We're having babies, Brown Pacific Octopus babies

[mvanfleet]

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

I just posted photos I have in reply to another comment. I am trying not to disturb her so i only have the photo i took when I found them. I don't want to cause her unneeded 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.

 

[Sean Clark]

Very interested.

 

[hroberge]

I had a pacific octopus lay eggs in a thorny oyster shell 35 years ago. She would continuously care of the eggs until late one evening after about 4 weeks. I turned the light on to show a buddy and the larvae were shooting upward from the shell. About 50 tiny octopus were caught in the power head flow spinning around the tank with the flow. I got 5 into a breeder net but they didn’t make it on live brine. Sad to say mother stopped eating once the eggs were hatched and never ate again. Enjoy the time and keep taking good care of her

 

[BanjoBandito]

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!

Watch "My Octopus Teacher" on netflix.

 

[sabeypets]

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.

Cephalopods are cool!

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.

You will need lots and lots and lots of small Mysid shrimp, as they grow they transition to eating larger mysids and amphipods. Feed 6 to 8 times a day, every couple of hours. To much live food at once stresses them and they wont eat. I use bare bottom tanks with daily water changes and as they grow add seasoned sponge filter and fake plants for them to hide around.

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

I use 10 gallon tanks with 10 to 20 in each tank so I can make sure everyone is eating and no one is getting picked on or eaten. The more you try to raise the more food you need, and the more costly it will be (if you raise to many and run out of food they all die). I have only raised cuttlefish so this is only a general outline and suggestions. Monterey Bay Aquarium has raised several species of Cephalopods and has an article out on raising them. Good luck! keeps us posted.

 

[Chrisv.]

I've had this happen too. I think it's pretty common for unscrupulous collectors to pull a mother octopus from her eggs in the wild when she is extremely easy to catch, then sell her in the pet trade. They lay a second smaller clutch with stored sperm as a last ditch effort, since at this point they only have a short while longer to live.

 

[Back to the salt~]

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

Hey there...this is a little old but what ever happened with your octopus hatchlings?

 

[whybenormal]

I was just wondering the same thing. What happened?