mother octo ate her eggs :(

[Rudiger]

april fools! Actually, the eggs are doing very well. And, just a minute ago I checked them out and one of the eggs has a reddish dot exactly where an eye spot is supposed to be and I think I can see a teeny tiny arm too. Looks like the eggs are good. Can you take care of them chris???

pat

 

[cephalopoder]

I am ready to take them when ever you are ready to part with them! Just say the word! What temp is your water at?

 

[Rudiger]

I wanted to speed up the development of the eggs so I raised the temp to 73. Why do you ask? Are you going to raise your tank to that temp?

 

[cephalopoder]

Just so I was in the same temp ball park with my rearing set up. And I was curious to know the temp you had been keeping the eggs at.

 

[OctoMonkey]

April fools.....

April fools.....

Damn it Pat
You almost had me crying in my wine there!

C

 

[Rudiger]

Ok, anytime you want the eggs Id be happy to unload them on you. How would you like to get them? You want to drive up here sometime?

 

[Rudiger]

I studied them more closely and I can actually see red dots on three of the eight visible eggs (the rest are a little deeper in the cave, sorta hard to see them up close) and almost all of them have little bumps, or baby octos sitting on top of the yolk. Two of the "bumps" seem to have little arms.

pat

 

[OctoMonkey]

Chris, have you had any luck rearing young-uns before? i think my first attempt pretty much sucked! Maybe if I have a next time it will be better????????

I wish you all the best..........

 

[Rudiger]

So you did lose all of your octo babies colin? How long were you able to keep them?

pat

 

[OctoMonkey]

Pat, I think that there is still at least one in some live rock in the mothers old tank. I have amphipods everywhere in that tank so there is plenty food, I threw in about 300 corophium that were left over!

The female died last week too. She went downhill fast! about 2 weeks after first hatchings or so...

I am fairly stumped as to why they died?????? I even bought calcium, alkalinity, iodine, iodide test kits but no real problems???
My calcium was over 500 but I dont think that would casue fatalities?????

The water in the rearing chamber was filtered and put through a skimmer before actually entering from the sump of my big reef tank. So I cant think that it was water conditions..... It wanst the plastic of the tubs because i didnt put all my octo eggs in one basket, some were in glass chambers.....and it wssnt lack of food either.....there was plenty...... oh well, it was a learning experience......

Are you going to try some of the egg rearing yourself?
Colin

 

[cephalopoder]

Hey Colin. Sounds like you did all the right things...? This will be my first attempt with two new rearing systems I have been working on. The main thing is I have the food. I am close to the ocean as well. So it should be interesting.

 

[OctoMonkey]

I went and bought some new test kits today to make sure my tanks are sitting okay, some of my kits are over 6 months to a year old so needed new ones......

here are ALL my results.........

Salinity 1.025
pH 8.3
Temp 72degF
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 30ppm (my old kit said 10 or <10!!!!!!!)
Carbonate hardness (KH) 7.4dKH
Alkalinity 2.63 meq/l
Calcium 490ppm
Iodine 0.02ppm This is actually too low for my corals and macroalgae so i will get some supplements in. Should be 0.06ppm
Copper no trace

I couldnt get a phosphate kit today so I'll get that next week....

so i am sure it wasn't the water that did it???????

Chris, what's the chances of a sneak look at the chamber


Colin

 

[cephalopoder]

Colin
I will post a pic when I am done. I still have a litte ways to go on my ultamate system with seperate rearing pods. I will try to batch rear some too in the macro tank set up I have. It should be a perfect enviroment for the young.