I am selling bandensis eggs through www.newalameda.com - a local fish store that I help out.

The eggs/babies are at my place and I bring them over as needed. I should be getting more eggs this week, and right now I have about 10 eggs and 10 babies - the eggs are hatchin!

:D

RR

Righty,

Are the babies for sale fresh hatchlings? I'm considering a few but I don't know if I'm ready to commit to raising mysis just yet.

Dan

Freshish. They will still be doing mysids for a month or so. If you are on the east coast it is easier to buy mysids, or you could experiment with different foods. Are you near the shore?

Hey Rich

good you can make almost as much on the eggs as the hatchlings, I'll bet you prefer to sell them that way too, bit less hassle?

Has there been much interest yet? Could be a real niche

I am near the shore. This weekend I might try to see if I can harvest some. This area is typically wave-dominated sandy beaches and I don't know if that's ideal for catching them.

Dan

Dan,
Find a bay or a harbor and flip some rocks and see what you can see.

Colin,
No idea if the prices are workable in the long run. I do know that as they hatch I have to start 'taking care of them' so it seems reasonable to ask more money for them. I have shipped both eggs and babies and they ship about the same. I don't know about the interest yet, they only went on the website yesterday. :smile:
In the past, there hasn't been as much actual interest as testing the water interest. :smile:

Guess I might get lynched here by others but I think that you are selling yourself short with $10 per hatched baby.

As you said, that's when you have to start looking after them and that's when it gets expensive. No reason why you couldn't ask double or treble that? People get what they pay for and a healthy captive hatched cuttle is worth it in my opinion!

cheers an keep up the good work
C

Hehehe, Colin, lets wait until after I've ordered (or decided not to) before encouraging a price hike :)

The biggest interest from hobbyists might come from selling juveniles 4-8 weeks old. I personally would pay a premium to avoid SIDS and mysids.

Dan

Would you pay 100 bucks each?

I was thinking along the lines of $50-75. $100 each might be a bit much for me: at that point the mysids start to look a lot better in my cost-benefit analysis. Is $100 where they become worthwhile to sell at age? I suppose you don't have the same benefits of scale as the seahorse people who can sell in that price range.

Dan

I think $10 per hatchling is good, though once they're done feeding off only mysid then maybe the cost should go a bit higher since you've put so much into raising them.

But let's wait until I get my hands on a few ;) I'm pretty close to new alameda aquatics as well.

Yeah, okay... apologies to Dan et al, if this sees a price hike but I dont think they should be cheap. Partly because a lot of Rich's time will go into raising them. I would guess the $50 mark seems about right, bearing in mind postage and packaging etc on top if need be...

It would be too easy to get scunnered* if you were doing all that work and getting only ten bucks.


Colin

*Scunnered - Scots - to be sick of; to have had enough of; to go completely off something.

I thought that Octopets sold its bimacs too cheaply. Jim apparently had no money in reserve to cover accidents, couldn't afford to provide good communication and customer service, etc. There's a lot of time and effort, not to mention other costs, that go into rasing animals and selling them.

Maybe Jim just got scunnered, as Colin says!

Nancy

They aren't being kept at New Alameda Aquatics, so don't go there looking for them!

The hatchling price will be going up as I have to feed and keep them. Prolly in a week or so. :smile:

The price issue is really weird. There seem to be few people who will buy them at all, and fewer who are willing to pay what they are actually worth. I also don't want to get stuck with a bunch of cuttles I can't keep.

The price issue is really weird. There seem to be few people who will buy them at all, and fewer who are willing to pay what they are actually worth. I also don't want to get stuck with a bunch of cuttles I can't keep.

As Nancy pointed out, this is likely the reason that Octopets sold bimacs so cheaply: there's no market for a hundred dollar cephalopod until they hit the mainstream, and they can't hit the mainstream if they're $100! Unfortunately they folded before they had enough demand to raise prices and break even. Its the same reason why Amazon.com didn't make a profit for its first decade.

