I figured i should start a photo journal of my cuttles...I also just like to show them off cause they are so cool hahah!
here is Waldo (paradox suggested that name and i guess it stuck)
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/wheres-waldo-.jpg

anther shot of Waldo..I really think he likes getting his picture taken. Everytime the camera comes out so does Waldo.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/Waldo-pushups.jpg

Here is the Danny and Waldo ( I believe they both wanted the same shrimp and started playing a little rough with each other)
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/Cuttle-pair.jpg

NICE!

Well as an experiment i moved the harlequin filefish in with the bandensis pair. So far so good they have been inquisitive of the new tank mate but have not bothered it at all. Ill keep you all posted on how it goes.

Id like to add this note:

I know while back I posted success with keeping a few fish with my bandensis. Ive recently found this not to be successful. I think the reasons for this are that my current Bandensis are much larger and healthier due to different foods Im using and tank conditions. If you are feeding your bandensis well, I would imagine that once they get big enough they will eat your filefish. Im just adding this as a warning, because mine have eaten a lawnmower blenny and a foxface that were much larger then they were.

Id like to add this note:

I know while back I posted success with keeping a few fish with my bandensis. Ive recently found this not to be successful. I think the reasons for this are that my current Bandensis are much larger and healthier due to different foods Im using and tank conditions. If you are feeding your bandensis well, I would imagine that once they get big enough they will eat your filefish. Im just adding this as a warning, because mine have eaten a lawnmower blenny and a foxface that were much larger then they were.
Somethings will have to be learned the hard way....I plan to just go with it and see what happens. Only way to make advancements in the hobby is to try new things and fail or even better succeed :)
How long did the foxface and LMB last once added to the tank?

LMB lasted about 30 seconds heh. Then I though that it was due to its body shape. (Long and slender) My friend was getting rid of a foxface. I have bubble algae, so I thought Id try since it was large. The foxface wasnt directly killed, but the next day it had a mark then showed it got munched on. It later died that day.

My bandensis are all 3-6"s, so they are big!

Well the intesting thing with the filefish is if you watch the way the fins move it is remarkably similar to a cuttle just flipped 90 degrees.(No idea if that has any relavence to it coexhisting peacefully thus far) They have been in the tank together for a little while. My cuttles are now 3-4 inches give or take. When the fish was first introduced they hid a lot but they are now coming out more and they dont even seem phased by it being present.

It could be similar to octopus where the answer is... It 'depends' on the individual animal.

I just wanted to put my experiences out to inform people that it is a definite risk.

Yeah i welcome all personal experiences, info, and even irrational thoughts haha! It is just something i had to try :)
were they captive bred? If so how old were they? how long were they in the tank before introducing the fish? what size tank? were they taking frozen/prepared foods? Any info would be great!

All my adults are captive raised. Age 6-11 months. The Blenny was eaten by a 6 month old. I suspect the 5-6" 11 month old may have gotten tot he foxface. The only captive bred I have are at the hatchling stage.

So they were in the same tank for roughly how long when the fish were added that got eaten...Im just wondering if it is a territorial thing. I have noticed that my cuttles have the same hiding spot day in and day out. Im wondering if added together it would be less of an issue. Or if it just purely predation that caused the cuttles to go after the fish in your system...

IMO, if they are hungry, or realize its food, they will eat it. There have been exceptions, but the majority of people who put bandensis with fish end up without fish. :grin:

IMO, if they are hungry, or realize its food, they will eat it. There have been exceptions, but the majority of people who put bandensis with fish end up without fish. :grin:
Is it an exceptional exception that not one but two cuttles are getting along with the filefish? It almost seems past the fact that they are just coexhisting...They are also interacting quite a bit with each other which is just really odd to me.
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/Filefish-cuttle.jpg

There are lots of stories that go like this...I keep fish with my cuttles no problem...oops the cuttle ate the fish. :grin: It often works for a while, then it don't work any more.

At the same time, they may get along fine forever. Mixing is a practice I try to discourage because it so often ends poorly for one or both of the animals.

There are lots of stories that go like this...I keep fish with my cuttles no problem...oops the cuttle ate the fish.

There are also lots of stories of people saying this wont work or that wont work until someone tries it.. Then soon enough it becomes common practice when it does work.

At the same time, they may get along fine forever. Mixing is a practice I try to discourage because it so often ends poorly for one or both of the animals.
You are prob right and i respect your vast knowledge and experience with these animals but even you had to learn somehow right? I have been closely watching them interact and it is just too intriguing seeing them behave like this to seperate them yet. However i do have another tank setup that has been running much longer than the cuttle tank that is only inhabitted right now by a serpent star and some reef janitors. If need be i can move the cuttles or the filefish there if something goes wrong. I have trained the cuttles to take shrimp right out of the net so catching them would be almost too easy :)

Speaking of which here is a video of that!
http://s240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/?action=view&current=cuttlenet1.flv

wow they blend in so well, my untrained eyes werent able to see the first one untill -20 seconds when it moved, and the second one at the very end of the video when it ate the food!

