Cuttle Eggs came in...

[Lmecher]

Congratulations! You are doing a great job with the cuttles. I am anxiously awaiting the photos.

 

[SabrinaR]

Thank you, I am just doing the best I can and hoping thats good enough .

Things are going ok for now. Most of the hatchlings are hiding right now so thats good. And I picked up the last 4 eggs they had today from the LFS. They just gave them to me because they didnt know what to do with them. You can see the babies inside but I cant see any movement or color changing inside. I dont have much hope that they will hatch but I will keep them until either they hatch or I know they wont hatch. My conscience wont let me just toss them because I think they arent viable.

Pictures still to come...

 

[iAlex]

This seems tougher than keeping octos, caring for many, many little ones.

 

[SabrinaR]

I would say that it is. Octopuses come fully grown and all we have to do is wait for them to adjust and eat. With cuttlefish you have to make sure you have the right food for the right amount of time and make sure the food has food. You cant try frozen or fiddlers (which are cheap compared to mysids). I would def say it is certainly more nerve-racking... well at least for a longer period of time.

 

[iAlex]

Are you worried you will end up with 18+ little babies swimming around?

 

[SabrinaR]

Yes I am actually though I dont think its all that likely as I dont think they are all viable. I have already started talking with other people on my reef forum to see if there would be any interest in case I have an over population issue.

Of course... IF I have to many AND I cant rehome them then my husband will HAVE to make my stand so I will have my 75 gallon up and running... Its a win win I think lol

Right now my husband is VERY against me getting any more tanks. As it is all of the tanks I have at the moment have been gotten because of a need of some sort .

I will also be willing to drive to meet other TONMO members to share them in the event that I have a surplus.

 

[SabrinaR]

Cuttlefish pictures

Heres a picture of the eggs... What is interesting is you can see the 2 babies facing each other. When I first put them in they werent in that possition. In fact they were butt up. It appears they like each other lol.

Here is my picture of the cuttle babies. You can actually see 7 but underneath the macro there is another baby hiding. I tried to get a picture of all 8 but couldnt so I just put an arrow pointing to his location

 

[SabrinaR]

Side note... I was gonna add captions like the cuttles were talking to each other but couldnt think of a funny cuttlefish joke lol.

 

[SabrinaR]

So I was peeking in on the eggs before I head off to bed and I did a count. Including babies if ALL of the eggs hatch I will have a total of 22 babies, wow thats a lot. I shined a light on the eggs and I was able to see 4 that looked like they actually might hatch. The others will be a whole lot of wait and see.

I have one person on my reef board willing to take in extra cuttles. He saw pictures of them tonight and feel in love lol. I hope all babies survive and I am able to share the eggs with others. It would be nice to share the ceph obsession with someone local at the get togethers.

 

[Lmecher]

Wow, great picture of the eggs. I wonder if they are somehow communicating, it certainly seem as if they know the other is there. Very interesting.
How lucky are the folks in your reef club, wish you were closer.
I would think seeing these amazing little cuttles hatch would motivate your husband to get going on the new tank. Then again you may need to add little sugar, men are usually pretty easy.
Have you noticed the babies eating yet?

 

[SabrinaR]

I have noticed they look like they are hunting... at least 3 of them have there little tenticles probing around looking for food. I ordered some food from Paul, they should get here Monday. I really should have ordered yesterday but for some reason I thought I had more time. I guess I was on the job. He has agreed to ship them today using USPS so they will be here Monday. I hope they do well... I cant see it going well if I dont have that food. I do have a few of the other mysids I ordered left... They have eaten each other so I am low at the moment.

There is one baby that is BRAVE. He zips all over the breeder net like he knows what hes doing so back off Its funny how there seems to be personality to each one already. I knew they were social but I didnt think they could be this active so soon.

 

[Hajar]

You're having fun with this!

 

[SabrinaR]

You're having fun with this!

Why yes, yes I am.

 

[Cephdoc]

So they arent eating yet? How long has it been since the 8 hatched? Because thinking i was going to have eggs and babies i ordered 100 mysids from paul and they got here at 8 this morning. But i have no cuttle eggs at the moment or babies, so i wonder if i wasted the money.

 

[SabrinaR]

Just keep them feed very well... at least twice a day. I skipped a day or two of feeding them and so now the mysids are down to like 10.If you feed them, they will live. If you miss feedings they will eat each other.

It can take cuttles up to 2 weeks to start eating. One of them hatched like 4 or 5 days ago. The others hatched on Wednesday. I should be ok until Monday as I do have enough to feed one or two for the next few days. Anything passed that and I am gonna be in trouble.

Just keep them in a largeish container and they should be fine. At least for a little while. I ordered shrimp like last week... missed a few feeding and still have 10. Not saying thats great but its better than nothing.