My first baby bandensis, one of many I hope.

**corpusse** · May 31, '09, 11:29am

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC9AyWOhsc8

I picked up a clutch of eggs 8 days ago. Today the first one hatched! he is already changing colour and amazing to watch at less then a day old. I can see babies developing in several other eggs so hopefully more are on the way soon.

Copepods and even an amphipod or 2 have made it into the breeders net where I'm keeping the eggs so there is already a chance for food should he desire. I also have a small breeding population of mysid shrimp in my frag tank. I don't culture they self regulate so this is probably not going to be enough for all the babies. With that in mind I expect to get some more live ones next week.

I plan on keeping them in breeders nets in my frag tank. I've already bought several to keep babies, eggs and slower eaters separate. My frag tank is very mature and once they outgrow the nets I will place them in a 15 or 20g holding tank while the main tank is prepared. I plan on a 65g to house 3-4 adults. I've started buying equipment and plan on setting this tank up within the next 2 weeks and will use some new live rock plus rock from my current setups so in 2-3 months when the cuttles are grown their new home will be ready for them.

**tonmo** · May 31, '09, 11:36am

beautiful little cuttle...

**octopi88** · May 31, '09, 8:44pm

aaawwww! hes cute!.lol at the beginning it looked to me that he was
trying o get out of the breeder net

**corpusse** · May 31, '09, 11:11pm

Originally Posted by octopi88

aaawwww! hes cute!.lol at the beginning it looked to me that he was
trying o get out of the breeder net

Yeah he was really pacing looking for an escape route. I've since put some cheato in and he's stayed hidden most of the time.

I am hoping some more hatch either tonight or tomorrow.

**octopi88** · Jun 01, '09, 10:02pm

hope they make it

**corpusse** · Jun 02, '09, 5:34am

Baby number 2 was born last night :)

**corpusse** · Jun 03, '09, 6:20pm

A quick update.

I now have 3 baby cuttles but I don't think any are eating yet. The oldest is still only 4 days old so it could still be a bit.

I have 250 mysids in a 15g with tons of baby brine. I have seen no signs of cannabilsm other then the fact no dead ones arrived and were likely eaten on route. Customs delayed my package so I am hoping I will only have to order mysids one more time. I have some in my frag tank as well so hopefully in combination with the massive amphipod population and perhaps some tigger pods this will be enough until I can get them eating frozen or even larger live food.

I've isolated the 3 babies in their own breeder net since one will be at least 5 days older then the next baby. This one should start eating first and although I don't know which is oldest knowing its 1 of 3 is a lot easier then waiting until 5 are more are born.

Here's a couple of video clips. It's a new HD camcorder so I'm making full use of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RDSJakeZFI
mysids

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCxsDfpIFDQ
2 of the 3 babies

**octopi88** · Jun 05, '09, 6:19pm

thats awsome

**corpusse** · Jun 06, '09, 12:51pm

I'm now up to 12! I think this constitutes a cuttlefish army :)

How obvious will it be when they start eating? I have been keeping several mysids in with them and some appear to have vanished but they could have possibly escaped. I did see one take a practice strike unless he was going for a baby brine or some other tiny creature that could also be in the net.

Once I actually see them striking I will add yet another breeder net, as I have my oldest 4 in their own net and the rest still with the eggs in another.

Here's a couple more photos.

**lance** · Jun 06, '09, 4:39pm

where did you order your mysid's from and the cuttle's look great.

lance

**corpusse** · Jun 06, '09, 4:57pm

I ordered them from reef nutrition.

**lance** · Jun 06, '09, 11:18pm

Originally Posted by corpusse

I ordered them from reef nutrition.

Cool, Thanks

lance

**corpusse** · Jun 07, '09, 12:21am

There are now no fewer then 19 babies! looks like i'll be ordering more mysids. Although I've still yet to see any eat oldest is still only 1 week old the rest are at least 2 days younger with a bunch being born tonight.

I have noticed the mysids I'm keeping have been reproducing so I'll also look to isolate some of their babies.

**octopi88** · Jun 07, '09, 1:27am

thats a lot of cuttles

**corpusse** · Jun 07, '09, 8:11am

Originally Posted by octopi88

thats a lot of cuttles

Indeed.

Excellent news I finally saw one eat this morning! And another strike at a mysid but miss.

I'm going to add a 3rd breeder net and divide some of the second group which is at about 15 in one net. I'll probably take 10 of them out since I should still have a few more hatch. This is really exciting for me :)

**octopi88** · Jun 07, '09, 6:06pm

when they get older they're gong to have a lot of eggs :)

**corpusse** · Jun 11, '09, 10:17am

Just a small update. I have about 20-22 and I don't think any more are going to be born. There are still 1-2 eggs that look maybe viable so I'll leave them in for a few more days. Getting stupid bristleworms in the nets is a pain but I remove them as soon as I spot them. Cuttles don't seem frightened by them.

Most seem to have taken the full week to start eating. I cannot confirm they are all eating but many are. On the weekend I plan on moving yet a few more into their own breeder net so I can keep better tabs on them. At this time I'll do a final count and then feed 1 mysid per cuttle until I see them all eating.

With this in mind I have ordered 500 more mysids for arrival tuesday. The ones I bought a couple weeks ago reproduced quite well. I didn't sperate the babies so more were eaten but I now have at least a few dozen extra that have grown to about half the size of the adults. I still have a wild population to catch in my frag tank should I run out before tuesday.

After the 500 I am hoping they will then be eating either frozen or at least amphipods which I have 1000s spread across my frag and display tank and their refugiums.

The ones that I carefully netted and moved to another net are the most skittish of the bunch and have inked several times. The net that I am keeping the 3 oldest in seem the calmest and will venture out a bit in the day. Most of the rest stay hidden during the day and hover about at night.

I will post some more video clips this weekend.