Raising juvenile octopus in a pseudokreisel

[Thales]

Do you think it would be better to use a 1-5 gallin kreisel or empty out my 250 to raise them?

No one really has any idea. I would do both if I could. In the small Kreisel you get good proximity to food, in a larger tank you get space the paralarvae may need. If I could only do one I would do the Kreisel.

I would also be getting every food I could ready in culture - A. tonsa, Tigger Pods, rotifers, artemia (though this seems like not the best food), cilates and anything else I could think of because we have no idea what they will eat.

Of course all that is easy compared to getting brood stock!

 

[skywindsurfer]

I was wondering if tiger pods would be small enough for newly hatched paralarvae or if I would need something smaller. That's why I was thinking of artemia nuaplii.

 

[skywindsurfer]

All of this is still just brain storming as I'm still waiting to find a male to breed here with.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Ok so I know that it is hit and miss, a shot in the dark, rolling the dice, et cetra and that no one is a hundred percent sure about what to do or use, but is it safe to assume that I would be on the right track by feeding a mixture of artemia nauplii and rotifers for the first couple of days to weeks until the paralarvae are large enough to accept copepods and adult artemia while supplementing all prey items with a DHA/EPA rich solution and other suppliments to enrich the food source? Or do I need to look into getting another prey item as well?

 

[OB]

Can I escort you back to page 4 of the Vigo paper, before answering this question?

 

[skywindsurfer]

First I would just like to appologize ob for my stupid and possibily redundant questions. I've been trying to read that paper you posted ever since you posted it the other day, but with a full time job, 10 month baby, pregnant wife, and the fact that I read ENTIRELY way too slow, I just finished it. And thank you very much for posting it because it has answered a lot of my questions. I haven't even touched the other link yet. I'll be sure to get on that as soon as possible though. I do have one genuin question though. Do you know how long it takes for O. Hummelincki eggs to hatch and how long the planktonic stage lasts?

 

[skywindsurfer]

I just took a quick look at the second paper, but I don't think I will read it. I'm going to focus on culturing artemia, rotifers, copepods, and amphipods right now. I think I can get them along with several different enrichments from my LFS and I have several small tanks/containers I can culture them in. Thanks for the paper though. I just don't think I'm ready to try culturing crab and octopus larvae at the same time.

 

[OB]

No apologies needed, at all, being a single dad with a four year old, myself, I can totally understand the situation The only thing to remember is that others have made their mistakes for you, earlier, and thanks to the wondrous discipline that is the scientific method and its subsequent expression in papers, you now have access to the full "look before you leep" potential. So go look

 

[OB]

With regards to embryonic development, please find this short communication by Ignatius and Srinivasan on O. aegina, a small egg species like O. hummelincki.

Furthermore, as a quick and by no means exhausting web trawl taught me, the planktonic stage of early development can last anywhere from 28 to 90 days, depending on available prey items and ambient temperature.

Edit: as a further add on to potential prey items, starfish larvae seem to fit the bill alongside crustacean zoea.

Edit 2: Don't intend to do much more Artemia bashing after this, but this paper's survival graph sort of says it all...

 

[skywindsurfer]

Thanks again for all of your help. If I have any more questions I'll be sure to ask them here. If not then anyone interested can monitor my journal for Bubbles my O. Hummelincki to see if I do get a male and viable eggs.