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O. Briareus babies

ayveq

Pygmy Octopus
Registered
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
10
Well they are home!

Hello all. My name is Susann and I just brought home 3 O. Briareus babies that I received from D.Whatley.

They made the trip ok and have been acclimated and are in their temporary tank. One of them inked when I was moving them, which surprised me. Though it probably shouldn't given all they just went through. They are currently in a 5 gallon. I am a little concerned that the flow in the tank in a bit high for them, but I wanted to make sure the filtration was good and that there was a lot of airation. There is just enough sand to barely cover the bottom that came from my existing reef tank and a couple of shells and a piece of rock for them to hide in. I do have a lamp on the tank with a red light.

I did notice that when I transferred the sand, three hitchhikers came with it. Two hermit crabs and a nassarius snail. Please let me know if any of these should be a concern or will just be helpful to pick up any uneaten food.

I am excited to embark on this journey and thankful to D for the opportunity. For good or bad, I will share what happens and look forward to the advice I can soak up from all of you.

My first question is when should I first offer food. I am thinking tomorrow morning, as I am up at 5am, but please let me know if I should wait longer.

Susann
 
I've been feeding between 1:00 and 3:00 so they should be good and hungry when you get up and should adjust. You might try to keep them in the dark (red light OK) a few hours before you go to bed to see if you can get in two feedings a day.

I would remove the hermits immediately even though they are small (as much as it would be nice to have shrimp picker-uppers but not yet I think). Remember, I have not seen any in the tank with the large one. Even a small one might be able to catch them. Snails are fine. I added your exit photo to the MiniCon thread :wink:
 
How old and large are the juveniles? Do you have any pictures. I'm so glad for you, and jealous. As long as the crab and snail are not larger then the octopus, they shouldn't be an issue. More then likely the crab would become food. Not sure if they would eat the snail.
 
Thanks D. I will remove the hermits right now. I forgot that you mentioned that.

All the lights in the room are out, with the exception of the red, so I will give it a go before I go get some sleep. Thanks again D for sharing your experiences. It was great meeting you.
 
skywindsurfer, they are TINY. no larger than my pinky thumbnail. I tried to get pics, but it was tough. I will try again tomorrow!
 
Oh, well ya in that case I wouldn't keep any kind of crustacean with them. I wish you the best of luck raising them. I've been looking all over trying to find a gravid female so I could try hatching and raising some babies. I'm so jealous. Anyways good luck again.
 
skywindsurfer;156830 said:
Oh, well ya in that case I wouldn't keep any kind of crustacean with them. I wish you the best of luck raising them. I've been looking all over trying to find a gravid female so I could try hatching and raising some babies. I'm so jealous. Anyways good luck again.


Thanks so much!
 
Thanks all for the warm welcome!

Sadly, this morning, I am definitely down one. :angel: Found one alive and kicking hanging out on the glass. Found another sitting in a corner near the bottom. Eye looked clouded over so I gave it a gentle nudge with the pipette, but it just free floated away so I pulled it and its def. gone. The last one is either also deceased or hiding well. Tried target feeding last night and this morning with the ones I could see, but no go. I put a bit of food into the water in hopes that someone would pick it up over night.

Hermits were pulled as soon as D noted that this was a potential problem last night, so I know they are not the source of the death.

Time for some morning tea and a bit more time to wake up. :sleeping:

Susann
 
The cloudy eye is definitely one of the signs of death. Another is the arms curled up over the mantle but be careful with this assumption because it is not always a dead animal (I almost killed one trying to remove it thinking it was dead yesterday). Thanks for the update :fingerscrossed:
 

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