We're having babies, Brown Pacific Octopus babies

[mvanfleet]

Hey Guys,

About a month ago my wife and I got a Brown Pacific Octopus. We had done our research and had a tank setup waiting until we found one.

We have had it for about a month now. The first two weeks were great, she has lots of "toys" and we would "play" by moving her toys around only to wake up to her having moved them back to where she wanted them. After two weeks that had stopped, she stopped coming out. During our routing cleaning yesterday we found that she had laid eggs, which is why she stopped coming out, and she is caring for her eggs.

We have mixed emotions, sad because we know what this means for her, but excited, although extremely nervous, because we have the chance to care for all her young. I have taken care of many fry before, but NEVER octopus larvae.

I am looking for advice on what to expect, what food i should have ready and how often do they eat, how fine of netting do i need to cover the overflow with, how long can they live together before I need to separate them from each other, and is it okay to leave mom with the babies until she passes? and really any other advice you have to offer, I am ready to listen and learn.

She is in one of 3 tanks that I keep. It is a 50 gallon all in one and well secured (for her, not secure enough for Larvae). I keep her alone with only peppermint shrimp, hermit crabs and snails, all was meant for her food. No fish.

I also have a 250 Gallon and another 50 gallon that I use as a QT/monitoring tank. It only has a few damsel's and NO medication of any kind. So I have options for the shrimp, hermits and snails if I need to move them.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated

 

[Wolf89]

Are you sure the eggs are fertilized? They cannot reproduce asexually. The babies will likely need to be fed LIVE mysid shrimp or maybe amphipods.

 

[mvanfleet]

As far as the over flow. I have already purchased, and am waiting for it to arrive, some media bags with different flow rates. I plan to cut and hot glue around the back side of the overflow to prevent them from entering the filtration area. I am just concerned that too fine of media will inhibit the flow and filtration. Attached is the two media sizes I received.

 

[Simon Reefing]

What does this mean for the octopus do they not last long after laying eggs? That’s awesome that you are giving her the best life she can have!

 

[mvanfleet]

Are you sure the eggs are fertilized? They cannot reproduce asexually. The babies will likely need to be fed LIVE mysid shrimp or maybe amphipods.

No, I am not sure. Because I have only had her about 2 weeks before she laid the eggs, i assumed she mated in the wild, then was caught and ended up in my tank where she laid the eggs. But you are correct, I could be preparing for nothing, lol. I based this theory off a youtube video I found where this exact same thing happened and he had babies.

 

[kev.2013]

What does this mean for the octopus do they not last long after laying eggs? That’s awesome that you are giving her the best life she can have!

Octopus will spend their life taking care for the eggs. They will unfortunately pass away

 

[mvanfleet]

What does this mean for the octopus do they not last long after laying eggs? That’s awesome that you are giving her the best life she can have!

Sadly she will pass away after her eggs hatch.

 

[kev.2013]

No, I am not sure. Because I have only had her about 2 weeks before she laid the eggs, i assumed she mated in the wild, then was caught and ended up in my tank where she laid the eggs. But you are correct, I could be preparing for nothing, lol. I based this theory off a youtube video I found where this exact same thing happened and he had babies.

They can hold/store sperm for some time before actually laying the eggs. So this may be what happened, or it could also just be “her time” and laid unfertilized eggs.

 

[Tamberav]

The eggs can be fertile... the males pass them sperm packets.

 

[mvanfleet]

what is the gestation period? I cannot find a direct answer for the Brown Pacific Octopus. I think I remember seeing somewhere 4-6 weeks, but I can't remember if this is correct or not.

 

[cancun]

Hi there! Totally cool, and great job taking care of her! Do you have any pics? They are fascinating animals!

From what I found.....It takes about 150-230 days, about 6 or 7 months, for the eggs to hatch. She will rarely leave the eggs during the entire incubation period.

This article might help....http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2012/kalupa_juli/reproduction.htm

 

[TwinDad]

There has been limited success manually feeding the octopus female during egg care, however you said it has not been in captivity long, this probably wont help but I feel like it could be worth a try

 

[mvanfleet]

Hi there! Totally cool, and great job taking care of her! Do you have any pics? They are fascinating animals!

