- Joined
- Dec 22, 2004
- Messages
- 1,713
I haven't been keeping it very secret that--if the worst has indeed come to pass for Octopets--that I'm interested in obtaining a festoon of eggs.
I would like this thread to become a general discussion of the animal, with particular emphasis on reproduction and aquaculture.
With this in mind I've taken (quite literally actually, but that's another story) some references from the library this afternoon and used them to pass the time until Battlestar Galactica (an episode I was rather pleased with, too). Last year when I moved I threw out a giant stack of Malacologia, which I seriously regret.
I have learned a collosal amount from Forsythe & Hanlon 1998. In the wild, bimacs tend to live in localized, relatively isolated populations. These populations often vary in size: I presume this is why Octopets had said they didn't expect any more Ollies. The study found that bimacs--throughout their lives--seemed pretty tolerant of one another, regardless of study's relatively "overcrowded" conditions. This conflicts with observations from TONMO'ers, however it could be that the study bimacs, hatched in groups of dozens, were better socialized from day one. Also, these octos are kept in containers that simulate their natural environment better than our aquariums do, as I'll mention again below.
The article's description of mating surprised me. The octopus were very promiscuous and showed very little aggression. In many instances, a male octo, happily holed up in its den, would just reach his 3rd arm into a female's adjacent den for a little while, completely sight unseen. Sounds more like Woodstock.
Mean egg size was around 12 mm x 5 mm and they require between 45 and 180 days to develop (a linear relationship with temperature, r^2 = .977!). Hatchlings have very low mortality and will eat mysis and 'pods within 24 hours.
Bimacs were raised in trays measuring ~6 x 2' and 3 x 2' (I am an American citizen and as such I will mix and match metric and standard as I please). Hatchlings were only kept in a couple inches of water, adults not more than 8" or so. Think shallow tidepool and not All-Glass Aquarium!
That's about all I have to say for now. I hope that all of you with experience keeping bimacs or raising octos from eggs chime in. I think we could have a very lively conversation about the best setup in a home for hatching 10-20 eggs rather than 100-200!
Dan
I would like this thread to become a general discussion of the animal, with particular emphasis on reproduction and aquaculture.
With this in mind I've taken (quite literally actually, but that's another story) some references from the library this afternoon and used them to pass the time until Battlestar Galactica (an episode I was rather pleased with, too). Last year when I moved I threw out a giant stack of Malacologia, which I seriously regret.
I have learned a collosal amount from Forsythe & Hanlon 1998. In the wild, bimacs tend to live in localized, relatively isolated populations. These populations often vary in size: I presume this is why Octopets had said they didn't expect any more Ollies. The study found that bimacs--throughout their lives--seemed pretty tolerant of one another, regardless of study's relatively "overcrowded" conditions. This conflicts with observations from TONMO'ers, however it could be that the study bimacs, hatched in groups of dozens, were better socialized from day one. Also, these octos are kept in containers that simulate their natural environment better than our aquariums do, as I'll mention again below.
The article's description of mating surprised me. The octopus were very promiscuous and showed very little aggression. In many instances, a male octo, happily holed up in its den, would just reach his 3rd arm into a female's adjacent den for a little while, completely sight unseen. Sounds more like Woodstock.
Mean egg size was around 12 mm x 5 mm and they require between 45 and 180 days to develop (a linear relationship with temperature, r^2 = .977!). Hatchlings have very low mortality and will eat mysis and 'pods within 24 hours.
Bimacs were raised in trays measuring ~6 x 2' and 3 x 2' (I am an American citizen and as such I will mix and match metric and standard as I please). Hatchlings were only kept in a couple inches of water, adults not more than 8" or so. Think shallow tidepool and not All-Glass Aquarium!
That's about all I have to say for now. I hope that all of you with experience keeping bimacs or raising octos from eggs chime in. I think we could have a very lively conversation about the best setup in a home for hatching 10-20 eggs rather than 100-200!
Dan