Aculeatus Hatchlings (octopus)

[~Flighty~]

Well we have some surprise babies. If there are any breeders who want to give them a try, come and get them. Be advised that they have not yet been successfully raised to maturity, but they have gotten close.

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?20780-Aculeatus-Hatchlings&p=158193#post158193

 

[cstmpprl]

They are sooo cute, I love Babies . Well let me rephrase that. I love fish type babies. I would love to try but I think my Hubby would kill me if i set up another tank.
Michelle

 

[B.rian]

very cool. how long have you had the parent?

 

[~Flighty~]

We got her the beginning of April. Unfortunately with octopuses you often get an adult and once they lay their eggs, they stop eating and die, so you don't have long with them.

here are a few baby pictures

 

[B.rian]

that is what i was wondering. sometimes i have read about a parent making it for more than a month or so after eggs. they are such cool pets.

 

[~Flighty~]

That red algae is cotton candy algae with a tiny pod in it for a scale idea, they are about pinhead size. The brown in the photo is some sort of rotifer or something that the baby caught.

 

[~Flighty~]

You can see the chromatophores in some of these pics

 

[agent6473]

Wow, those are stunning. I wish I had the time right now to try and raise them. Have you lost any yet?

 

[~Flighty~]

This species has never (yet) been raised. The octopuses that have pelagic (sp) young like this are really hard. I was not planning on collecting the babies, but I looked in and saw them today so I caught some for photos and tried feeding them the bugs that washed out of some macro algae. One did catch something and held it by its mouth for quite a while. I don't know if it was eating, but I would assume so.

all four that I grabbed seem to be doing fine. I have no idea how old they are, but my guess is they hatched this morning. They are so tiny, that I may well have missed them for a few days though.

 

[~Flighty~]

Many more hatching now, (and the peppermint shrimp just spawned, so it is getting confusing)

 

[~Flighty~]

Aww, doesn't anyone want to give some of these guys a shot? It kills me to see so many zipping around the tank and changing colors when they see each other. They are so cute.

 

[Turbosnail]

I would take a couple and try but your so far away.

 

[~Flighty~]

Wow, hundreds of them now in the tank. Maybe close to 1000.

 

[sciknen]

If i had live food, id take them all....Try Kiah.. She would have the perfect setup for this with already having live food ready.

 

[snowmaker]

I see you are 1.5 hrs drive from me.... I am contemplating the drive but first will see if I can procure foods. I have rotifers and tigger pods going, + bugs in 2 reef systems (I am well versed in the tedious task of collecting these).
I will likely be another month or two before I can get an isolated strain of native copepods, and almost as long to get enough of a T. Isochrysis culture going.
Do you think rotifer / copepod sized foods will be appropriate or slightly larger?
I can hardly believe coming across this post, knowing that I have wanted to try this, and the Aculeatus would be a good opportunity.

Are you home today? Really my only day off until weekend.

Thanks Cindy,
Will PM also.
Joe

 

[~Flighty~]

PM back. You can see the size of what one grabbed in my photo. Maybe double the size of its eye. I do not know if it ate it.

 

[~Flighty~]

I don't think the red background helps, but they look so octopusy.

 

[~Flighty~]

If anyone is interested in how this is turning out I have updated here:

http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?20780-Aculeatus-Hatchlings&p=158279#post158279

 

[luumanfoo29]

So cool...I've always wanted an octopus. You wouldn't happen to have a photo of your setup, would you?