i am eagerly awaiting the arrival of two three month old S. bandensis tomorrow. they will be living in a 50 gallon clam tank that is plumbed into my 240 gallon display tank.

here are some pics of the 240
front
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/240/DSC02000.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/240/DSC02001.jpg
back
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/240/DSC02005.jpg
the filtration
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/240/DSC01993.jpg

here is the clam and cuttle tank from the front
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/240/DSC01988.jpg

here it is from the top after adding some rock and macro algae in preparation for the cuttles
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02006.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02007.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02008.jpg

here are some live shore shrimp that a friend brought me from the coast yesterday
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02009.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02010.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02013.jpg

thank you to everyone who has posted information and articles here, i have been reading lots lately. until finding this site, i never thought i would be able to keep these incredible animals :)

To quick questions to ask here,

Who did you get these from, if you don't mind me asking?
and
Your clam/cuttle tank looks like you can only see what's in it by looking through the top, and all of the sides are covered with wood, is this correct? If so, you may want to rethink what tank you use, cuttles like to view their surroundings and to know what's going on around them which they can't do in a tank like that, you would also be able to see and interact with the cuttles easier with a "see through" tank. I say this because cephs are probably the only aquarium animal that can be considered "pets" because they like to interact with you. These are just suggestions, not "musts". And congadulations on your new pets, I look forward to the day when I can make this post.

Oh yeah, and :welcome:

i am getting them from shipposhack.

you are correct, the tank is only viewable from the top. i have had other things in the tank with personality (lion fish) that interacted well thru the top viewing window, so i dont think it will be a big issue. if it turns out to be an issue, i can always mod the front of the table by putting in a viewing window there as well.

To quick questions to ask here,

Who did you get these from, if you don't mind me asking?
and
Your clam/cuttle tank looks like you can only see what's in it by looking through the top, and all of the sides are covered with wood, is this correct? If so, you may want to rethink what tank you use, cuttles like to view their surroundings and to know what's going on around them which they can't do in a tank like that, you would also be able to see and interact with the cuttles easier with a "see through" tank. I say this because cephs are probably the only aquarium animal that can be considered "pets" because they like to interact with you. These are just suggestions, not "musts". And congadulations on your new pets, I look forward to the day when I can make this post.

Oh yeah, and :welcome:


I don't know about any of that. :smile:
Lots of fish interact with people the same way cuttles do - my young bangaiis come over to the front of the tank when they see me enter
the room just like cuttles do, as do my fish in my reef tank.
If the tank is in a busy space, viewing only from the top may actually be better for the cuttles as not to startle them.

:grin:

:goofysca: ok... I guess Ill swallow my words, sorry, as I said, I havent kept cuttles yet, but hope to. Im just speaking through impressions others have given me. as for the "pet" part, i meant more of the playing with you, go fetch, tug'o'war type pet. I know that fish do have personality, but don't listen to me, sorry again. :silenced:

Love that reef! Makes me wanna upgrade my 150...already!

So are your lights on the clam/cuttle tank on the side?

ice reef my friend. I wish I had the money (and stability) to keep a reef like that right now. Congrats, looks great.
:grin:


I always prefered a tank for my cuttles that I could see into from any angle, but that is personal preference. You can see them interacting in a much more personal matter that way.

thanks for the comments :smile:

...So are your lights on the clam/cuttle tank on the side?

the lights are inside the top, hidden by the wooden frame around the top. the whole top opens up. ill get you a pic when i get home from work.

last night, i built this acrylic tank and cabinet (havent finished the molding yet) to house the live shrimp i will be keeping to feed them. it will be plumbed into the sump/fuge on christy's 180 gallon lps display.
tank - it is 16"x16"x16" or about 18 gallons.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02016.jpg
installed in cabinet
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02018.jpg
the cuttles arrived this morning - one male and one female, 3.5 months old
here they are floating
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02019.jpg
here they are just after release - sorry for the pic quality, only actincs on here
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02020.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02021.jpg
here is the more active one this afternoon, the other one is hiding under a rock ledge
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/PDRM3500.jpg
here is a quick video
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/th_Image003.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/?action=view&current=Image003.flv)

