Dan,
No clue about the krill or the Zoe or Selcon. I think if your cuttles are doing fine, stick with you are doing so we can get more information.

I have 8 cuttles, I think and I go through 200 shrimp a week - and thats starting to not be enough. Oy!

Stop the presses! My instantaneous consumption rate is about 200 shrimp/month. Each cuttle will eat a couple for breakfast and then have their fill of frozen krill for dinner. Do you think I'm under-feeding? On the other hand if you're feeding all live food that doubles the consumption, plus 50% more because you have three then your 600 shrimp/month sounds a little more consistent with my feeding habits.

Also, on the note about frozen shrimp: do you two think that thawing the krill in a nutritional supplement like Zoe or Selcon might be worthwhile? Perhaps I should phase out the krill altogether?

Dan

I am taking 50 shrimp with eggs out of every shipment and putting them in the refugium (and was putting them in the 55 gallon...) in hopes of breeding them, so the cuttles were eating 150 shrimp every 7-10 days. Mine do not consistently eat frozen krill every day, although maybe I should offer every day...

I don't think you are underfeeding them if they are getting two meals a day!

I don't think you need to supplement the krill either.

Oi...well, I was talking to a friend of mine who raises seahorses, and he said that he bred mysis shrimp quite easily. He actually had enough left over that he sold some, and supported his reef tank with that. For me, babies will be much easier to raise, because I have basically an unlimited supply of amphipods from an LFS, and my reef tanks. Are copepods too small? I assume they would be.

I mingled in owning my own online LFS, and I could get 200 live mysids for $10...wish I still had my business license...

my Tank is currently SWARMING with baby shrimps. I threw 3-4 shrimps in my fuge about 6 months ago and I guess they laid eggs. My main tank, fuge, and sump are filled with baby shrimp right now. They are really small and my cephs arent eating them. I expect them to soon be slowyly eaten once the shrimps get larger. Theres probably 1000s of shrimps there though.

Wow. Maybe i'll invst in a HOB refugium then, lol.

Considering I never fed or did anything special for the shrimps in my fuge, that breeding them can be considered fairly easy.

Hope I can raise some baby shrimp too!

Scrunchy is showing one of those white marks from an interaction with Cuddly. It's the first time I have noticed a mark on one of the cuttles. My kids say that Cuddly needs a "time out" for being mean to Scrunchy...

Ok, Baby A has been busy... I now have 36 eggs. The first batch looks viable, I can see a yolk sac and the embryo attached to the yolk sac. Right now the yolk sac is about twice the size of the embryo. It is sooooooooo tiny, but I remember how big the babies were when I got them, so I guess it is normal. I will take pictures of the eggs soon. Wish I had digital camera that I could hook up to my microscope so everyone could see the embryos...

Ok, 15 eggs went to California, and 7 to Minnesota, here we go captive breeding! Hope we can keep track of the little guys so eventually we can cross-breed the S. bandensis egg batches. It is entirely possible that my eggs have two different fathers, but they do have the same mother, so I am not sure what affect that will have on future generations...They will all end up looking like :oshea: ??? or worse :diamond_trans: :goofysca:

I bought some fiddler crabs, just to give the adults some variety. Baby A grabbed the first one, then I put another one for the other two cuttles. Baby A grabbed that one too, she couldn't use her feeding tentacles, so she had to grab it with her arms, good thing I removed their claws first! The other two cuttles finally realized that crabs were raining down on them and each got a fiddler for dinner. They don't seem to hungry today :grin: .

It doesn't sound like it took them long to figure out how to eat them like mine did. On the other hand mine were a little smaller when the fiddlers came.

Dan

It doesn't sound like it took them long to figure out how to eat them like mine did. On the other hand mine were a little smaller when the fiddlers came.

Dan

I know it's not a controlled experiment, but have any of you multiple-cuttle-keepers seen evidence that when one cuttle figures something out that the others can learn it by observation?