From what I found.....It takes about 150-230 days, about 6 or 7 months, for the eggs to hatch. She will rarely leave the eggs during the entire incubation period.

This article might help....http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/bio203/s2012/kalupa_juli/reproduction.htm

Thank you, I saw this article as well, but it is about the Giant Pacific Octopus. I thought the incubation time was shorter for the Brown Pacific Tiny guy.

 

[mvanfleet]

There has been limited success manually feeding the octopus female during egg care, however you said it has not been in captivity long, this probably wont help but I feel like it could be worth a try

I have tried with silversides, she wants no part in it. At this point I am trying to keep any stress away. So I am keeping the lights off and giving her a secluded area for her den.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

There was a really cool PBS show about octopuses that I watched recently. A researcher in Alaska housed a small variety (I can't remember which type) in his home for about a year until she died. Life expectancy for the type he had was only a year or so.

This probably does not help you at all, but I'm jealous of the opportunity you have

Keep us posted, please!

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Here's the documentary link. https://www.pbs.org/video/octopus-making-contact-y8dyan/

 

[atoll]

I have tried with silversides, she wants no part in it. At this point I am trying to keep any stress away. So I am keeping the lights off and giving her a secluded area for her den.

I would try here with crab or mussel in the shell which should be more to her liking.

 

[Bj’s Reef]

This is so interesting, if you can get some pictures thru the whole process. I’m sure we will all enjoy them.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

While knowing the specific species of octopus could be helpful (Pacific Brown Octopus could indicate a number of different species), it seems that most small species that could fall under that name are referred to as "small egg" octopus species. To my knowledge, no "small egg" octopus species have been successfully reared to adulthood in captivity as of yet. I've heard that the best attempts so far have been conducted using crab zoea (baby crabs), but even these were unsuccessful. The general thought so far seems to be offering the hatchlings small quantities of live zooplanktons and crustacean larvae (things like various pods, rotifers, gut-loaded Artemia [BBS], baby shrimp, etc.) multiple times a day and observing closely to see if they are eating/surviving. Again, these should be live foods.

I don't know if this is an issue with octopus or not, but you might want to be careful not to offer too much, as I've heard it can be an issue for cuttlefish (closely related to octopus) where if there are too many feeders in the tank they can stop viewing them as food and then starve to death.

If yours is a "small egg" species, then the young will most likely all die within a few days. If it is a "large egg" species, your odds are much better, but it still depends upon the specific species.

All of that said though, my best advice would be to head over to Tonmo (a forum site similar to this one which focuses on cephalopods, such as octopuses) and ask for advice over there. The forum doesn't seem to be quite as active these days as it used to be, but even if you don't get a reply, you can still look through their forums for some information that might be helpful. Additionally, while I don't know if they would reply, I would suggest reaching out to the University of Chicago's Marine Biology Laboratory (mbl.edu) and see if they would be willing/able to offer any advice, as they actively aquaculture a number of different cephalopods, and (if I remember correctly) they were the first in the world to be able to aquaculture multiple generations of the Pygmy Zebra Octopus (Octopus chierchiae).

I wish I had better advice to offer, but I hope you'll document as much as you can and share it with us here! This sort of thing is always exciting. Good luck!

 

[mvanfleet]

If yours is a "small egg" species, then the young will most likely all die within a few days. If it is a "large egg" species, your odds are much better, but it still depends upon the specific species.

Thank you for this, and thank you everyone for your replies. this is all a lot of help.

I will attach what photos I have. I am trying not to disturb her as I don't want to cause her stress. forgive the quality as it was taken through acrylic in poor light, but I will for sure continue to take photo's and update everyone as things happen. So far it has been a whole lot of nothing, which I expect it will be like for a few weeks.

I truly hope it is not a "small egg" species, although the egg are extremely tiny. It would break my wife and my heart to watch the babies hatch only to die.

I will definitely post on the forum you recommended as well as reach out to MBL.edu, that is a great idea.