Tank
93.5064931 US gallons.
48 in. x 18 in. x 25 in.
AGA Fluorescent Strip
1" sugar-fine aragonite sand

Filtration
140 lbs Fiji live rock
50 gal fuge with chaeto, skimmer, heater, various other cleaning crew & whatever live rock rubble comes out of four 35 lb bags

My plan is to get the tank monday (that's when it's being delivered), order the LR, breed amphs like crazy in a separate breeder tank, and order some bandensis eggs in that order.

How many bandensis could I keep in this?

Many.

Keep in mind, though, that each adult cuttlefish will cost you $30-50 per month to feed if you don't have a source of live food locally. Having 5 or 10 cuttlefish doesn't look so attractive then :)

Dan

I'm thinking of starting my own live food farm for amphs/mysids?

thats easier said then done, i wouldnt keep more then 5 due to feeding cost. the max i would reccomend for your system is 7-8. where are you located?

Amphipods and mysids are good for the babies, but won't cut it for the adults.

You will need a lot of them for the babies, here's a good link about setting up a home breeding system:

Raising mysid shrimp as a home aquarium food (http://www.seahorse.org/library/articles/mysisCulturing.shtml)

I have 9 in a 100 gallon tank. With the new food, bait shrimp, I am pushing it (the shrimp are a way better food than crabs (not to mention cheaper) for the cuttles resulting in larger cuttles).
So, I would say 6 or 7. I have some new ideas about how to keep and feed a group of bandensis and I'll try to write something up soon. :smile:

I have 9 in a 100 gallon tank. With the new food, bait shrimp, I am pushing it (the shrimp are a way better food than crabs (not to mention cheaper) for the cuttles resulting in larger cuttles).
So, I would say 6 or 7. I have some new ideas about how to keep and feed a group of bandensis and I'll try to write something up soon. :smile:

Awesome, I'll be waiting for that write-up. How much does it cost you a month to feed them?

Since I switched to the bait shrimp, it costs me less than 30 bucks a month to feed them, and feed them once or twice a day.
When they were smaller I fed them almost exclusively on freshwater grass shrimp which was more expensive.

I love the pic in your avatar Thales. Is that a wild juvenile bandensis? That much detritus in a tank would be catastrophic! Unless it's miracle mud, or something similar.

I have been doing the freshwater grass shrimp thing for my one cuttle. He has been doing well and seems to like them fine. I keep the grass shrimp in a freshwater turtle tank and go through about 100 every 2 weeks, but I feel the denizens of that tank eat the most shrimp.

Thales-isn't that a bobtail in your avatar?

Oh! I just assumed it was a cuttle, because it has the same basic shape, but I guess it doesn't have the tentacles, and does have an odd color pattern. They also love to dig, so you are probably right Illithid.

Yep a bobtail. I saw on in PNG recently - I even have some video of it burying itself. :smile: