Eggs Arrived Today

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 02, '12, 6:55pm

About a year ago I became fascinated with cuttlefish and did all the homework and research, etc. When I was just about to pull the trigger and order some eggs I came into some octo hatchlings so my plan changed quickly. Now that the octos are gone, I decided to pursue my cuttlefish craving again.

I ordered some from NY Aquatics and they arrived today looking fabulous! (or at least from what I've read they should look like). They look like "saltwater grapes" but the sides of a few are translucent enough that I can see cuttles inside!

I know I'm no where near out of the woods since the change in environment / water could cause me to lose them all but I can't believe how exciting this is - I can't stop staring at these little purple balls!

OK, back to reading...... need to re-educate myself on everything I can about these incredible creatures.
Sue

**CaptFish** · May 02, '12, 7:25pm

Welcome back. and congrats on your new eggs!

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 02, '12, 8:43pm

Originally Posted by CaptFish

Welcome back. and congrats on your new eggs!

Once you've experienced the joy of ceph's, can you ever really go without them? Something tells me we all always come back. :)
Sue

**cuttlegirl** · May 02, '12, 10:28pm

Make sure you have live food on hand for when they hatch. I kept mysids (and they all ate each other) while I was waiting. It was kind of like insurance, since anything and everything can go wrong when ordering live food to be delivered. Good luck, they look good!

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 02, '12, 10:58pm

I was just sitting here trying to figure out strategically what day to place an order of live mysids. If I order too soon they will all be dead or cannibalized by the time I need them but if I wait too long my cuttles may go hungry. I was just searching posts to see if I can get some idea of how much time I have before I see a hatchling.

I have another question, totally unrelated to feeding, though. I was reading a journey of someone who raised cuttles from eggs and when it came time to move them from a breeder to another breeder there were quite a few steps taken to transfer them by using a plastic bin, a net, etc. and being careful not to expose the cuttle to air for even a second. Can they not be exposed to air for a few seconds like when you are tranferring fish from one tank to another? And more imporantly, why can't you just carefully pick them up in your fingers and transfer them?

Sue

**DWhatley** · May 03, '12, 12:32am

Welcome back!

It would be great if you would summarize your bimac experience when you have a few minutes.

I have Kordon Fish Catcher that I have used on numerous octos and highly recommend keeping one on hand. It has been very easy to coax the octos into it and the transfers have been stress free.

I believe this article from Thales has been added since your last review of cuttles. There are a few others in the oft missed Ceph care Article section that you may want to review as well.

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 03, '12, 1:54am

Originally Posted by DWhatley

Welcome back!

It would be great if you would summarize your bimac experience when you have a few minutes. I absolutely will . . . thank you for the reminder and I'm so sorry I was negligent about that.
I have Kordon Fish Catcher that I have used on numerous octos and highly recommend keeping one on hand. It has been very easy to coax the octos into it and the transfers have been stress free. I can understand needing one for octos but what is wrong with simply picking up the tiny cuttles when you're moving them from one breeder net to another? Are we not supposed to touch them at all? Is it critical that they not be exposed to air even for a few seconds?
I believe this article from Thales has been added since your last review of cuttles. There are a few others in the oft missed Ceph care Article section that you may want to review as well.

Thank you for that! I am fumbling around trying to relearn everything I can about the cuttles and you're right - the "Articles" section is not usually the first place I go for some reason.

Stay tuned, and it's great to be back and see so many familiar "faces" here. Thank goodness for all of you. :)
Sue

**DWhatley** · May 03, '12, 5:03am

I can't give you a first hand damage experience of why not to pick them up out of the water but I will give you food for thought having handled octos in and out (mostly dead but occasionally one gets over anxious to explore) of the water. Cephalopods have no supporting bone structure so only water and muscle support their form (octos are almost jelly when young before they develop more muscle). Cuttles do have a "cuttle bone" but that may well go against them when lifting them out of the supporting water by stressing delicate tissue against the ridgid frame (I know one of the physical problems we see is the cuttle bone becoming exposed, theoretically from jetting into solid walls and pushing the hard structure through the soft tissue). When I asked about the baby octos that were under study by Richard Ross and Roy Caldwell 2 years ago, they mentioned that they had heavy early losses due to the stress of taking them out of the water to weight and record their growth.

The reason I suggest the fish catcher over just using a cup is in the design. The long handle and hole at the tall end allows you to scoop or push water and animal into the cup while letting the air escape. It is a simple but very useful design and not overly expensive.

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 03, '12, 4:39pm

Holy mackeral (or holy cuttlefish!) . . . . the Kordon Fish Catcher is a WONDERFUL invention and solution, but what really blew me away is the price! 89 cents???? Less than one dollar a piece?????? I'm still in shock.... you can't buy anything for less than a dollar and especially not something that clever! Needless to say, I ordered three.