Just curious...

I know it's not a controlled experiment, but have any of you multiple-cuttle-keepers seen evidence that when one cuttle figures something out that the others can learn it by observation?

Just curious...

I haven't tried this, but now I may set up a mini-experiment. I am not sure how much my three watch each other. The boys only seem interested in facing off to impress Baby A... you know, those hormones...

As for the fiddler crabs, they didn't stand a chance with Baby A - the first one was floating down about 1 inch from the surface when she caught it. The other one made it to the bottom only because I think she was trying to figure out how to catch it with her mouth (tentacles...) full of crab... My cuttles had never seen any other food than shrimp or krill (which is still a shrimp...) and Baby A recognized immediately that the fiddlers were food. Other things have fallen in the tank (eye droppers, other stuff I knock in) and they have never generated the amount of interest that the fiddlers do. There was no learning by observation - it happened too quickly, it must be instinct in this case.

My cuttle's first crabs were amusing. They were very shocked when the tentacles couldn't pull the crabs off the sand!

Dan

I have now had my cuttles for 7 months. Happy birthday little ones!

:birthday: :cuttle: :cuttle: :cuttle: :smile:

I am pretty sure it is near the end for Baby A. She is acting strangely today. She is still eating but she is being very secretive and she won't come out to interact with me - usually if I am scraping algae off of the glass she will come and sit on my finger or at least stare at me. I couldn't find her earlier and I had to lift up almost every piece of live rock to find her - and this was after I put food in the tank... The two males seem the same - begging for food and displaying black and white to each other.

Cuddly is showing signs of senescence - Scrunchy is really beating up on him, he has at least 5 bite marks and today I noticed his feeding tentacles hanging out of the side of his mouth (kind of like a dog's tongue :smile: ). He was still able to use them to catch food, but they don't seem to be working as efficiently as before.

I'm really sorry to hear about Baby A and Cuddly. It seems like you just got them.

Here are the latest pictures of Baby A. She likes to sit on my finger with her two arms. The other two will not come near my hand at all, but if I am cleaning algae or working in the tank, she will come right over to my hand.

Cuttlegirl,

I know your three are the same age so it may just be time but with the huge success you have had with Baby A and eggs, has it crossed anyone else's mind that a manage-a-trois is the reason and now that Baby A has taken herself out of the picture, the boys are wasting away and fighting as well? It would be interesting if you could put another female in with them to see if it slowed their senscence.

Sigh, I guess we all want some other answer. I know I am going to have to face this with my octopus and the site is helpful preparation but already I am crazy about the little guy and he won't even come out around me yet.

Cuttlegirl,

I know your three are the same age so it may just be time but with the huge success you have had with Baby A and eggs, has it crossed anyone else's mind that a manage-a-trois is the reason and now that Baby A has taken herself out of the picture, the boys are wasting away and fighting as well? It would be interesting if you could put another female in with them to see if it slowed their senscence.


Well, I am not sure that Baby A is quite "out of the picture"... I caught her mating with Scrunchy today - she did turn down Cuddly about a minute later - he tried his best, but she just moved to a space where he couldn't face her head on - he eventually gave up.

For some reason Cuddly was quite willing to interact with me today - he even let me pet him in between the eyes, although I am not sure if he liked it. He put two of his arms on my fingers - the first time any of the cuttles have actually stuck to me. He sat in my hand and let my four-year old pet him too.

Here are two pictures of Cuddly.

Today is the 8 month anniversary of my time with the cuttles. It is longer than I thought I would have with them. I caught Baby A and Scrunchy cuddling this morning while Cuddly watched (well, me too :oops: ). They all still seem to be doing fine and eating well - I have run a bit low on live shrimp, but a shipment is due today, so they will eat well tonight. I have thoroughly enjoyed the time I have spent with these little guys.