Dan

I am also always amazed at the seeming lack of interest when I have some available. :smile:

Soon! I'll be plumbing a holding tank for them in a week!! =X

If only I could find the food to raise a few from the egg I would be all over this deal. Still gonna try to get a few after I move the current inhabitants of the tank to there new home. Oh boy what joy of having an Octo and Cuttles at the same time!!!

Sigh
Timinig is Key my 75 is down for cleaning and resealing and my 150 houses the might ZIM whom I am sure would eat anything that looked like him.
:(
I bummed once i realized that no matter how fast I moved they would be 7 weeks old before I could get one :(
Looking forward to next season though
75 and 150 gal set in an L and both ready for new Cephs :)

Then you should move now. They will be at least 7 weeks in a net breeder. Stick the net breeder in Zims tank and you should be good to go! :smile:

I'm actually willing to pay more for some larger ones, as I have no access to the teeny food items you all do (yet)...

Someone needs to start a Pods selling business...However, the time and effort will again probablly make it not worthwhile...

Over here in the San Francisco bay area, you just lift up a rock and hold it over a bucket and hundred will jump in!

Really
Zim wont freak out or attack them?
himm I might get 4 of them then.
7 weeks huh?
hmmmmm
4 will make happy in a 75 gal tank though right?

I think 4 will be fine in a 75, maybe even too big. :smile:

For our landlocked friends, you can always buy mysids or other baby shrimp - see if you have someone local.

Righty, unfortunately our plans for the 75 gallon has taken a hit. Keep us in mind for next year please and we'd be willing to pay around $50 ea. See you at New Alameda sometime!

S.

Mizu, if your refering to zim, an octopus, Im afraid he will not get along with cuttles...

The mighty Zim is a Sepia officinalis :smile:

Well I went fishing this weekend and decided to look to see if i could find a good supply of pods and small shrimp for a baby cuttle. I sure did, Just about every rock i picked up had hundreds of the buggers jumping all over it. Plus Ive got and endless supply of live fiddlers, small fish, and shrimp. All in a non polluted area, and for free. So come friday if there are any eggs left ill be all over them. Also means my octo gets more live fiddlers. :smile:

On the other topic 65$ a piece is not a bad price for 8 week old Squid :)

Woohoo, Righty...

I ordered my mysids and as long as that order went through, I will be ordering 2-3 baby cuttles tomorrow morning! My water parameters are great. I am soo excited!

Mysids were shipped today, have net breeders in place, and cuttles will be shipped tomorrow. :grin:

congrats!!!

I'll put them in a special bag for you!

:grin: Thanks Righty!

Ahhhhhhhh, Righty thanks for finally changing your avatar!!!

The mysids arrived, my hubby drip acclimitized them for 3 hours, and they lived. Good test for him, since the cuttles arrive tomorrow!!!

:smile:

They went out today, with a bunch of Tigger Pods in the bag in case they get hungry.

We are now out of eggs, just have a bunch o babies.

It's such a relief to not have to look at that horrible visage every time you post. Thanks!

:smile:

I am considering the new avatar as a tattoo, so I thought I should get used to it.

It's such a relief to not have to look at that horrible visage every time you post. Thanks!

Poor, poor Neil. Such a misunderstood genius.

:smile:

I am considering the new avatar as a tattoo, so I thought I should get used to it.

Dare we ask where?

Dare we ask where?


On my Neil.

Well the cuttles made it. They are in the bucket getting used to my water. They are sooo much smaller than I expected (I'm used to S. officinalis babies, I guess). They are looking white, but I expected that. No inking, a little swimming. I will let you know when I get them transferred to the tank how they look.

Jennifer

do we get pictures soon? Glad to hear they're doing ok!

As requested. They sure are small, about the size of a small pea... Hard to take a picture of.

AWW! they're so cute!

have they eaten you out of house and home yet?

