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Cuttle Eggs Arrived Today!

Joined
Dec 14, 2007
Messages
655
Hi All!

I'm back! For those that remember, I was a more active member a long time ago when I was just starting to keep salt water. I got into the hobby because I found out that you could keep cuttlefish, but have had very bad luck the two times I tried in the past (first time half hatched in shipping, inked, and none made it past a week, second time they were all duds). Life got in the way, so I put cuttles on the side burner while still keeping a few various reef tanks over the years.

Now I'm trying cuttles again though! Just got 5 eggs from Blue Zoo and I have to say I'm not confident. They look like the ones that I got the second time where they never hatched. They could just be in the early stages of development, but not sure. What do you all think? Anything I can do to increase the chances of them hatching?



 
I ordered from Blue Zoo at the end of August, and my eggs looked basically like that. (I also had 2 premature hatches during ship). However, of 5 eggs, 4 survived and are still going strong, including 1 of the ones that hatched in the bag! I'd say hold out hope. It took upwards of a week for mine to all hatch.
 
They are likely eggs that are in early stages. Certain species inject the ink into their eggs and the ink is opaque, but will usually dissipate closer to hatching time. You might want to consider some of the techniques our husbandry staff at MBA have employed, including the Cuttle Cradle as far as hatching the eggs:
^That's if you have the tank space to try it. I don't have a home Aquarium, but I do know ours on exhibit need oxygenated, well filtered tanks, they are warmed to around 65 degrees compared to our other exhibits that are kept cool, and there is absolutely no metals allowed in the tanks. If you have a protein skimmer or even a carbon polyfilter, it'd be a good thing to have to prevent any decaying materials from de-oxgenating the water and changing the pH. If the babies startle and ink a lot, their own ink can kill them, so good filtration is important. Btw, make sure you feed them well when they hatch. I've heard stories of starving Cuttles cannibalizing tankmates at other Aquariums.

Since Stumpies are the smallest home Aquarium species I've seen on the market, hopefully they are the ones you're hatching. I love the Stumpies at our Aquarium. They are so playful and showy (Though not quite as much as Flamboyants). If you do have Stumpies, make sure they have plenty of rocky area or corals to hide on. They are less stressed when they have a good spot to blend into. Also, if you have reduced salinity in your tank to prevent parasites, you're doing your cephalopod no favors. Best of luck to you!
 
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Nice to see you ceph active again @L8 2 RISE ! I'm still keeping octos but had a go with cuttles last year. I, too got mine from Blue Zoo and have only very good things to say about the eggs and their shipping. My first batch were successful (all hatched, lost one after hatching). There was only one female in the group. They mated regularly but none of the Gen 2 survived and only a few hatched.

I am looking forward to watching this batch!
 
One has hatched! Two of the eggs are definitely duds, one looks like it hasn't developed at all, so I only really have any hope for one more.

The one that hatched was on Friday morning, which was awful timing. I had a wedding to go to over the weekend, so couldn't feed it, and ordering mysids means they won't get here until Wednesday. There are tons of amphipods for it to eat, but I know they aren't too nutritious. He's still alive, but we'll see, two days til mysids!
 
Two things I found that gave me my best results (prior attempts were dismal) with keeping the mysis alive. One, I fed them frozen daphnia twice a day (cheap and relatively easy to come by). Two I kept them in a bio-orb (round container) with a VERY gentle bubble wand looped around the bottom. I DID NOT change the water at any time but did have well established live rock in the tank.
 

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