I saw the worst fighting I have ever witnessed between Scrunchy and Cuddly. Scrunchy was guarding the cave while Baby A was laying eggs and Cuddly approached. Scrunchy grabbed the side of Cuddly and held on - Cuddly was practically turning in spirals to try and get away from Scrunchy. Scrunchy then turned and faced Cuddly and grabbed his tentacles and it looked :shock: like they were mating... only Cuddly didn't look too happy. It was a lot of aggression on Scrunchy's part.

Up until this point, I have only seen the two males flash black and white patterns at each other or push each other away from the female. I know they must make contact sometimes since Cuddly often has bite marks. Both Cuddly and Baby have lost the tip of one of their tentacles. I think Scrunchy has something to do with that :roll: .

Baby A has now been laying eggs for over half her life - that's a large percentage of her life devoted to reproduction... all I have to say, is I'm glad I don't have to lay 200 eggs :shock: .

Thales,

Do you know where these WC bandensis came from? Just wondering about their origin...

Here are some new photos of the kids... Baby A, Cuddly and then Scrunchy. I you look closely, you can see that one of Cuddly's tentacles is shorter (one of the two sticking up). This is the second time that this has happened to Cuddly and it happened to Scrunchy too, on the same tentacle. At first I thought it was the boys fighting, but now I am beginning to suspect it may have happened during mating...

A few more...the first picture is Baby A and Cuddly and the second is just Cuddly.

WOW they're bigger than mine were!

Yikes, I missed my cuttlefish's anniversary... I have had them for 9 months (I got them May 19th). They are still eating and looking good - sent off another batch of eggs today.

Congratulations and happy anniversary for the cuttles! :cuttlehi:

Nancy

Happy anniversary, Scrunchy, Cuddly, and especially Baby A!

Yay! Happy Anniversay! I got the eggs! Hopefully I'll be able to have an anniversay too!

Yay! Happy Anniversay! I got the eggs! Hopefully I'll be able to have an anniversay too!

So, I take it that you aren't interested in the cuttles we were pm'ing about? Or was my box full and I didn't get your responses?

So, I take it that you aren't interested in the cuttles we were pm'ing about? Or was my box full and I didn't get your responses?

Hi Thales
Ya, I'm still interested. I tried two different days but your box was full. The two sounds great!
thanks
Ed

Finally, after 9 months, Scrunchy will let us pet him. Both Baby A and Cuddly come up to the top of the tank for some human interaction daily. Today, Scunchy let my nine year old pet him (he likes her the best anyway... he will often hide for me, but if she is looking into the tank, he will come out). The other two will sit on our hand and let us pet their mantles. I tried petting them on the head, but they don't seem to like that as much.

Here are some shots of the cuttles from this group of eggs that I don't believe I have posted:

The first one is from when they were kids. This one is striking at Tigger Pod from Reef Nutrition.

The second one is some recent mating.

The third is a shot from above that I really like. :grin:

Here are some new pictures of my kids. The first one is Scrunchy. The second one is Scrunchy and Cuddly fighting. Scrunchy is on the left and Cuddly is upside down (and looking rather unhappy). And the last picture is all three cuttlefish. Cuddly is on the left, Scrunchy is pushing Baby A away from Cuddly.

The first picture is Cuddly pretending to be a squid. He sometimes gets in the flow of water and swims. The second picture is Scrunchy allowing my nine-year old daughter to pet him. The last picture is Cuddly sitting on my hand. He always turns pale to match my hand.

Yay for picture day!

RIP Baby A, she was with me 9 months and 12 days.

:sad: :cuttlego:

Its that time. I think Jennifer and I are the only ones who kept them alive to maturity and egg laying. I have lost 4 myself in the last month. Go short lived animals go!

RIP Baby A, she was with me 9 months and 12 days.

That's sad. I hope her children do well.

