Octo Eggs....Help!!!

[goodman770]

Ok...so it figures that I buy an Octo and it has eggs. Will this mean she will die? So far this what I have in the tank for her to eat...a large hermit, a small hermit, a snail, uncooked shrimp, and bought a damsel today. So far she has only eaten a small guppy.
Let me know what you guys think...
Bill

[cephalopoder]

If she has laid eggs she probably won't eat any thing. What size are the eggs? Are they large(size if a piece of rice ) or are there thousands of litte ones the size of poppy seeds?
Large eggs can be reared, small eggs can't.

[goodman770]

Here is a pic of them. I'm pretty bummed that she may die. I have grown pretty attached to this creature. The eggs are smaller than a pencil tip.
Does this mean she came to me fertilized?
Thanks for all the help...
Bill

[cephalopoder]

Very interesting looking eggs. Hard to tell from the pic how small they are. Great chance for you to experiment. Don't feel too bummed. Eggs are hard to come by and you get to see the birth of baby octopuses. Rearing eggs are tough. I would love to try rearing eggs from a small eggs species some day. Chances are they are fertile. Here is a link that will give you some good info on rearing.
http://www.jimbolouislabs.com/eggjournal.htm

[cephalopoder]

Could you post more pics of your octopus?

[goodman770]

Yea...I hope to post more pics. Most of the interesting pics I have of her were too big to post on the web sight. I'm hoping she will come out today/tonight and I can set the quality setting lower so that I can post them. I'll check out the link...

[goodman770]

Upon reading that article, I noticed a few things that are different about this "birth". The eggs are layed in strands (see pic) in the back upper corner of the tank. Mom is back in her cave, not guarding them at all. It seems as though most Octo instances of eggs include her guarding them....but she is does not seem concerned.

[OctoMonkey]

Hi goodman
I would bet that somewhere in the tank are the rest of the eggs. My O.briareus laid the first few festoons onto the glass and the rest in a pipe a few days later. The egg laying can last several days.


Seems like a small egg species, could that point towards a vulgaris or similar species?

Colin

[luminary]

Not to sound like a complete idiot, but are you sure those are from your octo? I couldn't tell for sure from the picture, but those look VERY similiar to egg strands I get from snails in my reef tank. Can you get a closer picture of the strands?

Keep in mind that I know absolutely nothing about octos...Just making an observation :).

[Aquarianna7891]

Also know nothng about octos, but just my thoughts-

Octo moms tend to lay their eggs where they protect them, like in a cave or something. Also, its also very odd that the mom wasn't there "fanning" the eggs, which is also very characteristic of them. Not to mention that when they lay them, they are usually in much more mass quantity than a few strands.

I'd seriously condsider the snail egg idea posted above-

Good Luck

Anna

[goodman770]

Thanks guys...I don't see any other eggs...but my octo is still not eating. It has probably been 4 days now. Ugh. I have tried putting everything in there. It's odd because it comes out frequently to look around....just never eats.
I'll keep trying...

[cephalopoder]

I agree with colin, they are very similar to vugaris eggs. It is odd that they are laid in the open though. It could be a reaction to stress. I'm thinging you might have a sand dwelling species, and if your sand is not deep enough your octo could be stressed. I would help if you had more pics of your octo to post.

[OctoMonkey]

Thanks Chris :)

I hadnt had my briareus long when she laid eggs... for the first week or so i had her she was really active, searched every square inch of the tank. I asumed she was just checking the place out; then I spotted eggs on a really obvious bit of the glass. I think I posted pics at the time on Reefcentral... if not.... http://www.tonmo.com/cephcare/mombriareus.shtml

At that time she had laid about a dozen eggs. A day or three later I spotted that she had laid the majority of her eggs in a clay pipe, which had been there from the start. The earlier laid eggs were ignored and later disappeared??? dunno what happened to them???

My prognosis was that the first bunch were laid because she was stressed and confused about her new surroundings then she settled in a bit better.

I wouldnt add food for her unless you can take it out as soon as you spot her refusing it. Crabs and the like may stress her out further if she is not willing to eat. A brooding octopus will catch and kill crabs because they are a threat to the eggs, they dont always actually eat what they kill, I spotted that after about week 3 or 4.

your species is very obviously a small eggs species, wheras briareus is a large egg species. Try to get some close shots of your octo. without stressing her though!

As she is still coming out to survey the surroundings, I dont think she has laid the rest of her eggs yet, as i mentioned earlier, egg laying lasts several days. She maybe HAD to lay thise first eggs through discomfort or something and is still checking out for a better place for the rest.....

What other animals do you have in there and are the eggs still there? Are tey stuck to the glass with what looks like green glue?

All the best
C