Jennifer, Thales, Paradox:
At what size can I put my two babies in a 15 gallon tank? They are not at all crowded in the breeder net (about 1.5 times the normal breeder net size and has a LR hiding place) and are getting fat and sassy there but it would be nice to have them in their first tank so that we can see them in a less artificial environment as well a being able to get some pictures (the water flow prohibits photos in the net). They are eating shrimp regularly but I continue giving some Cyclopeese daily.

Thales, Winkin' and Blinkin' are about a week behind the ones you also bought from Seacrop.

Thanks!

My judgment on this would be based on the amount of live rock in the tank. If there is a lot and plenty of places for the cuttles to hide, I may wait until they are bigger because you will have a daily heart attack looking for them.

15 gallons is pretty small, so you wont have too much of a problem losing track of them. Personally I would let them in at about half an inch and when you feel they are efficient hunters. Put them both in at the same time, so there wont be territorial disputes in the future. Be sure all water intakes are shielded and safe. I had to add extra media around the supplied powerhead intakes because they can be harmful.

Good luck!!

Paradox,
Thanks for the reply. I would guess mine are about an inch (and almost as wide :hmm: as they are long without their heads). I know they can and do catch the shrimp in the net but am worried about their abilities in the larger tank. It may only be 15 gallons but it is a hex and has an LR "mountain" that they can swim around and through so there is more swimming (and hiding) space than in a rectangular tank.

Is there any harm in overstocking the shrimp? Since they are cleanup critters there should be no harm to the water quality and I have been keeping a constant supply in the net in addition to feeding Cyclopese (hence their girth).

I am glad you mentioned the potential problems with the intake as I would not have covered it, thinking they were big enough for it not to be a problem. At what size is an intake save or should it always be reduced for these guys?

Even at an inch long, you will still have a daily heart attack searching for them :roll:. I would say they are big enough to be released to the wilds of your 15 gallon, I hope you have the next size tank ready for them, because they are going to need to move soon... If they are actively hunting, they shouldn't have any trouble finding the shrimp.

I covered my intakes with a sleeve of window screen (fiberglass) that I sewed with nylon thread. I could still slide it off to rinse it when it got too covered with gunk...

Good luck!

At an inch, I think they can graduate from the breeder net with honors =)

Theres no problem with overstocking your tank with shrimp, but I would recommend just throwing in thier usual meal size quantity during feeding time. This way, they should be more active and will come out to look for food.

From my local asian dollar store (Where I get a lot of DIY materials) I purchased these plastic faucet drain nets. They are long and cylindrical with an open end that is made to fasten to a faucet. I rolled it up like a sock to the length of the intake of my powerhead and it fits perfectly. Anything that adds distance from the intake, so the suction is not so concentrated should work.

Well, another week has passed and Cuddly continues to thrive. This morning he greeted me even before the lights in his tank turned on. He had that hungry look in his eyes...

Finally, I can post pictures!!!

The first picture is Cuddly looking HUGE.

The second picture is Cuddly with my hand and the third picture is Cuddly with my five-year old.

One more picture.

great pics!

:goofysca: This weekend Cuddly will be 13 months old...

He's amazing! Those are great pictures, by the way.

Jennifer,
Any news on Baby A's offspring? Cuddley looks ma-va-lous.

yes he looks soo cute. one question though, do any of your cuttlefish like being pet? you know like a cat or dog does. the fact that they let you pet them seems to say yes but I was wondering if you all see any other indications that they enjoy it.

Lost one of my remaining 3 males on the 23rd. The other two seem to be going strong and about 14 months old.

yes he looks soo cute. one question though, do any of your cuttlefish like being pet? you know like a cat or dog does. the fact that they let you pet them seems to say yes but I was wondering if you all see any other indications that they enjoy it.

All of my cuttlefish tolerated touching. Baby A (the female) is the only one who really seemed invite being touched.


Cuddly is still going strong, has now spent 13 months with me.

Cuttlegirl, thales - What temperature are you running your tanks?

Cuttlegirl, thales - What temperature are you running your tanks?

My temperature is usually around 74 F, but today (it's 90+ outside) it's about 77 F. I think the other factor in my cuttle's longetivity may be that most of the food I feed my cuttles is live. I rarely feed frozen krill and that is only when I have run out of live shrimp for some reason...

My temp is usually between 78 and 80.

I'm with Jennifer and think lots of live food is the key. I started with freshwater ghost shrimp till the cuttles were big enough to move to bait shrimp. The only frozen mine get are frozen bait shrimp.

All of my cuttlefish tolerated touching. Baby A (the female) is the only one who really seemed invite being touched.


Cuddly is still going strong, has now spent 13 months with me.

I have been amazed at some of the animals that seem to enjoy petting. for example I was at the Cincinnati aquarium this weekend (no cuttlefish, darn :sad: ) and they had a shark petting pool. I figured with sharks, they wouldn't care one way or another but some DID seem to like it. they would repeatedly stop were people were, and there was one that would move to another group if the people he was by stopped petting him.

I have also petted lizards that would actually lean into you if you gave them a good scratch on there side.
interesting stuff.

BigRed,
It may be that the sharks enjoyed the "taste" of humans (I have read that most don't though) and that the lizard was shedding. My iguana loves to be scratched when she sheds and has dry itchy skin but is not so keen to be petted after a recent shedding. She will, however, sit on my shoulder and rub her head gently under my chin most any time.

Cuddly is still hanging in there. He seems to be having some buoyancy issues, I think he is positively buoyant but it is hard to tell. His cuttlebone seems to be pulling him upward, but he is hanging out under some rocky ledges.

I am going to do a water change (already cleaned the protein skimmer) and see if it makes a difference.

:cry: Cuddly died this morning. My five year old went to pet him and discovered he was dead. Her comment was, "He can't be dead, he's floating, dead people sink..." I let her take him out of the water and we will bury all three cuttles later today. He was probably 15 months old (I had him for 14 months and three weeks).

:sad: :cuttlego: you had a great cuttle clan, and I'm glad you were able to keep them healthy, happy, and fertile for such a long time... RIP

Sorry to hear that.

When you say the cuttle bone was pulling him you do you mean that literally, or was there a gap between his head and the top of the mantle?
I lost one 2 weeks ago and I knew he was going to go that day because of the space between his head and the top of the mantle. Below is a pic.
I still have two from the same group left, but I have to hand feed them because they are too uncoordinated to catch food, live or dead.

There was a gap between the head and the mantle, just like your photo, only bigger. He would either cling to the rocks or let his mantle touch the underneath of a rock ledge. I think he was positively buoyant and was trying not to rise to the top of the tank. I didn't see him feed for the last two days, but I was still supplying him with live shrimp.

Of course, I ordered 200 shrimp, which shipped out yesterday:roll:. anybody in the Pittsburgh area need salt water feeder shrimp???

I'm so sorry. You were (and will be again, I'm sure) a great cuttle mom, and gave your three a wonderful home. RIP Cuddly. :cuttlego: :cry:

Cuttlegirl,
I have looked forward to post about these three and will miss the photos, observations and notes. I hope Winkin (I discovered that it was Blinkin that died over the weekend) will successfully become an adult but worry that she won't live as long because she is alone. I know Cuddly did well by himself but he had companionship most of his life and I have noted that others trying to raise only one don't seem to do as well as those raised in small groups.

I hope you are planning on raising more. Good night Cuddly

:cry: Cuddly died this morning. My five year old went to pet him and discovered he was dead. Her comment was, "He can't be dead, he's floating, dead people sink..." I let her take him out of the water and we will bury all three cuttles later today. He was probably 15 months old (I had him for 14 months and three weeks).

this is the first thread I read fully here and is one reason I got interested in this forum. poor little guy, well actually he seems to have had a nice long life for a cuttle. nice to know that his progeny have gone far and wide. (read the thread about baby A's eggs too) hope you have the chance to care for more cuttlefish. :cuttlehi: they will be in good hands.

Well, I completely overhauled the system in the last couple days and everyone made it through fine, even the two old me.

I have been feeding them by hand or by some long tweezers. Today one of the old fogies grabbed the tweezers instead of the shrimp and we got into a tug of war. He did not want to let go! When I pulled him up to the surface he sprayed me with an astonishing amount of water. :grin:

To cuttlegirl: I would be interested in those shrimp as I am in the pittsburgh area.

Lost one of the old men. Same deal as the one above with the gapping above the head. The one I have left still seems pretty robust.

Sorry for your loss. They must be pretty old by now - can you estimate the age?

Nancy

About 15 months! The one is left, but I think he is going down. He hasn't been interested in food in about a week.

Lost the last one just now. I took some pics of the cuttle bone pulling away from the mantle (ecch) about 10 minutes ago. When I went in just now, the tank was very inked.

:sad: RIP

I wonder what would happen if you ran some mono filament through a young adult to hold it to its cuttle bone better, perhaps being held to its cuttle bone more firmly would help an aging cuttle to hunt more effectively and easily and allow it to live a longer time.

I wonder what would happen if you ran some mono filament through a young adult to hold it to its cuttle bone better, perhaps being held to its cuttle bone more firmly would help an aging cuttle to hunt more effectively and easily and allow it to live a longer time.

:shock: To what part of its body would the monofilament be attached?

I think the reason the cuttlebone is "pulling" away from the mantle is that the cuttlefish is losing its ability to regulate its buoyancy. If the cuttlebone became positively buoyant, especially near the anterior part of the cuttlebone (which is the newest part of the cuttlebone), the cuttlebone would pull upwards, creating a gap in the mantle.

Lost the last one just now. I took some pics of the cuttle bone pulling away from the mantle (ecch) about 10 minutes ago. When I went in just now, the tank was very inked.

RIP little guy, you had a good long life. :sad:

Thales,
How are the new guys from seacrop doing? Winkin is not very interactive and has been recluse enough this last week to concern me until tonight. For whatever reason, he/she is back to watching me from the mouth of its usual den. I attempted to hand feed a live shrimp (well, several :oops: little guys are hard to hold onto) and Blinkin drew back into the den but would come back to the edge shortly and didn't ink.

I will be curious to see if Blinkin starts to become more interactive since there seems to be a parallel of timing with my baby mercs. Position of the moon? Age? effects of hot weather and air conditioning? None of the above?

Hey D

The 8 are still going strong. I will be moving them from the nursery soon.

I did lose the last of the old men this week. Amazing long life. 16 or 17 months!

Here is a pic of him hours before he died. Note the tissue degradation above the cuttlebone.

Hey D

The 8 are still going strong. I will be moving them from the nursery soon.

I did lose the last of the old men this week. Amazing long life. 16 or 17 months!

Here is a pic of him hours before he died. Note the tissue degradation above the cuttlebone.

I have a rather cold sort of question.
And PLEASE do not think it offensive towards you or the wonderfull creatures you got to reside with.

But it seems to me a horrid way to die.
Litteraly degenerated skin, cuttlebones seperateing from the mantle. ACK!
Would it not be more humane to freeze the poor man?

I am not so knowledgeable when it comes to cuttles, but wow. I feel so bad for the little guy.

Sory if this sounds ignorant or cold.

Just a question to ponder. :)

Not offensive at all, nor an odd question. :grin:

Tough question. If I had euthanasia in mind, I would have killed all three of the old men about 4 months ago when they stopped eating for 2 or 3 weeks (they later started eating again). I didn't have euthanasia in mind because we really don't know how long these guys can live in captivity.
Freezing as euthanasia is up in the air as to its cruelty. Its also questionable how much the cephs are actually 'feeling' as they senesce.
This was the first time I actually saw any degeneration of skin under the mantle, although I have seen the separation in the past, and you only see the separation within a day or two of death.
Might it be better to euthanize them when they get old? Maybe.

