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octopus australis

damo88

Hatchling
Registered
Joined
Sep 4, 2008
Messages
1
Hi,

i was driving along an island beach in queensland australia and came across a large shell and an octopus laying about 1 foot away (about 3-4m above water level). upon inspection of the shell i noticed about 30 large white solitary eggs clustered inside (visible body form and large eyes). In fear that she would get washed ashore if i returned it to the sea, i brought it home and placed her and the shell/eggs in a holding tank i have setup in the garage (im a qualified aquaculturist/marine boilogist).
Two weeks later - last night she started spitting out a few eggs that were attached to the inside of the shell. several hours later i noticed 2 fully formed newly hatched octopus resting on the substrate. This morning i have gone down the bay to collect either some tiny crabs or mysid shrimps but all too big.

i have tried finely chopping up 1cm long shrimp but bubs arent responding.

i have identifyed the species as octopus australis[I[/I]


Q's
1. When do young require their first feed.
2. Has anyone had sucess in rearing octopus australis.
3. What shoud be fed to newly hatched.
4. Can enriched adult artemia be fed to young.
5. Do they take dead foods
6. would they all stand a better chance being released as i dont want to keep them all or sell them.

just checked - i have 4 now!!

thanks in advanced for your knowlege

damien
 
:welcome:

I don't know anything about the species, but Norman's book says it's a large-egged species, so it should be similar to raising the young of bimacs and mercatoris. Try looking at the threads on "Trapper" and "Varys," both mercatoris whose eggs were raised to adults, since dwhatley and gholland really did a good job journaling their experiences. A few people asked for a forum devoted to raising octopuses from eggs, which seems like a good idea, but I haven't done it yet... If I do soon, I may move this thread over there, so don't be too shocked if it migrates (it's not clear if it should be in ceph care and cover cuttles as well, or over in physiology, or here in octopus care... which is the main reason I didn't just do it...)
 
can you get a plankton net out? They'd probably take copepods, failing that if there's a mud/sandflat nearby then swishing a handnet through seagrass should get you some amphipods that they may well eat.

J
 
If you can't get pods in there quick enough or feel you need to supplement, new hatch (less than 12 hours old) brine is a quick fix but not a long term solution. If you have access to frozen cyclop-eze, my young did well with that but did not grow to proper size and likely needed additional food sooner (they did, however, survive).
 
damo88;124658 said:
This morning i have gone down the bay to collect either some tiny crabs or mysid shrimps but all too big. i have tried finely chopping up 1cm long shrimp but bubs arent responding.
...
1. When do young require their first feed.
5. Do they take dead foods

Damien,
While I think it is a good idea to offer the hatchlings a variety of food sizes, don't give up on the mysids too quickly. They may not need to eat immediately. Our merc hatchlings were more than capable of catching and eating mysids and gammarus amphipods that were every bit as large as they themselves were! They also readily accepted live "tigger pods" (tigriopus californicus?), but the live mysids were the real key to our eventual success. We never had any luck with non-live foods (I think dwhately had some success with cyclopeez though).

damo88;124658 said:
6. would they all stand a better chance being released as i dont want to keep them all or sell them.

If you decide to release them, just be sure to acclimate them slowly since their small bodies may be even more sensitive to changes in water parameters. That may or may not be one of the causes for deaths when we moved a group of babies to a larger tank (despite our acclimation efforts).

Also keep in mind that despite your best efforts, only a small fraction are likely to survive more than a couple of months, so don't be afraid of being "overrun" by hatchlings! However, it is a very rewarding experience if you succeed and well worth the time and money spent!

Best of luck!
Greg & Jen
:fingerscrossed: :fingerscrossed:
 

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