Righty your mail box has been fulll...

if they are the same price..Ill take four more to add to my army =)

Cuttles are still alive... I haven't seen them eat, although they have mysids in their breeder tank. Hopefully they will eat tonight.

A lot of times if you flood feed them, they seem to be less interested in food. I spent many worry filled days filling pods into the breeder and not see them eat. I had more success when I just threw a couple pods in at a time..They would then eat right in front of me!!

Did Righty send some pods your way as well?

I think Righty put some pods in the water that they shipped in (there was a couple of strands of seaweed). But due to a mistake by my hubby (he thought the heater pack was dried cuttlefish food...), I had to quickly move the cuttles straight to the breeder tank.

On my Neil.

OK: Let's move this thread out of the public eye, shall we? :shock:

I ship them with some macro so they have something to hold onto and I put Reef-Nutrition Tigger Pods in with them incase they are hungry. When they first hatch they seem to eat the tigger pods which are readily available off the shelf. The Tigger Pods are too small to feed after the first week though. :D

About the interest in food. One thing that I learned about feeding from my many visits to the NRCC (and this concerned octopuses but probably applies to all cephs) was that you can't just put in a lot of food and expect the babies to eat it. Somehow they lose interest, so new food must be added frequently - several times a day. In this case it was mysids, but it could be pods or other food.

Nancy

I am putting a couple of mysids (2-3) per day. One breeder had 5 mysids last night and when I woke up there were 2. It is possible that the mysids escaped through the slits of the breeder tank, and I saw stalking behavior last night. It is of course possible that the cuttles are eating when I'm not watching them...

try night feeding with a red led. seemed to work when i had my babies, but alas they are all gone except for one.

Cuttles still alive, mysids seemed to have disappeared... I'm guessing that they are eating when I am not watching. Seems like they would be dead after 4 days of not eating. Whew, I forgot how much you worry about the babies...

I just saw Scrunchy grab a mysid!!! Yeah, they're going to make it! One is named Cuddly Cuttlefish (my 4 year-old named it...), one is named Scrunchy (my 8-year old's name) and one is of yet unnamed (I am supposed to name it), so for now it will be "Baby A", in honor of my twin sister who was unnamed for several days...:grin:

Too cool Righty. Just bad timing on my part. I just took down the tank that held the last batch of unsucessful cuttle eggs...Now if I could just convinve the wife to let me convert her "nemo tank" to cuttles....

post pictures of your new cuttles!

See post #44. I will try and take more pictures when they are a little bigger.

Here are the latest pictures of Scrunchy and Cuddly. Baby A was being shy...

They are sooo tiny and cute!:baby: :tentacle:

And so hungry!!! I already ordered my second shipment of mysids...

Well that's great! It might get expensive, but at least they're eating well, which seems to me to be a very good indication that they are adjusting well.

In an effort to wean my cuttles off expensive live food (hubby... "you're spending $35 a week on cuttlefish food!?!"). I offered Scrunchy a defrosted frozen mysid. She grabbed it, tasted it and spit it out in disgust. Will try again next week.

I found this about culturing mysids -supposedly inexpensively.

http://www.reed-mariculture.com/mysidshrimp/

I used to only feed 15 cuttles live marin shrimp....

I dont even want to think of how much $$$ that was!!!

If you wean your guys onto frozen...Id be interested in how you do it...
I have really tried to, but it be nice to have the option to not always use live foods.

I've done it with Sepia officinalis, so I am hoping that I will be successful with S. bandensis... I was actually encouraged that Scrunchy grabbed the frozen mysid, that is usually the hardest part... I am going to keep offering when she is hungry before offering live food. Maybe someday I will convince her it is not sooo bad tasting. I used Scrunchy as my "guinea pig" because she eats the mysid within a minute of me putting it in the breeder tank with her. The other two are more shy and cautious about letting me watch them eat.

