dwarf cuttlefish eggs the next generation

corpusse

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dwarf cuttlefish eggs the next generation

#1

Dec 27, '09, 5:15pm

Strangely my only adult cuttlefish died yesterday. He was just 7-8 months old so I'm not sure the cause of death. Maybe it was just his time.

By chance a fresh shipment of eggs came into one of my local reef stores this week. I bought a couple clutches of eggs today and several are for sure viable as I can see the cuttles inside. That being said they don't seem to be as big as last time, but maybe I'm just not remembering how small they were.

Going to setup the mysis tanks tonight and then look into ordering about 500 or so. I know they likely wont hatch for a week and even when they do they don't start eating right away so I'll likely wait till next week to get the mysis to minimize the time I have to keep them alive (constantly fed).

For now I have the eggs in my frag tank, however I will consider moving some to my other tanks that way if any disasters happen like last time (tank cracking). I will be prepared with more babies. I also ordered 5 new breeder nets since my old ones are all algae covered.
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DWhatley

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#2

Dec 28, '09, 12:51am

There is no escaping the lure of the ceph

"D"

"Of all the things that I have lost, I think I miss my mind the most".
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corpusse

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#3

Dec 28, '09, 1:49am

Originally posted by dwhatley View Post

There is no escaping the lure of the ceph

Well no, and I already have an established 90 gallon tank for cuttlefish that I invested heavily in both time and money. It never has had the chance to be home to a group of them.

Here is a poor photo of the eggs. I didn't count exactly but there is about 30

Given that the 90 gallon has plenty of caves and hiding spots, I think I should be able to keep about 8 in there. I will see how it goes but when I had the single guy in there he only swam around a couple of hours and spent most of his time in the same spots.
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DWhatley

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#4

Dec 28, '09, 2:08am

I remember you heartbreak with the first group but the tank could be used for many other critters ... just sayin'

"D"

"Of all the things that I have lost, I think I miss my mind the most".
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corpusse

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#5

Jan 04, '10, 1:05pm

The eggs are looking more mature. To be safe I am ordering 500 mysids being shipped tomorrow.

The fun begins. I've got a 10 and a 15gallon ready for the mysids. My next order will be for 1000 so I'll probably add a 3rd tank if not a 4th as well. In the past I had no problems keeping them alive short term. They did breed too however I did not separate the babies.

Bi weekly shipments are much better for me given the super high costs of having the mysids shipped to Canada. I hope this time they clear customs without issues so I won't have to go get them at the airport. Door to Door service is so much nicer.
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corpusse

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#6

Jan 11, '10, 11:53am

So 3 babies have hatched. Two yesterday and one today. The one that hatched today seems a bit bigger. None have their yolk sacs so I'd say they all hatched at a normal time. The rest are real close. The babies are clearly visible in most eggs.

I took this before the 3rd one hatched
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MAKOOKAM

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#7

Jan 11, '10, 12:33pm

Very nice. I just went to make a short video of my three who are now a few weeks old and almost an inch long. Apparently they really weren't to thrilled to see the camera lense and one of them unleashed an ink storm in the nursery as I was about to start filming. Scared the crap out of me. I'm glad that it was fairly viscous stuff that was easily siphoned out. I think I will try again...much later. :)
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hobogato

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#8

Jan 11, '10, 12:46pm

very cool! i still have one of the nine that hatched in the classroom setup - he is eating shore shrimp now. i am getting three more for the classroom and four for my home tank tomorrow hopefully. they are supposed to be from a captive breeding facility? they are eating black mollie babies - this facility uses saltwater acclimated mollies instead of mysids. the larvae are about the same size, so it apparently works well. i am going to try that with these.

that might be an easier route than mysids
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corpusse

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#9

Jan 11, '10, 2:36pm

More will probably hatch tonight. I hope they start eating soon. I ordered the mysids too early but I did not want to be caught without them. It's hard to say when they will hatch.

Sorry about the gurgle in the video. I just plumbed that 10g to my frag tank with whatever I could find which did not include a T.
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corpusse

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#10

Jan 12, '10, 5:46am

6 more babies hatched last night!
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corpusse

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#11

Jan 12, '10, 11:19pm

Anyway There is about 15 total babies now. I'm not sure if it's 15 or 14 and there will likely be more in the morning.

None are eating yet but this is normal. Typically it can take up to a week. I have offered the oldest a couple of mysids just in case.

Given their small size and the fact I keep them in nets, they are very hard to photograph

Note the tiny tiny strand of cheato for a bit of size reference if you know how thick a strand it, that will give you an idea just how small they are. The mysids are about as long as them.
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hobogato

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#12

Jan 13, '10, 8:26am

good pics, it is amazing how fast they will grow. any of them flashing any colors yet or are they staying white?
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corpusse

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#13

Jan 16, '10, 7:37pm

A few inked when I moved them to separate nets. They are changing colours frequently.

I'm up to 28 babies now! About 23 of which are eating.
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MAKOOKAM

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#14

Jan 17, '10, 7:59am

My god, man. What are you going to do with all those little sea monkeys? :)
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corpusse

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#15

Jan 17, '10, 2:16pm

Originally posted by MAKOOKAM View Post

My god, man. What are you going to do with all those little sea monkeys? :)

It remains to be seen how many will make it to adulthood.

Here's a clip of one hunting
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