Euthanasia is a difficult topic. Personally, have found that I won't (by found I mean when the situation is there I can't make myself) but I don't disagree with those that do. What I do have problems with is the accepted use of freezing. Unlike a land creature, a marine animal is likely to die of suffication before it just goes to sleep and that gives me nightmares.

Thanks for the info and seeing that I was not trying to be offensive Thales.
I had a HUGE moral stumbeling block when my first Octo Creepers
had spawned, died, and then to watch hopelessly while all the many hundreds of young
perished as well.
I sound like a hippy, I know.. but I value quality of life over quantity. If that
makes sence. I am also one of those people who euthanise my wonderfull
companion animals rather than see them suffer.
Which, for me, is a horrid conundrum!
Oh, and where on earth did you get the song on the video of the angler eating?
I ahve been looking for that for AGES!
Though I rather enjoy the Warner Brothers version. :D

Dwhatley,
the dificulty in euthanasia is in no way lost on me.
In fact, I have struggled with it in the past with some of my dearest companion cats.
I willnever, for a moment, forget those moments. But I believe that no matter how much I may hurt for it,
my dearest friends were relieved of their pain and suffering.
Though the suffocation/freezeing debate is a new one to me.
Is it a question of water volume?
It is a rather disturbing idea... :(

That music is by Raymond Scott, its called powerhouse.

Euthanasia is a difficult topic. Personally, have found that I won't (by found I mean when the situation is there I can't make myself) but I don't disagree with those that do. What I do have problems with is the accepted use of freezing. Unlike a land creature, a marine animal is likely to die of suffication before it just goes to sleep and that gives me nightmares.

At the risk of anthropomorphizing, from personal experience I can tell you that at least for humans suffocation isn't such a bad way to go. It's really scary, but it doesn't hurt. (Didn't know I was a ghost, did you?)

Gravesly,
It never occurred to me to put the critter in water in the freezer and I have much less concern about doing it that way. Since I know I can't (and yes, I have had to consider it with a couple of animals and I can't say my choice was best in one case). I prefer not to think on the subject too deeply so my horror over the recommended method may be unfounded if "freezing" excludes suffocation.

Sharon,
It is the scary part that I have problems with. I work hard at having my pets trust me implicity and to make their final moments terrifying is something I just couldn't do.

[QUOTE=dwhatley;100163]Gravesly,
"It never occurred to me to put the critter in water in the freezer and I have much less concern about doing it that way. "....

"I prefer not to think on the subject too deeply so my horror over the recommended method may be unfounded if "freezing" excludes suffocation."

oh, yes, whenever I have had to do such a thing to any of my fish, I have always carefully, and with respect, put the small critter into a bag with water, and then let the little one just fall asleep. At least that is how it was explained to me.
And I am sorry if I brought up any unwanted memories.
On to a better topic I think....
How 'bout those cubbies? ;) lol :tomato:

Personally i have never kept any cephs (though i wil soon) but i think that just letting them die naturally is the best thing to do. THe reasonig for this is because in nature they die the same way. Sure many may get eaten wen in this sickly state but some must die naturally. So rather than stress the fish even more by taking it out and freezing it or wtvr i think its best to let it die like it normally would because its probably mich less stressful for them to die naturally. :cry:

does anyone have any bandensis eggs available any time soon? or perhaps some young cuttles? Im kinda new on this website, so im trying to get a grasp of everything! ;) Sweet site though, very informative!

does anyone have any bandensis eggs available any time soon? or perhaps some young cuttles? Im kinda new on this website, so im trying to get a grasp of everything! ;) Sweet site though, very informative!

:welcome: I think Thales might be your best bet, but he'd be the one to answer for sure...

Any bandensis eggs available, please pm me.

Aquatropics in Gainesville, almost always has eggs in stock, if not they can get them. I ordered my last batch from them.

Is that Gainesville, FL (not likely to be Gainesville, GA :sad:)? Is there a website (there is an Aquatropics.com in Crystal, MN but I don't think it is the store you mention)?