I still really miss Baby A, she was the friendliest of my cuttles. Yesterday Scrunchy sat on my hand for the first time. He lets my nine-year-old pet him any time she wants and sometimes lets me pet him. Cuddly is always up for a pet. They seem to be fighting less now that Baby A is gone and sometimes I even see them in the same cave, hanging out together.

Tomorrow I will have had the boys for 10 months. The time with them sure has gone quickly.

Update on the boys... both are still doing well. I almost ran out of live shrimp yesterday (shipment was delayed), so Scrunchy was out glaring at me yesterday morning. Luckily he got some shrimp after work when I picked up the mail. He would still rather interact with my nine year old than me, but I am the food slave so he has to show his face sometimes :grin: .

I am down to four large males - I lost the last female a few weeks ago.

Any other updates?

It seems that the boys are still growing, Scrunchy looks bigger to me. Cuddly has terrible aim, he misses about 3 out of every 4 tries. Scrunchy gets almost every shrimp he wants. They are still fighting, but I often find them under the same rock - the rock that Baby A laid most of her eggs. It seems to be the favorite cuttle hang-out.

Jennifer,
I am glad to see another aquarist has accepted the realities of the role of critter keeper :razz:

Wow. I just read through this whole thread (that took some time!) and I have to say I'm as amazed as ever with these beautiful creatures!

The commitment of those breeding these animals and the interest of all of those watching was incredible as well!

I will continue to research and plan out my tank build in preparation for caring for some of these little guys. I doubt I would be ready, equipment is one thing, experience is quite another, in time for any hatchlings this season, but that gives me a whole year to get my setup together, and practice with some corals, etc.

Thanks for leading the way...I've been wanting to be a part of this since I first saw Mike deGruy's "Incredible Suckers" video nearly 10 years ago now. You can see my 1999 review of it here (http://www.amazon.com/Nature-Incredible-Sucker/dp/6305072434), bottom of page.

Now, finally, the hobby has gotten to the point where it is worth pursuing in the US, and it's all thanks to people like you guys (and gals) here! THANKS!

:notworth:

:grin: Scrunchy and Cuddly have become friends... they like to hang out together all the time.

Awsome to hear they're still going!

Jennifer,

How big are scrunchy and cuddly now?

Neal was sad when I told him the eggs were not going to hatch but not suggestive about looking for more eggs UNTIL he saw the NOVA special and got a good feel for how interesting these little guys are. Now he is talking about ANOTHER tank (not the one I intended if we were successful with one of the eggs) to house several :roll: . He wants to put it directly over out open stairwell so that he would see the little guys everyday on his way to his TV :hmm: . The thought is predicated on me finding a job but he has started figuring out dimensions and support.

Can the cuttles be kept with hard corals or is the requsite lighting too much? I have seen opposite opinions about the effects (damage) of high lighting even with lots of shadow and since you have been so successful with these, I would like to mimic (uh, nah, I won't go there) your environment.

Would the same tank for several bandenis be suitable for one officinalis (thinking about roughly 100 - 120 gallon tank so maybe 80-110 gallons - roughly the size of two 55's side by side)? We noticed that Live Aquaria may sometimes have aquaculted - I assume this means WC eggs hatched here - in the US, officinalis so we would like to have the tank designed around both species.

Is height a major consideration? If we construct the setup Neal has in mind (there is an alternate) it would be easier to clean if it was only 18inches tall but I recall someone thinking that more overhead water was desireable. Any suggestions you have or comments about creating a cuttle tank that would be suitable for any we found would be most appreciated .

Thanks,

I bought my 55 gallon from a guy who didn't want it anymore (I got to recycle!). It came with a 15 gallon sump and live rock, mushroom corals and some zooanthids. The zooanthids didn't do so well, I have never kept any kind of corals before, so I don't know if I didn't provide some necessary nutrient. The mushrooms are multiplying everywhere. The tank looks pretty good with just the live rock and mushrooms. My cuttles are about 3 inches long right now and sometimes I think they might like a slightly bigger tank, but they spend most of their time hanging out under the live rock caves. That is, until they see me and try to convince me to throw in a few more shrimp :grin: .

