Interesting that you can see the color difference you mentioned even in the photos. I will also be interesting to see if the color difference remains over the next couple of weeks.
[Cuttlefish Eggs]: Cuttle babies
- Thread starter shipposhack
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Well then thank you for the pass along Paradox. And thanks for the congratulations.
Another cuttle from net 2 hatched the night of the 17th/morning of the 18th. None hatched yesterday, but 3 more hatched in net 2 last night. Now I have 7 in that net. There is just one more egg, that could have hatched since this morning. I think the 1 in net 1 is a premie. I got my new camera and I will try to upload pictures, but I still need to fiddle with it to get really good ones. The mysids should be waiting for me at my house.
There are some really full eggs in net 1, I expect some of them to hatch before the weekend. I am still suprised that only one has hatched and it has been a few days. So far the one in net 1 still stays golden-brown while all of the ones in net 2 are white. Both are able to change to the opposite color, however.
Another cuttle from net 2 hatched the night of the 17th/morning of the 18th. None hatched yesterday, but 3 more hatched in net 2 last night. Now I have 7 in that net. There is just one more egg, that could have hatched since this morning. I think the 1 in net 1 is a premie. I got my new camera and I will try to upload pictures, but I still need to fiddle with it to get really good ones. The mysids should be waiting for me at my house.
There are some really full eggs in net 1, I expect some of them to hatch before the weekend. I am still suprised that only one has hatched and it has been a few days. So far the one in net 1 still stays golden-brown while all of the ones in net 2 are white. Both are able to change to the opposite color, however.
The final cuttle in net 2 hatched the night of the 20th/morning of the 21st. The oldest cuttle in that net is one week old tonight. Most of the cuttles seem interested in the Mysids, though I have only seen a few eat. Today all of them were visible when I got home from work at about 9. They were all still hiding under/near something, but I could count 8 without moving the rock or any macro. I usually peek at them once a night. When I do there are usually 2 or 3 in the middle of the net breeder with the rest sitting on the SE and S corner plastic frame. It is really funny, like the ones in the middle are putting on a show for the other guys. I suspect that the ones in the center are the oldest of the group. I am going to try to get a picture of it tomorrow night. It is pretty difficult to get them to move around during the day. Every once in a while I will see one walk along the rock or flash colors, but the only way I can get them to swim is by nudging them with my pipet (I swear I am not abusive 
). I hope they will become more day active as they age and realize that they will not be fed when the lights are off. Right now I can't really control when they eat; I just throw a bunch of mysids in there for them to hunt whenever they feel like it. I put new mysids in around 3 pm and 10 pm.
Net 1 had a second baby last night (Dec. 22 night/23 morn). The second one is also very small compared to any of the cuttles in net 2. I saw baby 1 try to catch a mysid earlier tonight; I don't think he got it though. There are at least 3 more eggs in net 1 that I can see a cuttle in. One of the cuttles I have seen move around and change colors in the egg. It was pretty neato. I haven't counted recently, but there should be 9 eggs total in that net (7 if you subtract the 2 that hatched). Both cuttles are extremely shy and as I said earlier, a good deal smaller than the cuttles in the other net. I will get a comparison shot tomorrow.
I tried to get a movie today of the cuttles eating; I sat there for almost 9 minutes (stood, rather) and I got some movement, but no action. I had a kink in my neck afterwords ^^.
). I hope they will become more day active as they age and realize that they will not be fed when the lights are off. Right now I can't really control when they eat; I just throw a bunch of mysids in there for them to hunt whenever they feel like it. I put new mysids in around 3 pm and 10 pm.Net 1 had a second baby last night (Dec. 22 night/23 morn). The second one is also very small compared to any of the cuttles in net 2. I saw baby 1 try to catch a mysid earlier tonight; I don't think he got it though. There are at least 3 more eggs in net 1 that I can see a cuttle in. One of the cuttles I have seen move around and change colors in the egg. It was pretty neato
. I haven't counted recently, but there should be 9 eggs total in that net (7 if you subtract the 2 that hatched). Both cuttles are extremely shy and as I said earlier, a good deal smaller than the cuttles in the other net. I will get a comparison shot tomorrow. I tried to get a movie today of the cuttles eating; I sat there for almost 9 minutes (stood, rather) and I got some movement, but no action. I had a kink in my neck afterwords ^^.
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Once they get more accustomed to eating, you should be able to see them go for the mysids once they are placed in the net. At that point its good to watch and ensure each cuttle gets one.
Typically from my experience, flood feeding (constantly having a lot of food in the net) can intimidate baby cuttle to eat. They seem more likely to strike at a single shrimp then when theres a hoard of them. Thier confidence will grow in time, where they will strike at anything even if its much larger then they are.
Typically from my experience, flood feeding (constantly having a lot of food in the net) can intimidate baby cuttle to eat. They seem more likely to strike at a single shrimp then when theres a hoard of them. Thier confidence will grow in time, where they will strike at anything even if its much larger then they are.
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I have hardly ever seen them strike for the first two weeks. FWIW, I flood feed now to make sure the babies all get food because I am keeping the babies in a single group rather than separated. I used to think flood feeding was intimidating, but I now think the avoidance of food is just young cuttles being young.
Flood feeding will be my only choice for the next week and a half, but I would try feeding more sporadically if I could. I am going out of town and have a friend coming; but he can only come once a day so I am going to have him load the net with shrimp to that they can get their fill. Thanks for the advice though.