They look good, hope they are warming up well to their new home.

they seem to be doing ok, but they are staying hidden most of the time right now.

caught them napping on top of the powerhead sponge, i love how they take up the texture as well as the color :smile:
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02023.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02028.jpg

looking good! They will be more interactive once they are comfortable.

the clam -cuttle tanks design is really different :) did u make it urself?

yep, i built everything on that system except the 240 gallon display tank. it is kindof a play on the old coffee table fish tank idea from the 70's, only it has all the filtration of the sps reef. the table is made to match our other living room furniture, and some people who visit never even see that it is a fish tank until i point it out - even when they are sitting right next to it :smile:

unfortunately, i brought in one last clam just before getting the cuttles. it was a wild one and from vietnam, so over the next couple of months, all of my clams died. i will wait 6 months or so before introducing any new clams...

on a more positive note, the cuttles are doing great! they are now begging for food, and showing all kinds of displays. captured a bit on video last night, but before i got them eating, the camera battery died. i will try again tonight for that. what i have for you now is three terrible videos (they are only really active when the tank is dimly lit, so it is difficult for the camera to stay focused).

in this one, you can see them begging me to feed them. they actually come up to the top and stick their tentacles out of the water
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/th_Image003-1.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/?action=view&current=Image003-1.flv)
here is another one of that behavior
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/th_Image002.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/?action=view&current=Image002.flv)
here is the hunting display of waves of color
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/th_Image001.jpg (http://s30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/?action=view&current=Image001.flv)

Very nice, I like the idea of the top down look. Good luck!

was doing some cleaning yesterday and found a clutch of eggs. they have been mating for a couple of weeks, but i didnt think they were ready to have eggs yet. i counted at least 60 eggs and all are nicely inflated - some are smaller than others

here is a cruddy pic - actinic lights on only, so had to adjust the pic to get the detail

this is most of the eggs, they will be divided into two or three net breeders when i get some more net breeders
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02175.jpg

there is another rock that has about 8 more that will go into another net breeder

Nice, can I ask about your water parameters?

sure, but i havent tested anything in a long time...... remember, this tank is plumbed into my 240 gallon sps reef with a 100 gallon sump and beckett skimmer. the whole system (about 400 gallons) has been running for 2.5 years, but the rock and sand have been in one tank or another of mine for about 8 years.

is there something i should test for in particular that could be out of whack that wouldnt affect corals and fish?

[edit] i do have an aquacontroller to keep tabs on the pH (runs 8 to 8.4) and the ORP which is running 300 to 320. i also have calcium and kalk reactors running which keep alk at around 10 dKh and calcium around 450 ppm. i also run a chiller to keep the temp at 78 - 79 deg F. last time i checked (a few months ago) my ammonia and nitrite were zero with just a trace of nitrate - since changing the clam tank to house cuttles by adding lots of different types of macro algae, my ORP has actually come up a bit and i think the nitrates have probably come down even more.

Cool, thats very similar to what I keep my parameters at. Good luck with the eggs!

first hatchling!!!!! took the eggs out in a glass bowl of water to backlight them to make sure they are fertile - many are.....

one little cuttle must have been in the middle of the clutch

here it is
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02176.jpg

now i am in a bit of a pickle - these are about a month before i thought they would even have eggs..... gotto find some live amphipods and mysis to feed these guys soon.

Congrats! When they hatch with the yolk sac they usually don't make it. Early hatching like that is usually caused by some kind of stress - even moving the eggs can precipitate it. Good luck!!

sad morning.

woke today to a cloudy tank and both cuttlefish are dead. not sure if the eggs are ok or not.

found redbugs in my main tank yesterday, so i took the cuttle tank off line to make sure the treatment didnt get in there. it was off of the main system for about 12 hours, but it has two powerheads in it for circulation. also did it at night so heat wasnt an issue. only thing i can think is i killed some aptasia (that is what i was doing when i noticed the redbugs) and got my pH a little out of whack for about an hour - fixed it with vinegar. everything was stable before i took the cuttle tank off line.

i changed a little more than half of the water in the cuttle tank this morning and then another 30 gallons from the main tank before getting the cuttle tank back online.

sometimes this hobby does not make me happy.