I wonder if net feeding has anything to do with the cuttles not eating the filefish. Since are trained to the net, perhaps they don't expect food freely swimming.

There are also lots of stories of people saying this wont work or that wont work until someone tries it. Then soon enough it becomes common practice when it does work.

True, which is why I haven't said you shouldn't be trying what you are trying with that particular fish. :grin: At the same time, because lots of people read these threads, I think its important to point out that most of the time when someone says that we don't know until someone tries it that it often has already been tried. In this specific example, lots of people have tried fish with bandensis, and in general, it hasn't worked out well. At the same time, the filefish is something that most people don't keep and it may be fine. I guess the short of it is I hope people reading this thread don't get the idea that they should try putting fish in with bandensis because I don't think fish should be treated as disposable commodities, and in most cases, cuttles eat the fish. :smile:


You are prob right and i respect your vast knowledge and experience with these animals but even you had to learn somehow right? I have been closely watching them interact and it is just too intriguing seeing them behave like this to seperate them yet. However i do have another tank setup that has been running much longer than the cuttle tank that is only inhabitted right now by a serpent star and some reef janitors. If need be i can move the cuttles or the filefish there if something goes wrong. I have trained the cuttles to take shrimp right out of the net so catching them would be almost too easy :)

You're right, which is why I try very hard to not tell people what to do, but to express my opinion or relate similar experiences. Remember I said that they may be fine forever. :grin: I am very interested to see how this pans out. Do we know if orange spot files are toxic?
BTW, if something goes wrong, you prolly won't be able to do anything about it. :smile:

There was also a case of a bandensis who belonged to a member from a few years back called Joel. Don't think he hangs about here anymore but he even had a lionfish of about the same size eaten by a cuttle.

Experience tells us that most cephalopod and fish cohabitation stories end with losses...

I guess the short of it is I hope people reading this thread don't get the idea that they should try putting fish in with bandensis because I don't think fish should be treated as disposable commodities, and in most cases, cuttles eat the fish.
I agree that i wouldnt reccomend trying and i dont consider the fish a "disposable comoditiy". I dont want anyone to get the idea that i dont care for the wellbeing of all of my fish as well as my other pets. However the thing that interests me with this is that it has been said that cephalopods are one of the most intelligent creatures in the ocean next to marine mamals. (This may be more true for octopus??) Anyway, if these animals are now being bred in captivity im wondering if they can somewhat be domesticated (for lack of a better word) I highly doubt that you would be able to get a wild bandensis to eat from a net while on a dive. Or in DWhatley's case get a dwarf octo come up to you in the wild and want to be "pet". These seem like they are learned behaviors that can only happen in captivity. So I am trying this more so to see if they can be taught what is its food and what isnt.
Anyone with experience with keeping fish with their cuttles that would share their experience please do :) Id like to know How long the cuttles were in the tank before adding the fish? Were the captive bred or wild caught? if captive bred...how old when they took the fish down? Were they readily excepting frozen/prepared foods? What size tank? What species of fish did you try and how big was it in comparison to the cuttles?

Oh and according to fishbase the filefish are harmless.

It sounds like what you are looking to do is see how tame members of a wild species can become and the extent the having been captive breed/raised has on that. This is different from domestication, which is a couple thousand year long process of interdependence between humans and a non-human species. It could be an interesting experiment for someone.

Oh and according to fishbase the filefish are harmless.

Yeah but they live on coral. Very expensive to maintain long term.

I have actually had the filefish for quite some time and have it eating frozen foods...Every now and again ill break off a nice sized acro frag from my reef tank and give it the filefish. Who said cuttlefish were cheap to feed?

Well i havent been on in awhile but here are some updated pics of the cuttles...
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/snagged.jpg

Happy Waldo
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/AnnoyedWaldo.jpg

ANGRY WALDO
http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/AngryWaldo.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/FTScuttle.jpg

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff10/TheCraig2007/Sig-Cuttle.jpg

Awwww! They're so cute! :cuttle:

Nice shots! Adam showed me some pics of your stuff - cool!

great pics! Thanks!

Very nice! How old are they?

Hi,
Just wanted to thank you for the great cuttle pics. They're just so cute, how can you not love 'em?

I'm an at-home mom who's doing college online, so I don't have time for delicate pets--even my Siamese cat has to deal with meals being late or early--so I'm saving myself the guilt of killing any cephs. Maybe later on when my kid's older and my schedule is less hectic...

Congrats on your hydrodynamic duo, and remember if they eat the fish, you've given them serious environmental and dietary enrichment. I get hawks picking birds off my feeders every now and then, and I take it as a compliment to my habitat creation skills.

Later, Kitt

Nice shots! Adam showed me some pics of your stuff - cool!
Thanks! i forgot to mention that adam came by to see the cuttles...He came at a good time i guess cause the cuttles are never that active when lots of people are crowding around the tank...especialy while snapping pics with the flash going!