I'm not Jennifer, but I have some thoughts... :grin:

Can the cuttles be kept with hard corals or is the requsite lighting too much? I have seen opposite opinions about the effects (damage) of high lighting even with lots of shadow and since you have been so successful with these, I would like to mimic (uh, nah, I won't go there) your environment.

The general wisdom is that the light is too much, but at the same time, I haven't seen anyone actually try it. If you do, I would suggest running the MH lighting along with VHO and only leaving the MH on for 3-4 hours a day which would be plenty for the hard corals (my full blown reef tank has the MH on for only that long, and it has great growth and color).

Would the same tank for several bandenis be suitable for one officinalis (thinking about roughly 100 - 120 gallon tank so maybe 80-110 gallons - roughly the size of two 55's side by side)? We noticed that Live Aquaria may sometimes have aquaculted - I assume this means WC eggs hatched here - in the US, officinalis so we would like to have the tank designed around both species.

General wisdom says 200 gallons for an officinalis, but it really is hard to tell. I have never kept the species, so its hard for me to comment on them. The place that Live Aquaria was getting them from has shut down (inconveniently, they owed me a bunch of money for bandensis eggs and shut down and never paid me so I bring it up when I can! :grin: )

Is height a major consideration? If we construct the setup Neal has in mind (there is an alternate) it would be easier to clean if it was only 18inches tall but I recall someone thinking that more overhead water was desireable. Any suggestions you have or comments about creating a cuttle tank that would be suitable for any we found would be most appreciated .


I think you would be fine with 18 inchs of depth.

RR

Richard,

I was not being exclusive in the tank request, just on the size of Cuddly and Scrunchy!

I especially appreciate the note on the source of the cuttles (I don't LIKE your answer but, after several failed orders for other "in stock" items, I totally BELIEVE it :hmm: ).

I have not attempted hard corals but my softies do very well with the "high noon" light for only 3 hours during the day so it is good to hear I can expect something similar if I venture into the hard coral frag world. I am not fond of the look of MH so would probably set the timer for when I am not at home :grin: .

I am thinking of trying to do a center rock structure with a large overhang, placing the coral on top but allowing deep shadow below (sort of a mushroom shape with the overflow centered to give max area draw and base support for the LR) providing a circular swimming area but don't know if the cuttles would utilize the shape. My short experience with Trapper's nonbrooding behavior suggests this setup would be desirable but she's an O. Mercatoris and the observation may have no merit on cuttles or even octopus in general. Our new public aquarium has them in a rectangular tank with no obstructions but I am not convinced there is a lot of expertise involved with the setup. I ordered a DVD from a German diver this week that is an hour long filming of breeding cuttles and I am hoping to get a better idea of their habitat from the video. Any observations on their swimming behavior would be appreciated!

DOH!

I forgot to mention that I keep the actinics on for 10 hours a day! MH 3-4, VHO 10-12. 4 hours total of light a day is not enough for corals. You could also run PC or T5 bulbs if you didn't like the look of VHO.

My cuttles seem to really like the 'arches' I made for them, but as they get bigger, they seem not to care so much. :grin:

Thales,
I run my normal PC daylight 12 hours and double the lighting for the 3 hour period (actually more than double because I use the newer bulbs in my high noon set and shift them to the daylight slot when I replace bulbs). My softies would not survive on 4 hours of light either :wink:

I was going to ask if you thought PC's would be sufficient at 12 hours but we will probably decide to hang them fairly high so we may be forced to use the VHO IF I try to double the intent of this tank. In the back of my mind, however, a warning light is flashing about trying to make the tank accomodate anything but the cuttles.

If you get CORAL mag, there are a couple of ... interesting setup's shown this issue but I can't see putting on dive gear to clean my tank:grin:

IMO, PC alone are not enough for hard corals, neither are VHO. If you want them to thrive, you need MH to get them going. The high noon idea will prolly work with a combo of MH and either VHO or PC.