Thanks for the explanation on why not to handle a cuttlefish.... it makes sense. I used to touch and "pet" my octo hatchlings once in a while and had to pick one up when it escaped the tank once but they didn't have the rigid, abrasive spine inside. These Kordon's will be a perfect solution. Off to go read those new articles you pointed me towards.
Sue

**DWhatley** · May 04, '12, 12:06am

LOL, I think their catalog has a decimal place error. I think I paid $6.00 for mine several years ago. Looking around it seems to be running at about $5.00 now. I thought it might be a really small one at $.89 but the listing size is for the one I have and I did not see references to a smaller one. I can understand ordering 3 at this price but you won't need but one

. Even at $10.00 though, it is so much better than a cup that I recommend having one on hand. While looking for your price (I did find it) I noticed it has good reviews in most places. When I transferred Mama Cass to mate with Tatanka (O.briareus), I had to use a water pitcher (she was too big for the catcher) and was reminded of how much simpler it was with this gadget.

The keep them in the water "explanation" is conjecture based upon biology and observation but is not a proven argument. We do know taking them out of the water when they are young is a bad idea but the why's and how long's are not established. As home hobbyists though, erroring on the side of caution when we don't have a testing environment keeps more animals alive.

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 04, '12, 12:59am

When I went through the check-out process the price and total still reflected the 89 cent price. I've since received an e-mail confirmation that my order is being processed.... wonder if I will soon get a note saying there has been an error in the order.
Sue

**DWhatley** · May 04, '12, 1:54am

Most likely, it will process normally. Computer's allow us to process way more data in way less time but we don't build a lot of smarts into them to monitor for errors like this and very few people review the input. We CAN build in a lot of checking but the amount of programming time exceeds the value (usually) of the overlooked error.

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 04, '12, 1:58pm

Two hatched sometime overnight!

**cuttlegirl** · May 04, '12, 7:20pm

Order mysids!!! Oh, and, at least for me, animals like this hatch on a Friday afternoon, when I can't get an order to ship until Monday. Also, almost always, when I have a major equipment failure with an aquarium - it is a Friday afternoon at 4:45 pm...

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 04, '12, 7:45pm

Originally Posted by cuttlegirl

Order mysids!!! Oh, and, at least for me, animals like this hatch on a Friday afternoon, when I can't get an order to ship until Monday. Also, almost always, when I have a major equipment failure with an aquarium - it is a Friday afternoon at 4:45 pm...

LOL Yes, I called Paul Sachs as soon as I got to the office. I'm having him send me some overnight with SATURDAY DELIVERY.... I can't believe how expensive that is! But what choice do I have... if I waited til Monday to ship for Tuesday delivery and these two died of hunger I could never live with myself. And boy can I relate because all day I've been saying "Just my luck they hatched on a Thursday night!" I'm thrilled they hatched, but seriously? Any other night I could probably wait, but Thursday night hatchlings are costing me dearly. Guess I'll name them Purse-Snatcher and Murphy (as in Murphy's Law) :)
Sue

**cuttlegirl** · May 04, '12, 8:52pm

Hopefully future cuttlefish owners will read this thread and realize how important it is to have mysids on hand when ordering cuttlefish eggs. They won't eat for the first day or two, but it is good to have the mysids available. You probably should order your next batch unless you have a way to keep the mysids from becoming cannibalistic... I think I only got about a week out of a mysid order. The first few weeks are always expensive...

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 04, '12, 8:56pm

I told Paul I would call him again on Monday to order more, once I know how many I have hatched by then. Could be this same two or it could be a dozen! When I was ordering live mysid for my octopus hatchlings I never got more than 3 days out of the mysids. What I can't figure out is how to do water changes in the vessel you're keeping the mysids in!

**cuttlegirl** · May 04, '12, 10:53pm

Yeah, I had that problem too - I wonder if you got a plankton net, if you could scoop them out... Good luck, I'm jealous you have hatchlings!

**SueAndHerZoo** · May 04, '12, 11:00pm

Originally Posted by cuttlegirl

Yeah, I had that problem too - I wonder if you got a plankton net, if you could scoop them out... Good luck, I'm jealous you have hatchlings!

Actually I do have very fine nets that I use to rinse my frozen mysis..... I could probably try to catch them in that and change their water.... good thinking.

Don't be jealous..... Pittsburgh isn't that far from me. If I have some more hatch, I'll gladly share. :)
Sue

**cuttlegirl** · May 04, '12, 11:12pm

I don't currently have a suitable tank for them - but don't tempt me! I have enough creatures (two legged and four legged) to care for right now. I will have cuttlefish again, I just know I don't have the time to care for them right now, as much as I love them.