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bandensis courting video (thrid edit: BABIES EATING GUPPIES)

Thales

Colossal Squid
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Hey everyone,

I think I have a male an a female Sepia bandensis and will try putting them together tonight or tomorrow night.
Check out the video (8 meg, and for a weird reason it doesn't stream so it may take a while to load) at Sexing Cuttles

In the video, they are looking at each other through a clear door in the divider of the tank.

Let me know what you think!

:biggrin2:
 
It was real good at the second half where both of them were parallel and displaying.Sad thing is they might be two males sizing each other up. At around the first quarter, the cuttle on the right lunged at the side of the other cuttle, something which I saw when my cuttles fought.

I must say I'm extremely jealous right now :mrgreen: since my attempt failed :frown: . Any how, good luck :thumbsup:
 
Ok, i have seen the video now and I'm 99% certain that we are looking at two males squaring off to each other, it certainly looks like threat displays, very similar to the ones that my male officinalis would go through before a fight.... also looks like they are both the same size, I'd expect the female to be a fair bit smaller
 
I think its a male and female.

At the beginning of the sexing video, they seemed to line up perpendicular to each other, looking like they were looking for love rather than sizing up for a fight. The displays at the end looked like courting because they didn't like up eye to eye.

Colin, it is hard to tell in the vid, but the one on the right is smaller.

Anyway, on to the exciting news!

I put them together last night (based on my feelings and the feelings of a friend of mine that breeds Sepia o. at a research place in Flordia), and here is the new video:

Another Sexing Attempt

And the videos now stream! And if you are having trouble downloading it to your computer, try letting it load fully and then right click it.

I am so freaking excited.
 
Fabulous! Does anyone know what cuttlefish eggs look like? Clusters like Jetta's or the squid eggs SOS collects? Strings like frogs' eggs? Cuttle homunculi?

Great soundtrack - that Andrews Sisters sample cracked me up!

Melissa
 
i am going to be negative here and say that it still looks like 2 males, here is my thinking...

female cuttles would not be attacked by the males, as the smaller one inked several times it obviously felt threatend. the left cuttlefish is in definite strike pose, nothing like a mating pose.

Cuttlefish mate face to face. their arms are intertwined and the male passes sperm directly into the females mantle, this process takes a minute or two each time. There was nothing of this in the clip to suggest mating.

I had several males and females of officinalis living together for several months, it looks exactly like the males squaring off to each other, and obvious attempts at bites.

The female should lay eggs like little grapes straight after mating, then go back and mate again with the male. The male would normally be protecting her at this time. this could go on for several days.

i'd expect a female cuttlefish to be at least 25% smaller than the male, not just a small amount.

and last but not least........... i dont think they are bandensis.

I hope that I am proven wrong as i obviously have not kept this species and wish you lots of luck
 
Colin said:
i am going to be negative here and say that it still looks like 2 males, here is my thinking...[/'quote]

Not negitive! Helpful!

female cuttles would not be attacked by the males, as the smaller one inked several times it obviously felt threatend.

I thought the chasing and the inking at the chasing towards the end was common in mating after the female had had enough.

the left cuttlefish is in definite strike pose, nothing like a mating pose.

Can you be more specific about which pose?

Cuttlefish mate face to face. their arms are intertwined and the male passes sperm directly into the females mantle, this process takes a minute or two each time. There was nothing of this in the clip to suggest mating.

I swear I read that they can also mate sideways head to head (like when the very first contact in the video), though I can't find the link right now, and that the process can be 'instant' or longer.

I had several males and females of officinalis living together for several months, it looks exactly like the males squaring off to each other, and obvious attempts at bites.

I know what you mean. Did the males line up head to tail, head to head or both?
Also, these don't live together. Any thoughts on displays and mating of animals that aren't 'friends' living together?

The female should lay eggs like little grapes straight after mating, then go back and mate again with the male. The male would normally be protecting her at this time. this could go on for several days.

Never heard that before! Are these feterlized eggs right after mating? I thought I read they keep 'em inside for a while before laying.

i'd expect a female cuttlefish to be at least 25% smaller than the male, not just a small amount.

Never heard this before.

and last but not least........... i dont think they are bandensis.

Any thoughts on alternative id's?
I hope that I am proven wrong as i obviously have not kept this species and wish you lots of luck

Thanks and me too!
I may be jumping the gun on the mating, but they followed exactly the pattern that was described to me by someone who breeds Sepia O (and who also identified them). Although the 'mating' was very fast. I will try again tonight.

I really wish there was some good lit on these guys!

And again, thanks for the input!
 
Thay do look like bandensis don't they?

Under part 4 of Dr Wood's "Cuttlefish Husbandry" article, it has something on the displaying. Males will go paralel while the female will normally watch.

I got Two pics, Sorry if they're copyrighted

The first one shows a sepia apama in breeding colours. Though bandensis can't get this colour pattern, they can make lines run down their body when they're displaying.

The second one shows two males side by side sizing each other up. They adopt a stance similar to the ones seen in the video.
 
Hi again…

I’ll try and expand a bit on some stuff; glad you’re not put off by it!

As far as I am aware the female and male will hang about together for a long time, perhaps even several days while continually mating, laying eggs and then mating again, and so on. There should be no aggression and inking between the couple, as the female would just move to another male that is not likely to bite her. He would defend his right to her over other males and at other times stick to her like glue. I think it is more likely that octopus mating is likely to end up with a bit of violence.

The strike pose I refer to is when they make all the arm into a point like looking down the barrel of a gun before striking something, and that’s exactly what left male did, swam round with pointy nose and struck the right male. Exactly what they do when they spot a prey item… the wriggling arms at the start also looks like a feeding response where they try to confuse prey.

Squid normally mate side to side so perhaps it is not too much of a stretch for cuttlefish to do it that way, but everything I have read over the years suggests its always face to face… anyone else know?

Fighting males would line up all different ways but most commonly side to side as this increases how big you look to a competing male, so rarely face to face, also that’s the best bit to avoid in a fight as that’s where the sharp bits are!

My cuttles were far from being friends, it was just that they were in a 200 gal system and when they were only 3” long there was plenty space for them to have a bit of space each to defend. After I lost one through fighting and once they got about 5 – 6” I whittled it down to a pair and gave away the spares. The pair mated when they must have been about 8” or so for the male and about 5” for the female… I watched the male and female joined together and he was passing spermatophores into her mantle… why he then decided to eat her is beyond me!!!! I thought I had it cracked! But anyway, it let me see the mating displays, the zebra patterns and the way he showed off to her.

The females of cuttlefish that I have read about always lay a few eggs after mating then go back to mate again and again and so on. Perhaps there are exceptions but that is the generalised way they breed. Octopuses will store sperm but as far as I am aware cuttlefish don’t.

Your cuttlefish look to me like they are in the range of 4” or so, perhaps it’s a trick of the eye, but bandensis should only be about 5cm (2”) max.

Let me comment on the fact that there is very little information about cuttlefish mating in general let alone species specific. So it is hard to tell what is happening but hopefully this helps put more information together for future cases.

Keep up the good work!!!
 
Yes and a part of me also thinks that was the problem.... worse than that the cuttle that got eaten happened only a day or two after feeding them squid for the 1st and last time... retrospect is great!
 

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