Hello All,
The pair offered on LiveAquaria are 2 of 25 that I hatched and reared at ReefGen. They are currently mated/ mating at LiveAquaria. After almost two years of refining our culturing techniques, I am happy to report that all of these captive bred bandensis produced this year have been insanely hardy. They have been shipping well, eating like champs, and breeding consistently! A month ago, I hatched a large batch of F3 babies that will be ready for sale in another 1-2 months (once they are eating grass/frozen shrimp. The ones available for sale on LiveAquaria are F1's (unrelated to the F3's) hatched and raised from wild eggs, and part of a group that has been beyond robust. Several retailers around the country have purchased these cuttles, and I keep the remaining 13 F1 siblings happily together in their 35 gallon grow out tank. Attached is a photo of a couple males strutting their stuff the other day. They are all spectacular.
Regarding their diets: I have been breeding and rearing all the cuttles on a diet of locally collected grass shrimp. However, we have been experiencing a grass shrimp shortage over the past couple weeks (freezing cold,) so I have been hand feeding many of my adults frozen whole raw shrimp from the grocery (the aquarium where we operate only gets pealed shrimp.) In my opinion, frozen food is a much less convenient diet for them. They leave more of it behind that needs to be netted out daily, grocery store shrimp is expensive, and it takes
A LOT (hours) more time to get them to eat and make sure that they all ate. Also, my bandensis all hate krill, so I'm still seeking an extra-small raw, whole, frozen shrimp source that works well to transition cuttles for customers who prefer feeding them frozen food.
We had a pair of Long Island Aquarium/ ReefGen captive bred Flamboyants ready to go to Live Aquaria last month, but at the last minute, the population shifted where the pair had to be moved to exhibit. Now we are rearing the latest flamboyant newborns with hopes we have enough to 1) fill the exhibit, and 2) sell a couple through Live Aquaria. Thales and Bret Grasse were kind enough to contribute to the 6 page care manual I wrote to be given to the future cuttle buyers. Hopefully we can make them available soon!
I have really enjoyed reading all of the threads on Tonmo over the past year or so. You guys are a terrific community that I had the pleasure of meeting in person at your last conference! One of the most enjoyable conferences that I have ever been to! Inspired by your conference, we actually invited Greg Barord to speak at our reef club in Long Island for our March meeting!
For more ReefGen info, check out our website
www.reefgen.com, or feel free to Like ReefGen on Facebook for more cuttle updates. Email or PM me if you guys are looking for a pair of bandensis to be delivered to your local LFS. Note that the two at LiveAquaria appear to be a guaranteed mated pair, if you're looking for a sure thing. Sadly, we are wholesale only and cannot sell directly to the public, otherwise you all would be at the top of my list! You all appreciate how delicate, expensive, and consuming these amazing creatures can be.
Thanks for
building this wonderful online resource and community for all things ceph!