Edit:
Net 1 had a 3rd baby last night (22/23). I think it's finally time for that batch.
Edit:
Net 1 had a 3rd baby last night (22/23). I think it's finally time for that batch.
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Thales;106779 said:
My recent batch were taking mysids after 3-5 days.
Interesting observation about flood feeding. I do believe that size of the cuttle and size of the prey do play a part in this behavior. For example, I started my juveniles on shore shrimp earlier then normal at about 3.5-4weeks old. At this time they were already confident with the mysids and snatched them within seconds of throwing them in the tank. Once I started using shore shrimp, they were much less confident and I had to flood feed them again. That is, Id throw a bunch of shore shrimp in and they would not eat them right away. Over night or the course of the day, I would notice the shrimp numbers dwindle. Now, 2-3 weeks after the introduction of shore shrimp, they are equal in size and very confident with their eating ability. Shrimps twice their size disappear within seconds of entry into the tank.
With every batch of eggs, I always seem to have 1 or 2 'runts'. These guys always are much less confident eaters and develop much slower in regards to size. I often isolate these just because the other cuttles will often go for their 2nd shrimp before the runt even gets one. This is the only reason I dont suggest flood feeding. However, this is easily remedied by separating the runts so they have less competition.
On another note, my current batch are nearing 2 months and Ive recently got most of them to eat frozen shrimp! The trick seemed to be skipping a feeding so they are hungry and then placing the shrimp in a high flow area or dangle it with fishing wire. So far so good!
What kind of shrimp are you using?
I noticed a 4th baby in Net 1. I am not sure if he came out last night or today. If it was today, it would be my first cuttle birth during daytime. I also found a burst egg that was underdeveloped. I took out the remains of the embryo. If my initial count was correct, I should get 4 more babies in this net making my cuttle count 16. That means that right now I have 12 (wow, that seems like a lot). I am currently uploading pictures and should be posting them within the hour.
Cuttles in net 1 are quicker to change colors, smaller, and shyer so far. They seem to prefer to keep a mottled-brown appearance while the cuttles in net 2 stay white. The net 1 cuttles will occasionally keep white for a while. Similarly, the cuttles in net 2 will sometimes stay brown for a while, but this behavior was only observed while the cuttles were sleeping in the red macroalgae or hanging out by the rock. It could be the mini-sun above net 1, but the cuttles in that net also seem more iridescent.
I noticed a 4th baby in Net 1. I am not sure if he came out last night or today. If it was today, it would be my first cuttle birth during daytime. I also found a burst egg that was underdeveloped. I took out the remains of the embryo. If my initial count was correct, I should get 4 more babies in this net making my cuttle count 16. That means that right now I have 12 (wow, that seems like a lot). I am currently uploading pictures and should be posting them within the hour.
Cuttles in net 1 are quicker to change colors, smaller, and shyer so far. They seem to prefer to keep a mottled-brown appearance while the cuttles in net 2 stay white. The net 1 cuttles will occasionally keep white for a while. Similarly, the cuttles in net 2 will sometimes stay brown for a while, but this behavior was only observed while the cuttles were sleeping in the red macroalgae or hanging out by the rock. It could be the mini-sun above net 1, but the cuttles in that net also seem more iridescent.
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What kind of lights are you running.
I have a NO 40w fluorescent light over the tank and I put a Rio Mini-Sun over net 1 to see if it made a difference in behavior.
Sorry about pictures. Will have them up tomorrow. Computer is acting up.
Sorry about pictures. Will have them up tomorrow. Computer is acting up.
I hope to have a video or two up shortly. And some pictures. My laptop that all the pics are on is currently being rude, sorry for the extra delay.
5th baby in net 1 on Dec 23/24. There were a couple other full eggs in there when I left for vacation yesterday; the person I have taking care of my tank said there were only 5 today too. The cuttles in net 1 are about 1/4-3/8 inches. In net two they are 1/2-5/8 inches. I probably won't have any updates for a while, aside from any word I get of births, and when I am finally able to get pictures up. Today my oldest cuttle is 10 days.
5th baby in net 1 on Dec 23/24. There were a couple other full eggs in there when I left for vacation yesterday; the person I have taking care of my tank said there were only 5 today too. The cuttles in net 1 are about 1/4-3/8 inches. In net two they are 1/2-5/8 inches. I probably won't have any updates for a while, aside from any word I get of births, and when I am finally able to get pictures up. Today my oldest cuttle is 10 days
.
Here's a video at night. Toward the end I caught one of them eating a mysid.
http://cookiecaper.com/CuttlefishVideos/nine.avi
If this is uploadable to the gallery could someone put it in there for me (Monty or Tony)?
http://cookiecaper.com/CuttlefishVideos/nine.avi
If this is uploadable to the gallery could someone put it in there for me (Monty or Tony)?
http://cookiecaper.com/CuttlefishVideos/193.avi
http://cookiecaper.com/CuttlefishVideos/204.avi
Watch in the bottom right corner of the 2nd one and you will see the cuttle down there catch a mysid. Bottom support for the net breeder measures 3/8" for size reference.
http://cookiecaper.com/CuttlefishVideos/204.avi
Watch in the bottom right corner of the 2nd one and you will see the cuttle down there catch a mysid. Bottom support for the net breeder measures 3/8" for size reference.
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