Give us a call 352 336 6303, we ship the cuttles next day for like $25, we also have a mimic in one of our display tanks. Il try to post some pics when i get a chance.

I should have captive bred bandensis eggs/babies available in the next couple weeks.

put me and my friend down for some eggs weve been looking for quite a while now

Thales where do you get the food small food needed for the babies?

If you've got em I'll be after some of those babies (multiple tanks are handy)

Thales where do you get the food small food needed for the babies?

I used to collect amhipods, but now I just order mysids for the first month, and small shore shrimp for the next couple of months. For mysids I use Reed Mariculture and for shrimp I use either Northeast Brineshrimp or Sachs Aquaculture.

It seems to take a lot of mysids to feed the little guys. Can you estimate how many one little cuttle would eat in a month, or give us some idea how many you'd use in a month?

Nancy

It seems to take a lot of mysids to feed the little guys. Can you estimate how many one little cuttle would eat in a month, or give us some idea how many you'd use in a month?

Nancy

With my three cuttles, I was buying 200 mysids every 5-7 days... I think I was feeding the cuttles about 3-4 times a day a couple of mysids at a time. I lost most of the mysids to cannibalism.

Here's a couple choice posts from a thread last year.

I don' t think the issue is figuring out how many they eat, its how do you keep mysids alive. I would say a baby cuttle 'can' or 'could' eat 4-10 mysids a day, but the question is will it? Or, will it not want to eat at all for a few days while the mysids eat each other or simply die. The problem I had before I switched to pods was the space needed to actually keep mysids alive and happy, and the price of shipping was killing me. I hate feeling obtuse on this area of cuttle raising, and the best advice I can give is get way more than you think you need.
I prefer amphipods because they don't eat each other. I am gearing up to order these guys
http://www.mariculturetechnology.com/Foods.htm#Frozen scroll down to marine shrimp janitors and feeders. :D

From two data points, 100 mysid shrimp lasts me about 4 days. I expect to run out tomorrow morning after feeding perhaps 50 of them to the cuttles--the rest are cannibalized.

For this most recent order I considered getting 200 instead of 100. But at the rate of cannibalism, 200 mysids would really only last another day or two. Its kind of like how you pay twice as much for the 30 year mortgage to save a couple hundred bucks a month :)

The trick seems to be to keep the mysids well-fed. I made two small brine shrimp hatcheries out of 20 oz soda bottles, but I ordered cheap eggs and I have trouble getting them warm enough:as a result my mysids are only being fed every other day or so, at best.

I considered amphipods from Sach's. You get about 30 for slightly less than 100 mysids. As above, only about 50 mysids survive to feeding, so its pretty much a draw. I haven't had any luck finding either locally so I'm glad my little guys are moving towards shore shrimp.

Let's make sure any potential cuttle owners reading this know that 100 mysids cost $20 from Sach's. If you get cuttlefish you're looking at spending upwards of $150 a month on food until you can get them on shore shrimp.

Link to thread for reference: New babies. (http://www.tonmo.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6634) Everyone interested in keeping cuttles should read that thread as well as concurrent threads by Thales and Cuttlegirl.

Dan

It seems to take a lot of mysids to feed the little guys. Can you estimate how many one little cuttle would eat in a month, or give us some idea how many you'd use in a month?

Nancy


:grin:

No matter how many times I say they eat a lot, it doesn't seem to make much of a dent! I think a lot of people want to think they can get away with less, but IMO that ends up in unexplained deaths. Cuttles are eating machines.
The last batch of 8 cuttles was getting at least 3-6 mysids at least twice a day in general. Thats about 50 a day. You could get away with less, but IMO you really want them to grow into bigger food asap. I guess I ordered 2000 over the first month.
I think another issue is that feeding cuttles is cuttle dependent and you need to make sure all of them are actually eating. Sometimes the will eat a lot, and sometimes the wont.

Do you think any of the live shrimp services you use would be able to supply something like baby ghost or marine shrimp? Surely the aquaculture places have them available, but do not realize there is a demand for them. Perhaps this would be a cheaper alternative since they are not cannabolistic.

