Hi all, Jim at octopets won't have any until June. fishsupply is out. The lady at liveaquaria says that the computer tells her they have them but she has no other info, plus they jacked the price up. -Anyone know where there are any Sepia officinalis available? Thanks, John
I don't think there will be many cuttles around as octopets seems to be the supplier, you could try asking LFS but i doubt you'll be able to find anything worth the price... Guess its time for waiting?
a local zoo had some brought in from the phillipines, and they lasted about two days...I would wait for the spring! greg
Phipipine cuttles are cute! Last time I was there, the whole see was full of small cuttles the size of the octo logo on this web.
if your in san diego, i got my cuttelfish from the pet kingdom on sports arena blvd. the head of the fish department said he has a source now(about 3 months ago). mine was $90 and he said it was from hawaii. make sure to talk to the head of the department, the other employes arnt that informed. its worth a shot if your in the area? good luck!!!!
I have come to believe that all of the LFS owners/workers in my area have a slight case of mental retardation. Since I work for an aquarium I could probably easily order myself one from one of the institutes that supplies them only to aquariums...But if I got caught I'd be in trouble.:(
I dont think there have been too many reported cases of people succesfully growing on these officinalis... anyone know dfferently?
Geeze? Really? Maybe I should go back to a bimac? I thought from reading through the archives a officinalis was your 'best bet' with a cuttle assuming you could give them enough space.
yeah, i havnt kept any other species but certainly officinalis was reasonably easily done. As long as space was provided and in fighting was ruled out!!! :) i think the best bet is to get them as eggs and grow them yourself. They seem to travel very poorly and this accounts for about 80% of our losses it seems... Nancy, are you in touch with anyone still with one of the cuttles?
Our sister aquarium (NC Aquarium at Fort Fisher) currently is keeping 8 officinalis and they're doing great. They're about 6" mantle length right now and they have plans to breed them. Unfortunately that is no help to home aquarists since they're a state institution. I doubt I could even weasle one of the hatchlings from them and I worked there for 3 years. John
In answer to your question Colin, yes some people are successfully raising the cuttles. Like some of our octopus keepers, those who have success tend to wander off after a while and not keep us posted. Nancy
Can't we all just get along? I have read in FAQs that you can't keep a cuttle with a octo. Is this because they will compete for food or because they will be seeing one another as snack items? With the current stoppage of cuttle shipping in the US I am left in my last week of cycling my tank ( Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 10 ) and months to wait for the 'possible' availabilty of more baby cuttles. I am sorely tempted to get a bimac but then what happens if cuttles become available in 6mths? It seems to me (in my highly rationalizing state of depression) that a half grown bimac would have little to fear from a wee cuttle ( full grown would have issues if these officinalis get as big as suggested ). Therefore if the bimac could be fed on clams and the cuttle on shrimp they would (with some effort) both get the food they need. I suspect I need a good slap but a reality check will do for now.... Can I keep them together until the cuttle matures?
Hi Barnstorm, Sorry...as you suspected, that's not a good idea! They don't just "get along". Why wouldn't the octopus eat the baby cuttle? The longest anyone here at TONMO has kept a bimac is 10 months after arrival. You could go ahead and get a bimac now and after it had lived its life, get a cuttle. Or....wait for your baby cuttle. Hi Sideways, Yes, you... and others! Keep in touch.. Nancy
Sorry Nancy, I've been so busy. Since I'm cephless, I don't spend much time posting on tonmo. That doesn't mean I haven't been on the site reading posts though. It's overwhelming how many people have joined since I got Roxy. I have a feeling there will be a ceph in my future, although I don't know whether it will be one that hovers in the water( ) or one that crawls on the bottom( ). John
John, you were always good at telling us about your cephs. Hope you do get another ceph, but until then, you'll certainly welcome to stop by and see what's going on. I was really referring to octo and cuttle owners who tell us about their cephs for a while, but, because everything is going OK, drift away. Since I'm trying to keep a record of lifespan and generally follow what's going on, this makes it hard. We'd really like to hear about the cephs that are doing well as well as the ones having problems - all of our octo and cuttle pets. Nancy
Sideways, since you're at an aquarium, why don't you try ordering cuttles or cephs from the NRCC thru the aquarium. I don't know if its ethical though...
I could do that but then there's a risk of getting in some hot water with the bosses. Collecting is a different issue, they'll let me keep stuff i want when we're collecting...stingrays, seahorses, etc. But ordering from somewhere and telling them it's for aquarium use when it's not is a little different. I don't mind waiting and paying a little more... I just have to decide whether I want another octo or to try a cuttle. I could catch an O. vulgaris right here, but then I'd have to deal with an escape artist. John