I found this about culturing mysids -supposedly inexpensively.

http://www.reed-mariculture.com/mysidshrimp/


:smile:
Culture Area:

Using a rearing area with 80 - 100 square feet of floor space, establish three 30 gallon aquariums and ten 10 gallon tanks with synthetic seawater (at a salinity of 21 to 22 ppt) and air-driven biological filters. It helps to pre-establish the bacteria in the filters by running them in the sump of another marine system for three to four weeks prior to this time. An Artemia system capable of hatching from 8 to 10 grams of cysts (dry weight) per day is also required.

Yeah, I read that... I am already offering them newly hatched Artemia, but I think the mysids are being cannabalistic...

I'm so excited! Scrunchy ate a frozen mysid! Actually, two... I offered her a frozen one with the eyes still attached this morning. She grabbed it and started munching right away. Then about a minute later, she grabbed the second one. The other two cuttles still push the frozen mysids away in disgust... As my daughter says, Scrunchy will eat anything... She is always hungry.

Cuddly ate a frozen mysid this morning! Now I only have shy Baby A to work on... I am still going to offer live food, but at least I can spend a little less $$$ on live food...

I think they're getting bigger... hard to tell, still need really good eyesight to see any features, like tentacles, eyes...

Today I gave Scrunchy a frozen mysid, which she took readily. About five minutes later, I added a live mysid to her tank. She spit out the frozen one in disgust and grabbed the live one. Guess she knows what she wants.

Very cool!

Are you keeping them inseperate containers...? Im assuming you are, because you able to distinguish between whos who..=)

mine all look alike!

Scrunchy is alone. Cuddly and Baby A are together. I have four net breeders, but I have two filled with mysids because I had to separate the mysids because they were eating each other, even though I was offering live brine and some liquid plankton. Baby A is much shyer than Cuddly and won't eat in front of me...

How big are the mysis they're eating? I might have a job soon so I'm seriously thinking about this again :)

About 1/4 inch. Let's just say, I haven't even had the cuttles two weeks (12 days) and I have had to place two orders for mysids (one for 250 and another for 200...), and I will be placing another order tomorrow. I did order my second batch from aquaculturestore.com and I used priority shipping (instead of overnight). The little guys arrived in two days and were fine... I may place an order with shrimpstuff.com in hopes that if they ate bigger shrimp, they wouldn't have to eat so often...

I also found www.livemysid.com, they're a bit more expensive than Sach's, but we might email them and see if their shrimp are larger.

Twelve days, three cuttles and 500 shrimp? Wow.

Well, probably more like 12 days, 3 cuttles and 120 mysids... I probably have 50-100 left and the others ate each other... I ordered my first batch from www.mysidshrimp.com

I might set up a 5 or a 10 gallon tank to keep the mysids in the hope of keeping population density down (maybe 200 in there or so?). Do you think that would reduce cannibalism, with daily or twice daily artemia feedings?

Good luck catching them... I think it would definitely keep the cannibalism down and if you had some live rock, then they would have something to eat besides each other...

There's an article at seahorses.org that has some good hints on catching them using a siphon. Like anything I won't have a realistic idea of how it'll work until I try it :)

Dan

I don't have any trouble catching them (I take the plunger out of a syringe and just scoop them up in the wide end...). It's finding the little tiny, clear buggers...

One of the articles I've read suggests having an overflow between two tanks with a 1000 micron filter. The big ones will stay in the upstream tank and the little guys will find their way downstream. I might try something like that.

Had I been smart... I would have already had a population of mysids before I got the cuttles. It doesn't seem that difficult to culture them, especially if the babies eat newly hatched brine shrimp. But I wasn't that prepared for the hungry babies! I think in a couple of weeks I will have them weaned onto frozen shrimp but in the meantime I placed an order with shrimpstuff.com since they are 1/4 to 1/2 inch long. I am sure that Scrunchy would go after a bigger shrimp. I am hoping to release about half of them into the tank and put the others in more net breeders. My tank is getting crowded. I am going to have to upgrade soon...

