Squid in the home aquarium?

**AZ_Reefer** · Nov 15, '11, 6:39pm

Hello everyone, I have an idea and need some feedback. I have read and see various information on cuttlefish and octopus, but what about squid? have those ever been kept here?

A long story short I know a distributor who gets the squid species Sepioteuthis lessoniana.

I have seen these at the Waikiki Aquarium and the Maui Ocean Center. (although I don't think they have kept any for quite some time though)

primarily my concerns are tank size, food requirements and multiple specimens together?

I thought a squid species aquarium would be pretty cool w/Live rock idea.

thank you

**DWhatley** · Nov 15, '11, 8:49pm

We see occasional bobtail squid on the site but I can't remember anyone successfully keeping a palegic species. Our common East Coast Caribbean reef squid (Sepioteuthis sepioidea) are notoriously hard to transport. Robyn did some post doc work in Woods Hole MA last summer and her blog contains information on the the lab facilities and animals that she kept for the experiment using Loligo pealei

**Cuddlycuttlefsh** · Nov 15, '11, 8:55pm

Yeah...I've heard squid do not do well in aquariums

Anybody have any idea why? That question has bugged my a lot too.

**neurobadger** · Nov 16, '11, 10:20am

Squid are pelagic and skittish and tend to kill themselves after bumping into the side of the wall too many times; at least that's what I know of.

If you search the posts, you'll find ceph's account of attempting to raise Sepioteuthis.

**Cuddlycuttlefsh** · Nov 16, '11, 2:20pm

Originally Posted by neurobadger

Squid are pelagic and skittish and tend to kill themselves after bumping into the side of the wall too many times; at least that's what I know of.

If you search the posts, you'll find ceph's account of attempting to raise Sepioteuthis.

You think squid are more dependent on their siphons than the majority of octopus therefore making them jet into glass walls in the aquarium more often? After all very few species of squid are benthic (the only benthic squid I could come up with is bobtail squid).

**Cephkid** · Nov 16, '11, 3:03pm

It is worth noting that "bobtail squid" refers to sepiolids (cephalopods in the Order Sepiolida, separate from the Orders Sepiida, which encompasses cuttlefish, Octopoda, which holds the octopuses, and Teuthida, which are what you might call "true" squids) rather than any organism properly lumped in with pelagic squids (unless the term was repurposed recently and I remain unaware).

Taxa (that should be current, although obviously not exhaustive) can be seen here.

**Cuddlycuttlefsh** · Nov 16, '11, 8:14pm

Well then, I much appreciate you to mention that. So technically bobtail squid is not a true squid then I am much convinced that there are practically no benthic squids therefore demanding more swimming space if anyone would ever try to keep one. And not to mention there are many squids in which tends to be nomads and just burrow into the substrate. Also I've heard that their eyes cannot distinguish the fact that glass happens to surround them.

**Tintenfisch** · Nov 16, '11, 8:15pm

There also seem to be some mysterious issues with pelagic squids and parallel-sided/regular-shaped aquaria -- not sure whether sound/vibration waves bouncing back and forth between the walls mess with their orientation, or what. Steve was only able to keep Sepioteuthis in cylindrical tanks, and only made out of particular materials, like acrylic -- polyethylene apparently also kills them.

**Cephkid** · Nov 16, '11, 9:05pm

@Cuddlycuttlefsh: Very welcome. I've actually always been enamored with Sepiolids and the idea of keeping/breeding them, however information on their husbandry has always seemed to me to be spotty at best (not to mention both Euprymna's short lifespan and the fact that its commensal bacterium may have the potential to become pathogenic--I'm perhaps excessively nervous about that). In any case, I would have to agree with you, as I can't think of any benthic squids off the top of my head.

@Tintenfisch: To clarify, do you know if it was that polyethylene is toxic to them, or that squids housed in polyethylene aquaria suffered high rates of mortality? Also, when keeping them in cylindrical tanks, was a strong-ish circular current maintained? I ask because I wonder if a continuous "smooth" current might contribute to their improved survival rates.

**Tintenfisch** · Nov 16, '11, 9:28pm

I wasn't on hand when Steve used the polyethylene tanks -- I think that was during the first baby Architeuthis trials. From that point on, he maintained that squid could not be kept in polyethylene. He also said that they did not do well in glass tanks, but that concrete was actually fine.

The cylindrical acrylic tanks generally had a single spray bar forming a radius across the tank's open top, with the jets directed into the water at an angle to make a circular current. I don't think the current was terribly strong.

**Cephkid** · Nov 16, '11, 9:46pm

Hmm...well, maybe I'll pester him for details in a PM this weekend.

That is interesting though, and I wonder if perhaps this might be a venue for further research (always on the lookout for that perfect subject for the independent study requirement for my BS!

Probably a bit too ambitious, though). Do you know if the squids ever exhibited any signs of bumping/rubbing up against the walls during those trials? I wonder if maybe the squid may have had dermatological issues (although I suppose then concrete should have been worse...

).

I see. Well there goes that hypothesis. Might the circular structure (along with the spray bar) have increased the dissolved O₂ available to them?

**Cuddlycuttlefsh** · Nov 17, '11, 8:10am

So what AZ Reefer needs is a nice concrete tank? And like cephkid said, I too...would appreciate more details the concrete tanks you've used in the past as well.

**CaptFish** · Nov 17, '11, 10:36am

You can see how robyn kept her squiddies on her blog here:

http://www.tonmo.com/blog/entry.php?...nings-etc-cont

**Cuddlycuttlefsh** · Nov 17, '11, 2:23pm

Ooooooh! Metal tanks! Never had that in mind, wow lol.

**Cuddlycuttlefsh** · Nov 17, '11, 4:03pm

Hey Cephkid, I'm not sure if you've read this, but it's research on Bobtail squid behavior that I thought you might like.

http://www.medmicro.wisc.edu/labs/mc...3_Behavior.pdf

**Jean** · Nov 18, '11, 5:03pm

Squid can also be exceptionally hard to keep fed! They need mega quantities of live food (I don't think anyone has successfully weaned squid onto dead food!). I've found 1600 Krill and 150 small fish remains in the gut of a medium sized Southern Arrow Squid (Nototodarus sloanii, 260mm DML) and they need fed often, they have a very high energy demand! J

**AZ_Reefer** · Nov 18, '11, 5:07pm

thanks for all the replies, I doubt the feasibility of this now, it seems they are just best left in the ocean or studies at research facilities. for the above mentioned reasons.

**devi** · Nov 18, '11, 6:41pm

The only studies I've read of squid have kept them in circular tanks with opaque walls. I can't remember the longevity, but remember them referring to it as 'successful keeping', so I assume it was a decent time span.
However I can't see the pleasure of a tank that you can't see into for the home.

**Cephkid** · Nov 20, '11, 4:01pm

@Cuddlycuttlefsh: No I have not read it, and thanks for the link.

**Tintenfisch** · Nov 20, '11, 4:35pm

Originally Posted by Cephkid

Do you know if the squids ever exhibited any signs of bumping/rubbing up against the walls during those trials?

Yes, they definitely still suffered from 'butt burn' in the acrylic tanks. Some of them lived for quite a while anyway (I think the record was 176 days), but many did not, and most of them had some level of lesions on the posterior mantle surface.

As Jean said, the amount of effort required to keep them fed was also incredibly high -- they are pretty much eating machines, and require live food. Under the vast majority of circumstances, best not kept in tanks, I would say.