What size are the mysids you feed your babies?

My current 150 still has a decent amount of baby marine shrimp which are very small and seem to be appropriate in size for baby cuttles. These shrimps are left over survivors from when I used to keep a few in my refugium.

What size are the mysids you feed your babies?

My current 150 still has a decent amount of baby marine shrimp which are very small and seem to be appropriate in size for baby cuttles. These shrimps are left over survivors from when I used to keep a few in my refugium.

My refugium is crawling with little baby marine shrimp too - they are about the same size as the mysids, although the mysids are probably a little larger. I always wondered what would happen if I just left a few babies loose in the refugium.. Oh well, maybe I will get a couple of cuttles again when the next bunch of babies becomes available...

My shrimp population isspread out to much in my tank to think about using them as food. Although, they seem to be pretty prevelant in my overflow. I wonder how difficult it would be to have a dedicated space to breed them to the extent that you can support a group of cuttles. I dont think I have anymore room for another container of water heh.

Why Paradox, you could just make another external box and plumb it on the other side of the tank to have matching end tables :sagrin:

I used to collect amhipods, but now I just order mysids for the first month, and small shore shrimp for the next couple of months. For mysids I use Reed Mariculture and for shrimp I use either Northeast Brineshrimp or Sachs Aquaculture.

Thanks, could you post URLs for each of those sites? Perhaps stocking up on copepods from SWF.com would help some? From what I know (which isn't a lot about pods), those are not cannibalistic, and if they are the right size could be an easier (possibly cheaper) solution to mysid issues.

Is $100 your price for the babies when you make them available? Any discount for groups of cuttles? How many eggs do you estimate you have?

heh, sorry for the barge of questions :oops:, just excited that we will be seeing some cuttles around here again.

www.mysidshrimp.com
www.aquaculturestore.com (they take paypal)
http://www.mariculturetechnology.com/Foods.htm (look for marine janitors and feeders about 1/2 down the page)

The mysids at the above link are lab cultured and are less likely to eat each other. I had no problem with cannibalism last time, but that might have been a fluke. They will eat pods, but the idea of help some seems like a bad idea to me. You need to make sure they have enough food, and the you can get enough food for them. In general, any pods for sale are more expensive than mysids.

I think they will be considerably cheaper than 100! I was shocked that that one went for 149. I have about 40 eggs puffing up right now, I expect more. I think I will wait till they hatch to send them out to avoid sending people 'dud' eggs (the babies ship just as well as eggs).

What do you all think is a reasonable price for captive bred bandensis? :grin:

I don't know whether you read my post about octopus prices a few weeks ago, but I was saying that I thought captive bred octopuses were being sold too cheaply, so that there was little motivation for people to raise them. Octopets went under after selling bimacs for so little. I don't think they ever made a profit.
When you consider what fish and corals cost, it seems like our cephalopods are worth something, too.

My feeling is that you should more than cover your costs, add something for all your effort, and then see if the price is reasonable.

Nancy

:bonk: That would probably add up to about $300 per egg... if you consider the cost of raising the adults and feeding the babies for a couple of weeks. The other day, I almost added up how much I spent at aquaculturestore.com during my cuttle's lifetime and then decided against it... it is better not to know...

:bonk: That would probably add up to about $300 per egg... if you consider the cost of raising the adults and feeding the babies for a couple of weeks. The other day, I almost added up how much I spent at aquaculturestore.com during my cuttle's lifetime and then decided against it... it is better not to know...

Why Paradox, you could just make another external box and plumb it on the other side of the tank to have matching end tables :sagrin:

And here I thought I was finnally finished with my setup! It never seems to end. :lol:

Rich - What type of pods were you feeding the mysids? Can we feed them the shore caught ones? Or were they the smaller tigger pods? Any luck with feeding them frozen or dried foods?

Oops my mailbox was full, so please resend! thanks!

