but am still clinging to the hope that there is life in that there tank! We shall see!

 

[DWhatley]

Unfortunately, they have all pretty well gone to ground (expected but I thought it would happen at about 2 weeks, not one) at this point so I have no clue on how many are alive in the tanks. I was only able to get three of the four I could find on the wall last night for Susann (ARC & TONMO Ayveq). As time passes we will see what materializes and on the not expected chance that I have more than I can raise (3) I will put out a call to TONMO members as they will likely be shipable when I next see them. I still have (or had, I have not gone down to feed yet tonight) a couple in my experimental tanks but those are not up for adoption. If I do find other I will let you know but I don't expect to given the last experience we have on record.

 

[Shrimpy Brains]

Maybe that's a good thing(for me)! lol I will continue with maintainence and feeding this tank and see what happens!
Thanks again, D! It really has been fun!