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Beginning of the Cuttle Army.

Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
8
Hello everyone welcome to my thread, to which hopefully I can learn a little more and successfully begin my project for my Cuttle tank. :]

So far I'll start of by saying that this will not be my first go around with cuttles, although it will be my first time hatching and attempting to breed. The last Cuttle I had, I bought when he was around 1/2 an inch and still eating mysid shrimp. He died about a month or two ago, right about at a year and a month maybe. Coolest fish I ever kept, and my wife is in love with them, so now I'm turning my 55g into a Cuttle tank.

My plan is to have the 55 main display, and a 10g or 20g sump underneath for my sump/nursery tank for eggs/hatchlings not ready for the main tank. I can't drill the 55 because it's tempered, so I'm going to be making Dual PVC overflows, to hopefully reach about 900-1500 GPH in the main tank, which would be about 3/4'-1' PVC I personally think that flows a little high for cuttles because I had mine in low flow but he didn't really come out to much besides to eat. Although I kept him alone. Anyways, I'm not sure what kind of output pump I should get for the sump, or lighting for down there. This will be my first sump build and I've been watching YouTube videos and reading articles up the wazoo trying to figure this out. So any advice on the would be greatly appreciated.

The 55g is technically ready for the cuttles, it's been running for a while as a FOWLR and I've had no issues, has a modded AC110 into refugium, fx5 running empty just for flow, and a haggen 402 power head, with a coral life light with one 10k bulb and one antantic bulb. So I'll be trying to build the sump quickly. Ecause my wife ordered the eggs from our LFS already for 20$
I'm not sure the a mount of eggs that will come but I'll update you on that when I get them home.
I have a breeder net for them already set up in the tank, not to much live rock in the tank defiantly under 20lbs so plenty of swimming room I have most of it piled up for caves for my previous fish.
I'll probably have the sump done by Friday at the earliest, but any suggestions between now and then would be great.

I have 2 bottles of mysid feed waiting for me at the LFS too. So I'm ready for the little buggers.
 
:welcome: to TONMO

I'm an octo keeper and i know only a little about cuttles but it sounds like you are off to the right start.
I know because i hear it said on here all the time that Live Mysids are the only thing they will eat in the beginning at least for the first few weeks. Is "mysid feed" live? sounds like one of those solutions of dead shrimp.

Also I'm not sure what an fx5 or an Ac110 are so it might be one of those, but you are definitely going to want a protein skimmer to deal with ink and waste.
 
You will want a sump larger than 10 gallons. By the time you lower the water level to contain the back flow when the power is shut off (essentially the water leaving the tank until the siphon breaks) you will have very little water in a 10. The bigger the better but at least go with the 20.

Unless you plan on using it for a fuge, you will not need to light the sump at all. What will be different it evaporation if you leave it open (I do). I always mark my highwater level and we top off every day or every two days with fresh water to keep it at full pool.

You may want to consider a separate cheap 10 gallon for the food (a rubbermaid type container will do but often you can find a glass aquarium for less). Your sump will contain pumps (skimmer and return) and small things like mysis are likely to be sucked in. The larger recommended size will also make it harder to collect them.

Have a look at some of our build-outs example link list for more ideas and discussions.
 
Will the FX5 suck up the cuttles when their ready to be released into the main tank.

Yeah Capt, Mysid feed is deadi believe. I don't know how I'm gonna get mysid shrimp live without dishing large amounts of cash for shipping.

Thanks D, planned on using the 20g for the sump. Bigger the better. I'm just curious if the flow down in the sump is gonna be to strong for the juvi cuttles.

I plan on selling her but do you think a small lionfish would eat a adult cuttle? She's used to dead food but I'm still Leery.
Also, my tanks been up and running for about seven or eight months and there's still alge green and red growing on the tank walls, and I have a modded Aqua clear 110 refugium for the alge. Any advice on this before I get the cuttles.
 
Unfortunately, live mysis are the only consistently successful feed reported and lots of other things have been tried. Except for those who can catch their own wild, the cost is indeed high and why captive bred are expensive and not often available.

I plan on selling her but do you think a small lionfish would eat a adult cuttle?
In a heart beat.

Also, my tanks been up and running for about seven or eight months and there's still alge green and red growing on the tank walls
Even my oldest tanks have to be cleaned weekly. Reducing your feeding and lighting and increasing your water changes are the three simplest reduction methods. Healthy tanks are going to grow algae and overfed, well lighted tanks grow lots of it. I have also noted that I have more problems at different times of the year (spring being high algae season). I am not sure if the lighting from the windows is the reason or if pollen in the air can have an effect (All tanks seem to react at the same time but not all are facing the same angle to sun). Lowering the phosphate is supposed to help and there are numerous methods but I keep my tanks pretty simple and have not experimented much with some of the options. Beware of snake oil if you investigate some of the chemical solutions.
 
BrokenxSins;188162 said:
Will the FX5 suck up the cuttles when their ready to be released into the main tank.

Any pump intake can suck up cuttles and they all should be fitted with foam over the intake.

Yeah Capt, Mysid feed is deadi believe. I don't know how I'm gonna get mysid shrimp live without dishing large amounts of cash for shipping.

Welcome to ceph keeping. If you are going to try hatchling cuttles, live food is a must. Mysids are the best and easiest to get, sometimes amphipods can work. If you can't afford to feed them, or can't get a regular supply of live food, I might think about not getting cuttles.

Thanks D, planned on using the 20g for the sump. Bigger the better. I'm just curious if the flow down in the sump is gonna be to strong for the juvi cuttles.

Depends on how the water exits the tank - it may be that you will have to put foam over the tank exit as well.

I plan on selling her but do you think a small lionfish would eat a adult cuttle? She's used to dead food but I'm still Leery.

Yes. And the adult cuttle could easily eat a small lionfish.

Also, my tanks been up and running for about seven or eight months and there's still alge green and red growing on the tank walls, and I have a modded Aqua clear 110 refugium for the alge. Any advice on this before I get the cuttles.

Make sure you have the live food situation cleared up first. The alge is a water quality issue and not a filtration issue. Do you have a pic, and what are you water parameters? Nitrate, Ammonia, Nitrite, Phosphate?
 

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