Thanks Rich,
That is the direction we are thinking if I can decide I can do both with the tank. I feel both need the water volume of a large tank and don't want (to take care of) two more that size!

I got a job today (wooo hoooo) so after the new roof and downstairs heat/air system, a new tank is viable!

Thanks Rich,
That is the direction we are thinking if I can decide I can do both with the tank. I feel both need the water volume of a large tank and don't want (to take care of) two more that size!

I got a job today (wooo hoooo) so after the new roof and downstairs heat/air system, a new tank is viable!

Congratulations on the job!!! Are you thinking of S. bandensis or S. officinalis? My officinalis did more swimming than my bandensis do. S. officinalis do better in a circular tank or bow shaped tank than rectangular. They seem more apt to jet off backward into the side of the glass. I think that they need more space in general than bandensis. I know that Mizu had Zim, an officinalis in a 150 gallon tank.

Tomorrow the cuttle-kids will be 11 months old. Still eating, fighting, and looking good.

Tomorrow the cuttle-kids will be 11 months old. Still eating, fighting, and looking good.


...Taking after their food slave, I see. :wink:

Jen,

We are trying to design the tank to accomodate a single officinalis or multiple bandensis so that we would be able to have either at different times. A circular tank would not fit where we will put it (we are being creative in finding enough space and support as it is - ever see a tank OVER a stairwell ?:grin: ). The gallonage is fine as we expect it to be somewhere close to 150-175 empty + 30 gallon sump but I will have to think about a way to round the corners internally if we try the big guy.

The big question I have is, is it viable to have an officinalis and a hard coral tank in one set up? Our thinking is to step the LR and put hard corals and high light across the back 1/3, step down for lower light softies and down again to sand. We think we can angle the MH to keep the lighting contained to the back 1/3 of the tank but I would like to know what issues the idea presents.

Unfortunately, it will be a while but we both keep staring at the stairwell (splits the kitchen from the dining room) and throwing out ideas every time we are in the kitchen :wink: The last time we did this it took us almost a year to design and set up a tank but we are pleased with the result.

Do you have a connection for officianalis in the US? Since octopets closed down, Ive not been able to find or hear of this species available.

With my experience, officianalis became less active under bright MH lighting. Some people believe it can cause blindness, but I found nothing like this occurring. I have kept some SPS in the same tank as the officianlais, but I wouldnt recommend it. They get large and when startled can shoot backwards at quick speeds. It can injure the coral as well as the cuttle. Plus, officianlais is such a entertaining cuttle that I would choose not to have him hang out only in the 'dark' areas of the tank.

Currently I keep cephs with low light corals. Mushrooms, ricordias, zoos. Ive no cuttles at the moment for Im unsure of wanting to take the bandensis route again, but Id love to know if you had a connection for officianlis.

Paradox,

Unfortunately, the only "connection" I have is for common Keys livestock and some terrific aquacultured LR. I am the webmaster for a small diver/collector/conservationist (no, there is no contradiction there :smile: ) but don't even have access to the terrific staghorn project Ken pilots. My access to oddball stuff is more difficult than aquarists living on the West Coast or in the Northeast.

The tank will be set up for long time though so we would like to be able to house whatever might become available. If the bandensis work with the horses, I might have to rethink the use and design (please note my questions to you on the clam and bandensis thread). I am thinking now about some kind of hard coral island that would be less likely to get in the way and a bow front tank (if I can get an acrylic tank made with a curved front 8-) ). We are still very much in the beginning stages :grin:

I've seen an acrylic bow...I'll see if I can find the info for you. Do you know what size you were looking for? I think the one I saw was a 90g.

