octo laid eggs. mixed feelings

[exoticaquatix]

well, the day came, much sooner than i had ever imagined. as soon as i had figured out my octo was a female i realized that she would one day lay eggs and then die. that was about a month and a half ago. so needless to say im a little surprized. i had barely gotten her used to me when she barricaded her self in her den. that was more than a week ago. i was thinking id have her for at least a few months! i have an octo with a week or 2 to live (im guessing) and that amount of time to figure out how i might just raise a few or even one of the babies to a size where i can reliably feed it. has this been done in a home aquarium before? i need help!
~nick

 

[B Pierce]

How do you know that the eggs are firtilized. I mean, unless you have 2 octos together how could they gt firtilized.

thanks,
Bill

 

[cirri]

The female can carry sperm through out their life to fertilize the eggs when she lays them.

If you see black dots in the eggs about the size of a pin head, chances are they are fertile.

 

[exoticaquatix]

no dots yet, i dont get to see the eggs, or the octo much at all. she has barricaded herself in her den

 

[exoticaquatix]

well, good news. i found someone willing to take on raising small egg octo babies! chris(cephalopoder) has the nessesary equip to take on the apparently costly and daunting task of feeding and raising hundreds if not 1000's of baby octos. pretty happy about this and i might even get a new octo in a few months in return. hope this all works out. ill try to keep the thread up to date.

 

[exoticaquatix]

i saw eye spots in most if not all the eggs last night when i moved all my rock, the octo and my tang to my new tank. now to find out how much time i have to get the eggs in the mail and off to New Hampshire. anyone know gestation(?) times on octo eggs?

 

[cirri]

Depends on species for gestation, however, those eggs need to be constantly stirred and cleaned, it is usually all the mother does until they hatch.

 

[exoticaquatix]

well, i shipped the momma with eggs to NV about a week ago. a few hundred of the eggs hatched in transit but im sure there are about 1000 left. both eggs and octo were fine on arrival to george at Seawater Express. ill be checking up with him this week to see how everything is going.

 

[exoticaquatix]

just talked to george, seems that the octo and her babies got as little too warm on their trip to NV anf didnt make it more than 3 days after arrival. FedEx musthave had that box sitting on the tarmac or in the sun because i had 2 med sized ice packs in a 12 x 18 box shipped overnight. pretty bummed but i guess thats how these things go. it all comes down to a guy in little shorts in a big truck to make it all happen despite weeks or work and careful planning.

 

[pitt_prodigy]

that sucks.... sorry to hear about your loss. I was really looking forward to hearing more about rearing these tiny creatures. What all is involved? You said its pretty costly? How so?

 

[nikoendo]

thousands!? whoa