How to Breed an Octo-Fish

Breeding an octopus in captivity is a daunting task. Captive octopi are easily stressed out by changes to their environment, including the addition of another octopus.They can die from this. Before attempting to breed your octopus, it needs to be extremely comfortable with its tank and owner to cut down on the risk of over stressing it. Octopi are ready to breed sometime after the fist year of life. The breeding window is small as the average life span of an octopus is 18 months to two years.

Things You'll Need

  • Female brooding octopus
  • Male octopus
  • 2 salt water aquariums (at least 55 gallons)
  • Plankton for food
  • Small plastic containers
  • Fish net
  • Plastic syringe
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Instructions

  1. Breeding

    • 1

      Place the male octopus in the tank with the female. Watch closely, as the females can become aggressive and attack the male.

    • 2

      Watch to make sure they mate before removing the male. If the female is brooding, carrying eggs, they will mate fairly quickly upon introduction. They will mate for 5 to 10 minutes, then separate. It is difficult to tell if the female is carrying eggs, so you may need to attempt the mating a few times within a week or two. If they do not mate upon introduction, she isn't brooding at that time.

    • 3

      Remove the male immediately after mating to prevent aggression. They are solitary animals and don't like company. Place the male back in his tank. He will die within a short time of mating.

    • 4

      Provide the female with a quiet environment to lay her eggs. She will lay the eggs in clusters over a period of days to weeks. Rocks and caves are the best place for an octopus to lay eggs. Provide these as part of the aquarium environment.

    • 5

      Observe the female over the next month or so. She will probably stop eating near the time of hatching. As the eggs hatch, she will die as well.

    Caring for Babies

    • 6

      Float small plastic containers filled with aquarium water in the top of the aquarium to separate the babies as they hatch. Do this within a week of hatching. Use the fish net to catch each baby and put it in its own container. Try to keep the containers submerged and floating while you transfer each baby. The containers need a tight fitting lid with tiny holes to push food through. The babies will only be about 1/4 inch after they hatch.

    • 7

      Feed the baby octopi plankton by squirting it through the syringe into the holes in the containers. They are ready to move to another tank right away, but have a better chance of survival if they are a bit bigger when transferred from the hatching tank.

    • 8

      Prepare to sell the babies to a pet store as they grow. After a year of life, a female octopus can lay thousands of eggs. In captivity, many of the eggs won't hatch but you could be dealing with quite a few babies when they do.