Michael,

Thanks for the report on the viability of a bow front acrylic. If you happen upon the site, please do post the location. We expect the tank to hold somewhere between 120 and 150 gallons and have agreed on a 2' tall tank (the only established dimension ;>) since our 3' tank is quite difficult to clean and the 4' (only 30 gallons and VERY narrow) next to impossible. The two 2' tanks are just the length of my arm so I am heavily pushing for this size.

We will probably have one made for the space we have in mind unless there is a standard VERY close to our needs. The tank will be put over an open stairwell and will need to fit the space very closely. We had our 140 built at no more than the cost of a ready made and will contact the same manufacturer once we have a design well in mind but are wide open to suggestions.

Is your manufacturer able to do bow fronts?
I haven't been able to locate the one I saw yet, if I can't I may ask for your contact's info so I can hire them, too. :wink:

Michael,

I did not think to look into their shapes yet but since you asked, I did a quick look on their new site and they do offer the bow fronts (at what price will be a question for later :wink: )

Here is the link: http://www.aquartaquariums.com/aquariumshapes.html
if you would like to contact them. We had them make a stand and hood out of black acrylic as well as the 140 pentegon tank.

Since it is May, I thought I would update you. The cuttle-kids are still doing well - I have almost had them for a year!!! :shock: . I never expected to have them this long. I got them last May 19th and I think they were about a week old when I got them.

Amazing! It's great that you've had them for so long. Me thinks you've been doing something right. :wink: (Great article, by the way.)

That great Jennifer!

I also have 4 males from the same batch going strong! :D

:smile: Glad to hear the brothers are still going strong!

:shock: I just caught Cuddly putting his hectocotylus inside of Scrunchy's mantle... They were flashing their male colors at each other and then Cuddle approached Scrunchy from the side (the male usually approaches the female from the front so that they are facing each other) and then I saw him slip his arm inside of Scrunchy's mantle... AND Scrunchy let him do it - he could have moved away...

Also, Scrunchy is starting to show a few patches above his eyes that no longer change color... definite senescence...

Jennifer!

I hate following your posts with similar post, but your posts remind me about stuff to do with cuttles and my attention has been elsewhere for a while.

I caught two on my males coupling a couple of weeks ago. Head to head, arms wrapped up with each other. :grin:

Mine have been getting less accurate with their tentacles, often just grabbing shrimp with their arms. When my female was going, I would hand feed her the shrimp because thats the only way she would eat.
As you say, definite senescence.

Yeah, Cuddly was never very good at aiming anyway, but now he only is accurate about 25% of the time - and some days it takes him 10 or more tries to get the shrimp...

Jennifer,

I got my little guys last week and lost one almost immediately. The other two seem to be doing fine (They are changing colors and ink if I get too close when feeding :roll: ). At what size (compared to the shrimp) is it safe to put in shore shrimp so that the shrimp are the hunted and not visa-versa?

At almost 7 weeks, the octo babies seem to be able to handle shrimp that is their entire length but I am continuing with some of the filter feeder sized foods until I am sure all of them can catch the shrimp. I have ordered more shrimp with a note for the smallest available but need guidance on when I can safely try them with the cuttles.

Thanks,

Jennifer,

I got my little guys last week and lost one almost immediately. The other two seem to be doing fine (They are changing colors and ink if I get too close when feeding :roll: ). At what size (compared to the shrimp) is it safe to put in shore shrimp so that the shrimp are the hunted and not visa-versa?

At almost 7 weeks, the octo babies seem to be able to handle shrimp that is their entire length but I am continuing with some of the filter feeder sized foods until I am sure all of them can catch the shrimp. I have ordered more shrimp with a note for the smallest available but need guidance on when I can safely try them with the cuttles.

Thanks,

Mine were probably about a month old - they can eat shrimp that are bigger than they are, so try a small shrimp and see how they do... good luck!

Jennifer,

I found a small shrimp in my lion fish cache and put it in the net. This AM I found a shrimp head sticking out of a cuttle mouth:cuttlezz: .

