Strange cuttlefish behaviour

[Thingymabob]

Yesterday we went to buy a cuttlefish and it was very lively but when we put it into my tank it stopped moving and lines of ink started coming out of its hole thing!!! :shock: Then the cuttlefish's skin started moving a lot but only it's skin!!! Today the cuttlefish died and what should i do before i get another one?? Is it the water or you know! please help me! :(



look forward to you reply!

[Tigerkatze_82]

:( Very sad to hear that. Poor cuttle.

Did you check your water parameters? Did you make sure your tank is suiteable for a cuttlefish before you bought it?

TK
:cuttle:

[Nancy]

Hi and welcome to TONMO.com. :welcome:

Sorry about your loss :(

Start by checking the water parameters - you can post them here and we'll have a look. Don't buy another cuttle until you find out what was wrong.

Nancy

[corw314]

:welcome: but sorry to hear!!!

Carol

[Andy Lister]

Also make sure that you mix anything into your tank properly before it is added. Try floating it in the bag for 10 mins of every degree celcius difference then slowly mix the water together. It's most likely that your cuttle died from shock.

~Andy

[Thingymabob]

Thanks for all of your advice!!! :) I think my water is okay now because we bought a clown fish and it has lived for a long time already, but im still not sure if it's okay for a cuttlefish...! Are there different kinds of common cuttlefish because I've seen two similar cuttlefish but their colour changing style is different and the more expensive one has got bumpy skin when i put my finger near it, but the other never show's it's bumpy skin! They look very much alike but they seem different! Can that be possible??? Also how can you tell if a cuttlefish is female or male??

In Hong kong, many of the shops are selling the blue ring octopus, is that illegal?? (it's annoying because you can't find a non-poisonous octopus :cry: )

look forward to your reply! :)

[Tigerkatze_82]

Hi

For the sake of your future cuttlefishes, please don't judge your water quality by one surviving clownfish, Thingymabob. Cuttlefishes are no clownfishes and they are very sensitive animals regarding water parameters, so it's not a good idea to assume your water is suitable just because a clownfish can live with it. I would suggest you to be patient, check your water carefully and post parameters here and perhaps do some study on how to keep a cuttlefish before you buy another one...

Best regards,
TK :cuttle:

[Colin]

Just to back up TK...

Cuttles are pretty poor travellers in many cases and many that are imported fail to survive, better luck next time and yes, in your part of teh world there will be several species that you can get... Joel will be able to add more if he sees this???

Blue ring are not illegal to sell but perhaps they should be, best to avoid them :)

Colin

[Jean]

:cry: Sorry to hear about your cuttle

Another thought, Thingymabob have you EVER had copper in your tank? Even a medication for fish or a decoration can be fatal for a ceph. Don't assume because the tank has been cleaned that copper will be removed, as it gets into the silicon. If your tank has had any copper in it at all it will never be suitable for a ceph...sorry

Just an idea

J

[Thingymabob]

Thanks for your replies and i don't have any copper in my tank. All i use for decoration are coral and sand. How do you tell if a cuttlefish is a female or male?? oh yeah the person at the shop gave a cuttlefish for me free because we keep going there all the time and right now it's doing fine. It's not that big though and is there something wrong if it doesnt eat the fish i give it? I bought some salt water guppies for it. Also i was wondering if this is a common cuttlefish? Cause the lady at the shop gave me one of these. look forward to your reply :)



http://www.studholme.net/scuba/cuttlefish.jpg

[moron_aaron]

u should really check for copper u noe ...think u should go buy a test kit... :?

[Thingymabob]

I did

[Colin]

Well, i cant tell what species it is... can you stick up several more pics??? They are so variable with skin colour/texture etc :)

Very nice looking beastie though!

i think you should try some small live crbs to get a new cuttle eating, either that or shrimps rather than fish, they prefer crustaceans

cheers

[joel_ang]

Its beautiful, Its probably a latimanus but its hard to say, there are quite a few rather large cuttles around HK. How large is it now?

btw- I'm gonna check a few LFS for cuttles, hopefully they'll have some in suppy. They're just too adorable.

[Thingymabob]

its body is around 5cm

[Thales]

Its beautiful, Its probably a latimanus but its hard to say, there are quite a few rather large cuttles around HK.

I agree - look at the wide arm!

[Colin]

Got any more pics you can show?

[Thales]

Does the eye have a yellow ring around it?

[Thingymabob]

i think my cuttlefish is a sepia bandensis, they have a stumpy back right? It does not have a yellow ring around it's eye. i will have some more pics soon. My cuttlefish keeps swimming all over the place and changing colours a lot. what could that mean?


look forward to your reply :)

[joel_ang]

It is definitely not a bandensis, you can tell by looking at the eye, its pretty hard to explain maybe sumone else can help me out?

Does your cuttle sometimes appear golden yellow with dark brown lines on its back? You should see some blue/green and even orange irridescence on it....

[Thingymabob]

um it does turn golden yellow but it doesnt have dark lines on it's back.

[joel_ang]

Does it look something like this?

http://www.tonmo.com/phpBB/download.php?id=3063

[Thingymabob]

nope