I wouldn't go lower than $60 for the cuttles, and a little less for the eggs. I would still buy the same amount if they were cheaper or more expensive, although of course I would like them to be cheaper, but you need to make something too.

Paradox,
I did a REALLY dumb (and expensive at a not so good time) thing last week. I am hoping not too many read this post :oops: but I will share what I may have discovered. I thought Paul had a really good price on shore shrimp (he normally has to charge about twice what Mike charges at Mariculturetechnologies but their collection and facilities are entirely different, not their narrow profit margin) so I ordered $1,000 (I normally get 500 at a time). I knew something was very wrong when the box showed up :cyclops:, it was WAY too small. I was in too much of a hurry and ordered 1,000 mysis (the shore shrimp were far more expensive even at that quantity). I do not have any cuttles and my seahorse tank overflow eats the mysis faster than my lone seahorse. The pipefish and Mandarins find them a nice evening snack but it was an expensive mistake. I stuck half in my 3 gallon hospital tank with an air stone and just fed out the other half. I threw my favorite frozen food in with the unfed group and to my surprise, I still have a healthy population. I am going to feed out a minimum just to see if the Cyclop-eeze will sustain them and keep them well enough fed to not eat each other (I have had the same experience as Jennifer with one for the fish and two for the other Mysis).

If I forget (in which case it was probably a failed experiment) remind me to report if there are still an uncountable number in the tank in a week.

!!!

That makes me feel a lot better about the new TV, suit, speakers and ballast I just bought!

Rich - What type of pods were you feeding the mysids? Can we feed them the shore caught ones? Or were they the smaller tigger pods? Any luck with feeding them frozen or dried foods?

Mysis will readily take frozen or dried foods. I feed mine cyclop-eeze. I feed shore shrimp the same.

I don't know what I pm'd you! :grin:

!!!

That makes me feel a lot better about the new TV, suit, speakers and ballast I just bought!

Ok, I understand the TV, suit, and speakers part, because everyone gets an urge for CSPAN karaoke every now and then, but why do you need ballast? So your balloon doesn't get to high? So your boat doesn't tip over? So your fluorescent lights work right?

!!! dwhatley - wow really sorry to hear that! Maybe its an opportunity to try to learn how to breed these little guys?

Thales - Sorry about all the questions but can you describe a little about the size and method of the container you are using to house the mysids? My baby cuttle chamber is probably 4 gallons or so, dividable into two chambers. The divider is pretty well sealed where the only thing that can pass through it must be smaller then the holes of a window screen mesh. Im wondering if I can just use one side of this to keep the mysids since its plumbed into my system already.

So your fluorescent lights work right?

I got a used power compact fixture for free that I'm putting on my smaller tank. It has two electronic ballasts, one of which is toast.

Update on cuttles?

I need eggs too. three preferrably.

Hey guys,

A mistake was made with the first batch of eggs. But there are more batches being laid every week. I will post when I have babies available...hopefully soon... but I want to get some numbers about incubation times and possibly about number laid or viable vs non viable eggs first. :grin:


Thales - Sorry about all the questions but can you describe a little about the size and method of the container you are using to house the mysids? My baby cuttle chamber is probably 4 gallons or so, dividable into two chambers. The divider is pretty well sealed where the only thing that can pass through it must be smaller then the holes of a window screen mesh. Im wondering if I can just use one side of this to keep the mysids since its plumbed into my system already.

Is the divider opaque? I think if it wasn't, seeing all that food but not being able to get it would be frustrating/confusing. My last mysid container was a 2 gallon styro with an overflow pipe stuck and glued in the side up high. In the styro the overflow pipe had some filter foam zip tied over it. The styro was fed by a very small powerhead and it drained into the main tank. In the new system I plumbed in a food tank, which is really a 8 gallon garbage can. Foam on the overflow pipe and it drains into the sump with the same small powerhead feeding it. I get to use it for mysids, later for shore shrimp, and for starfish all the time for the harlequins.
Bait shrimp go in a separate system outside the house. Though I am learning how to wean them to frozen. :grin:

Is the divider opaque? I think if it wasn't, seeing all that food but not being able to get it would be frustrating/confusing.