My order for tiny shore shrimp came in this morning so I will try keeping 2 live shrimp in the net but continue to put in the smaller food, dispensing with the dreaded live mysis. If the shrimp start disappearing daily, I will only offer the cyclopese as a change and drop the rest.

I am encouraged but still not confident 8-)

Thanks!

Things don't look so good with the boys. They are refusing food (it is walking right in front of them. They are pale, sitting listlessly on the bottom. They have patches that don't change color and one of them looks like it has an abrasion where some skin is sloughing off. I let my daughters give them one more pet and say goodbye. I am going to do a water change just in case that is causing the behavior, but I am not hopeful. :cry:

sorry cuttlegirl they had a great life with you :cry:

:sad: they've had a long and happy life, at least.

They also may rally, fade, rally again. I was sure my first bandensis was on its way out for well over a month before it finally died.

Have you tried putting shrimp in its arms? Of course you would have to decide if prolonging the life of a senescing animal is in the best interests of the animal.

You've been a great cuttle mom. You, and they, have given all of us a lot of vicarious pleasure. :cuttlego:

Jennifer,

As Thales mentioned, this may not be something you WANT to try but I am having success keeping Trapper (mercatoris) alive (8 weeks since her eggs started hatching) feeding Cyclopese. She stopped eating dead shore shrimp about 2 weeks ago but I noticed she would sweep the water when I fed the babies (living in a breeder net in the same tank). It took me a while to realize she was trying to eat the small particles in the water but when I made direct attempts to feed, she was very anxious to eat and grabs my hand trying to get at the food. It is expensive and makes your nitrates rise quickly because of the quantity needed just to get some to her but it is sustaining her. She is obviously still hungry no matter how much I try to feed and I keep experimenting with ways to allow her to eat more without the majority going into the water column.

The baby cuttles were eating it well the first week (which is why I suggested trying it) and didn't get serious about the shore shrimp until I cut way back on feeding the cyclopese. I still give them a little in the AM but they are pretty much weened onto the shrimp.

:cry: I found Scrunchy's cuttlebone tonight and what was left of his body. I hadn't seen him for a couple of days, so I feared the worst. I just hadn't had the time to take apart all of the rocks to find him... Cuddly is still hanging in there - I see him every day - not interested in food, but he still peeks out at me from underneath the rock.

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i222/dbhyslop/rotj.jpg

Yeah... we still need that cuttle-angel.

Ah, that is so sad. Rip, little Scrunchy.:cry:

:cry: RIP Scrunchy

j

RIP Scrunchy :sad:

:cuttlego: was my attempt to make a symbol that was more hopeful.

:birthday: Cuddly! I have now had Cuddly for one year. He is still hanging in there. He is having more trouble catching shrimp, but he is still trying.

Good the hear Jennifer!

An update on my remaining three boys:
They were having problems catching food a few weeks ago, but seem to have gotten better. They also display at each other as if they are still teenagers.

:birthday: Cuddly!

Update on Cuddly. He seems to be doing a little better lately. He actually seems hungry and comes out from under his rock to capture food. His accuracy has gotten better lately too. He is not as interactive as he used to be, but he will still peek out at me from under his rock. He seems to still be growing, I wish I had a bigger tank for him, I think he would like a little more space.

Jennifer,

You have cuddly in a 50/55 gal right? How big is he that you think that the tank is too small?

Cuddly is as big as my four (oops, five...)-year old's hand. I will post some pictures later. Today Cuddly was totally out and let both of my daughters pet and cuddle with him. My nine-year old commented that he is bigger than Scrunchy was and there was a good 1/2 inch difference between Cuddly and Scrunchy. I offered some shrimp and he immediately caught the shrimp on the first attempt. Nice to have him back out and interacting with us.

Cuddly is about 5 inches total length - I promise to post pictures soon! He is hungrily eating any shrimp that I drop in the tank. He looks great, his skin looks good (no white patches), and he has great aim.