Does anyone here have any info on how to keep squids :squid: ? I was just wodering since I have access to live squid, I might consider keeping them. Maybe :oshea: can help?

here comes negative me again!!!!!! LOL

Em, well so far it hasn't been done sucessfully for any length of time. They are very skittish and likely to either jump out or seriously hurt themselves on the glass by jetting backwards...

Large cephalopod establishments will normally use BIG fibreglass ponds with rounded edges so that they cant damage themselves.

Wish i had better news for you one day! :)

C

Well then I'll get a fiberglass pond, and soon I'll have a school/shoal? of squid. I'll see If I can find the space, maybe I can put some netting on the top of the tank ( It wouldn't as much fun viewing squid from the top now would it :? ). Maybe I'll sell or give my seahorses away to make way for the squid.(he he he) :twisted:

I think one could keep squid in an inflatable baby pool and that would keep butt burn to a minimum.

That said, you should realize that keeping a squid in a container really goes completely against it's fundamental squid-ness. Just as pelagic fish simply don't adapt to aquariums of anything but colossal variety, keeping an invertebrate that has been engineered by hundreds of millions of years of evolution to rove the open ocean by in anything smaller than a swimming pool is fighting nature, and it's the squid that will lose this fight.

Since you're in Singapore, you should have access to a wholesome variety of interesting cuttlefish- relish that, for us Westerners don't have such easy access. Cuttlefish are FAR more manageable in captivity.

Rock on, Jimbo

The other thing about keeping squid is that they are exceptionally difficult to keep fed! They take lots, live and often so unless you have a neverending supply of small shoaling fish, krill etc.....................!

:oshea: has managed it I believe, but I think it took lots of effort (please jump in here Steve or Kat)

I kept Nototodarus sloanii for research purposes but it wasn't too successful ie none lived longer than 3 days :cry: :cry: :cry: But this is an open ocean squid and we didn't have suitable holding tanks.

So I'm with cephjedi on this, cuttles (or octis) are much more manageable in captivity!

J

This is where I usually say "watch this space :periscop: ". :|

When we figure it out we'll post online for sure. To do so requires us to have an awful lot of :twocents: , a :boat:, not a lot of :sleeping:, not-too-much indulgence in :beer: and :wine:, a little soothing :band: and a lot of :read: and patience. We are making progress in some departments :D but we are also frustrated by setbacks in others :roll: , although we have had rather good news recently :thumbsup: .

When we do do it, and this is likely to be soon, there'll be a lot of :glass: :heart: :wine: :beer: :party: and :meso: :squid:

If we don't, because everyone is watching us, there'll be a lot of public :tomato: and :confused: , but none of :cry: or :yelling: , not from us anyway, as we really will have given this our very best. I suppose if we don't do it then some other bright spark will come along with an :idea: , build on what we now know :yinyang: , and the outcome will be the same - live :squid: ; it doesn't matter who does it (not to me anyway) - just as long as the information is shared.

I've never used so many emoticons in a message before.

Does anyone here have any info on how to keep squids :squid: ? I was just wodering since I have access to live squid....

Can you tell me what species of squid you can access, and how they would be caught? This would help tremendously in designing the tank and procuring the appropriate prey items/foodstuffs.

It would be exciting if someone else was to pick up the challenge.
Ta
O

I do not know what species of squid but I'm 100% sure they are caught from one of the islands in Riau since my aunt owns a fishing jetty there which is locally called a kellong. Im not sure about how they catch the squid but if i'm not wrong , in the evening or night, they put out strong spotlights near the the water surface and this sems to attract the squid(Phototropic?), they then net the squid and place them in a huge bucket or a fibreglass tank( filled with water of course). However practically all of them end up on diner tables :cry: . I'll see if I can save a life :D , my aunt comes over regularly so I'll be able to ask her exactly how this is done.

Well Jean, luckily for me I have access to live food (Marine and freshwater shrimp,fish and crabs) all from my aunt's kellong. By the way do squids eat crabs?

If it comes to saving the life of a calimari destined for the plate, then why not try? Personally I'd love to hear about trying the baby pool idea. The soft inflatable sides may reduce injury to the skittish little torpedoes, but I'd be surprised if it was a flat-out success. It's a cheap experiment, too.

If it works, you'll be treated to observing a very interesting cephalopod few in the hobby community really get to see. I was on a reasearch team in the carribbean last year studying Sepioteuthis sepioidea and they really blew me away. I also found a large O. Vulgaris den also, and when I approached, it attempted to "blow me away" as well.

Badamp-bamp crash. Thank you folks! I'm here all week! Try the veal.

Cheers, Jimbo

My aunt came over today, she says the squid caught are mostly about 1' - 1'6" or 30cm to 45cm long. Smaller squid are also caught but are released later. :) Well they do use high pressure lamps to attract squid, who knows, get one of those stadium lights put it on a boat and out comes a messie or archi :meso: :tentacle: :tentacle:

Hey...we could get a Party Barge going ....the S.S. Tonmo! Put a bunch of lights on it, and throw out someone as bait! Unless someone has a dog or something...
:D
Greg

greg, kinda on that topic:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/South/06/17/crime.dog.reut/index.html

if our animal lovers object to that, ill volunteer to be bait, provided i get to play with the 'seal bombs' someone mentioned several months ago (in a topic about squid reaction to sound)

Well Jean, luckily for me I have access to live food (Marine and freshwater shrimp,fish and crabs) all from my aunt's kellong. By the way do squids eat crabs?

That's great! Be prepared to be constantly fishing :D !

Not sure about the crabs though, none of the gut contents I've looked at (& I've looked at LOTS not as big as the ones Steve & Kat look at, but plenty of them!!) had crab remains in them. However these were all pelagic, oceanic species (eg Nototodarus & Moroteuthis etc) Shallow water inshore squids may be different, anyone know???

If you go ahead, keep us informed, we'll be waiting! Best of luck!

J

Do squids grow fast? If they don't , I'll get another tank and the tiniest squid I can find. I would try using the baby inflatable pool but my house is cramped :cry: .

Do squids grow fast?

Yep!! According to most research I've seen they tend to live from 6 months to a year depending on species!! The oldest I had in my samples was 206 days and that was a mature female!!!

J

Thats sad, I'm gonna do some pondering as to where or how to keep the cephs( I feel like killing the seahorses :twisted: )

I don't think crabs would be an appropriate food for pelagic squid; you need something that hovers in the water column, swimming freely and with a rather jerky motion, rather than something that sits on the sea floor. But it really does depend on the type of squid you have (crabs are probably fine for cuttles/benthic/bentho-pelagic squid).
Cheers
O

the local home centers here have started selling pvc plastic free form ponds, from 75 - 200 gallons in size...perhaps one of those would work for some small squidlets?
WK, on the issue of dogs: an aquaintance of mine breeds reticulated pythons, and his wife bred (note the past tense) rottweilers (sic?) ...his 23' , 300 lb female decided to escape one day, and of course...some dogs were missing! We did find a collar in one of the feces though...tag and all. Yikes!
Greg

So what do you think is the right tank/pond size for the smaller squid?

Before you even consider pond sizes you must get some photographs of the squid it is that you are considering keeping alive (even photographs of dead specimens will do - in fact they are preferred - please take pics of both top and bottom of the squid, and of the tentacle club - the expanded end of the tentacle), and provide some collection data (location, depth). With a pic I can make a provissional/tentative identification, and give you a rough idea what sort of tank shape, diameter (if cylindrical) and height you will need, and what sort of prey you will need to feed it. Otherwise you could end up just killing the little guys and getting frustrated.
Ta
O