:sad: sorry to hear it. It sounds like you were thinking pretty sensibly, and shouldn't beat yourself up over it...

Keep taking care of the eggs, you never know... Sorry about your adults ...

what a rollercoaster this is gonna be....

one new hatchling - no yolksac attacked and it is swimming a bit..... hopefully it will make it.

took out some of the other eggs in a glass bowl of water to backlight them to check on them and many of them look like they are about ready to hatch. some of the babies inside even responded to the light a bit (i dont think they like it).

the plan is to keep two or three of these and trade a couple to someone else with some captive hatched ones so i will have a couple of breeding pair in the near future.

meanwhile, i will have to work on setting up a mysis hatchery and getting some live artemia going as well.

Really sorry to hear about the adults. This hobby does have its frustrations. It always seems tragedy happens from a result of attempting to improve something in the tank.

It sounds like your eggs are doing very well. Good luck!

That's too bad about your adults. I am glad you were able to get some fertile eggs out of them though and I hope you can get the babies to do well.

Good luck with them.

what a day!!!! came home with this massive T. squamosa to turn my glorified fuge back into a clam tank.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02359.jpg
while cleaning out the old cuttle eggs in the netbreeders (put it off until now because it was so depressing), something incredible happened...... ONE baby hatched and lived in the last 3 days since the last time i sadly checked the deteriorating eggs. the only other two babies that hatched way too early and didnt make it.

so we have one surviving baby out of over 70 eggs. i am so happy bc i didnt think any of them would hatch and make it. now the quest for food begins bc i did not get any live food cultures set up yet.

here are a few pics, that is a 2 shot shot glass btw to give you an idea of how small it is
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02358.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02356.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02355.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02357.jpg

Cool surprise!:baby:

:cheers: cheers

congrats on the good surprise and beautiful clam too!

That table tank is so cool. I keep going back to look at it. I wish i had the time/skill/money to make one.

Great news! I'll cross my fingers for you both.

thanks for the comments all!

well, he is functional! we brought back about 1500 tiny shore shrimp from the coast and after a short detox period in clean tank water, we threw in about 8 of the smallest ones. these shrimp were barely bigger than an amphipod. before the first shrimp made it to the bottom of the netbreeder, he scarfed it up :D he is still hunting and eating as i type.....

yay! go cuttle!

here is the little cuttle nursery until it is big enough for the clam tank - probably around 3 months old. you cant see it because it is hovering under the red dragon's breath
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/PDRM3646.jpg
here are the shrimp we brought home today - the larges ones are about 1/2 inch except for the four or five big ones that i will be taking to the stone fish in my classroom tomorrow
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/PDRM3647.jpg
we fill the tank with plastic gutter screen to give them something to hold on to because they will swim themselves to death if they cant rest by holding something. also, not pictured, we have an air stone in here to make sure there is plenty of oxygen - even tho it is plumbed into a 180 gallon lps tank with a 75 gallon sump.
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/PDRM3648.jpg

Ace, this is Aaron from MAAST. Wow, sorry to hear about all that, but I am glad that you still have a little guy. I was hoping to try to get some babies from you and Erik. I have a 40 gal cube with a 40 gal sump that i have ready to go for some of the little guys. We will see how it goes.

Good luck

Aaron

nice to see ya here aaron!

quick update, this will be the last time i take pics of him/her in a shot glass as temperament is a little more jumpy now. still doing great....
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02384.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02387.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c329/hobogato/clamsncuttles/DSC02388.jpg

can anyone tell me how to sex this little one, i would like to get at least one more to have a breeding pair again?

I don't think you can figure that out without the presence of other cuttles and only after they mature.

Sex can't be determined until they are about 3 months old. With one you can try a mirror and see if it displays at itself. If it does, it's a male.