Hanlon & Messenger point out (p. 145) the interesting result that hatchling cuttles (officinalis is implied, but it doesn't say specifically) can't learn to stop attacking prey that's behind a glass barrier. I thought that was interesting because it suggests that the brain develops some learning ability as the animal matures, but I guess there are practical applications as well...

Isn't gestation 2 weeks? Do you expect to have eggs or babies available toward the end of the month?

Isn't gestation 2 weeks? Do you expect to have eggs or babies available toward the end of the month?

No, the gestation is not two weeks. The eggs that were laid 3 weeks ago did were not ready to hatch at the time of the accident. We only have gustimates as to how long they take to hatch. I hope to have hatchlings available within the next month. I hope.

Hey guy


Is the divider opaque? I think if it wasn't, seeing all that food but not being able to get it would be frustrating/confusing.


The divider is black acrylic. However, there are three 1.5 inch holes covered with black window screen material on this acrylic. I guess you can see through this part, but not easily. I do recall my old setup where I once used a divided clear acrylic section and the juveniles did in fact constantly attempt to strike at the shrimp.

I guess its time to plumb a new section in!

On another note, are you aware of the Fresh water mysids that are in Lake merrit, where you can get buckets of them at the right season? A BAR member just told me about them. Have you thought about that as a potential food source?

Ah, I just found a heathy hatchling - life cycle officially closed (again). So, another guesstimate of maturing time for the eggs - 3 weeks. :grin:

On another note, are you aware of the Fresh water mysids that are in Lake merrit, where you can get buckets of them at the right season? A BAR member just told me about them. Have you thought about that as a potential food source?


Who? What? Season? When? Link?

Thales, Ive had a clutch of eggs for a while and a couple have hatched although it seems it occurred prematurely due to damage to the egg. I do not see any yolk sacks attached, but Im having difficulty encouraging feeding. They have mysids and pods available to them but I have yet to see them eat. Is there anything you can do to aid in encouraging them to eat or do you think they may have some yolk left that Im not able to observe?

How long ago did they hatch?

One was hatched sunday so 4-5 days now and the other hatched yesterday. Both of these though I believe hatched prematurely due to thier eggs being damaged. Actually I thought they were duds, since when received, tose 2 eggs were semi deflated. They are reactive, show color changing and look like typical hatchlings.

It is possible that they have eaten when I was not watching, but there are some mysids that have been in there since yesterday. Prior to my mysids arriving, I have had tigger pods, and larger short caught pods in with them. Although the tigger pods were so small, they could have been filtered away.

-Just looked in there and saw a 3rd hatchling so its probably about time for this clutch of eggs. Very strange though, because I still see the same number of inflated eggs. The 3rd hatchling must have slipped out of his egg very carefully. =)

Good! They usually won't eat for the first 3-5 days, so you may be just fine. I don't know a way to compel them to eat. You and I should trade hatchlings to make sure we are crossing lines. :D

Good! They usually won't eat for the first 3-5 days, so you may be just fine. I don't know a way to compel them to eat. You and I should trade hatchlings to make sure we are crossing lines. :D

I think every time I start from a clutch of eggs I go through the same 'worry' period :smile: Ever since the one source of eggs a couple years back where the babies were strangely cannibolistic, Im afraid this will occur if they do not eat.

One reason for why i chose to go for wild caught eggs was to allow for some genetic variation in case we wanted to attempt breeding between ours. So, trading would be great once we get them to a stable age. :baby:

:baby: I'm so jealous... I want babies again... Maybe the next generation I will try another batch.

Uhummm, If I remember correctly, a cuddle is on the way. Surely you don't want to worry with cuttles at this point!

Uhummm, If I remember correctly, a cuddle is on the way. Surely you don't want to worry with cuttles at this point!

:baby: Yeah, I know, just wishful thinking... they are soo cute when they are little, and they won't wake me up in the middle of the night wanting food...