OK, I'm almost ready to surrender. Righty, how many babies are there still available?

The website says shipping is $50 for corals. I assume that that's the same for cuttles?

Dan

Go for it! They are really cute...:grin: Too bad we aren't within driving distance of each other, we could share on shrimp shipping...

OK, I'm almost ready to surrender. Righty, how many babies are there still available?

The website says shipping is $50 for corals. I assume that that's the same for cuttles?

Dan

I think I have 10 or 15 left for sale. Thats the shipping and boxing price - they decided not to do any math and just charge a flat fee. :D

I'm going to order mysids and P. vulgaris from Sach's. They ship USPS so I won't have food on hand until mid- or late-week. As such I should probably defer the cuttle shipping for a couple days. Does Alameda drop ship directly through you or should I make note when I order?

Dan

Sach's takes two days to Pennsylvania, so it should be about the same for you... I ordered more mysids this past Thursday afternoon and received them today. I did pay extra for the ice pack since it was so hot lately. Only had a few deaths.

Dan,

They tell me what is needed and I bring the cuttles to them. Makes my life so much easier! :smile:
You tell them the day that you want them shipped and thats when they'll ship 'em. Tell me too - why not? Also, let me know how many you want so I can put them aside.

:smile:

Tentatively, I'll take 4 or 5 (4 if my fiancee wins, 5 if I do), shipped on Wednesday for a Thursday AM delivery. I'll probably make the order on Monday--I live in a rural area outside most shippers' AM guarantee zone, so I need to make sure I have a place in town I can have them sent to.

Also, you have been using an inordinate number of smilies lately. I feel like I'm about to be inducted into some sort of a cult.

Dan

:smile:
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:smile:

One for every baby cuttle? Or are you just excited to have 4-5 less mouths to feed? :smile:

:smile:

Im just happy people are buying them this time, and I am even happier people are buying groups.

:smile: I finally got Baby A to eat a frozen mysid, so every cuttle got a frozen mysid this morning. Scrunchy will always accept two frozen mysids (as long as I don't offer live too...) Cuddly will only sometimes eat frozen. My goal is frozen food in the morning and live food at night. Right now, I feed them whenever I walk by the tank (3-4 times per day...) They're growing...

Here's the latest pictures of Cuddly and Scrunchy (Cuddly is the top photo). Baby A wouldn't let me take her picture...

You haven't had any problems with the cuttles in such close proximity to federally-certified Biohazard material, have you? :o)

I do have more chaeto if anyone's interested. I'll be polite and take it to the marketplace, now that it has been resurrected.

Dan

Originally posted by DHyslop
You haven't had any problems with the cuttles in such close proximity to federally-certified Biohazard material, have you? :o)

:lol: No, it doesn't seem to have leaked any hazardous material since I had the HAZWOP team come and decontaminate my house. :grin:

I've got 100 mysids and 50 small (~ 1/4") P. vulgaris arriving tomorrow but I'm having a little trouble with my feeder tanks.

Basically I have two 4-gallon plastic bins to hold my different shrimps. Until I can get some more equipment I'll be limited to one bin. If I mix both species will my shore shrimp eat all my mysids overnight, or will I be OK for a little while?

For that matter, what should I feed my shore shrimp? I've already got some Artemia eggs bubbling for the mysids. I understand P. vulgaris is also predatory, but perhaps a little more opportunistic if I were to put some frozen food in?

Dan <-- panicking as cuttleday draws near!

Well, I have been having a lot of trouble with mysid cannibalism... I am switching to P. vulgaris in hopes of having more luck feeding them. I am offering baby brine and liquid plankton, but they seem to like the taste of each other better... Just keep offering your new cuttles frozen mysids or shrimp every day, in hopes of having them not be totally dependent on live food... Good Luck!