• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

Cuttlefish Bandesis Care Qsts.

wii64brawl

Blue Ring
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Jun 7, 2011
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Hey farely new to cephs and thought that I would start my ceph adventure with these awesome little guys. After a month of daily research, I found almost everything there is to now about cuttles except a few things. But first I would like to share my plan. I will order 4-5 eggs from Ocean Pro Aquatics. Im only planning on keeping 2 cuttles (hopefully a female and male for a chance of eggs) but will have more eggs in case some dont make it early on. The tank will be a 34gallon red sea (i have one for a reef and it is perfect and functions great!). LR will not be overstocked and there will be a few arches and caves around the tank. The only livestock in there will hopefully be the 2 cuttles, some snails and hermits and a brittle star (I read cuttles tend to leave these guys alone) for a CUC, and of course coral (no LPS just some polyps hopefully zenia and some softies). The eggs will be raised from birth. The ones that hatch will be placed in a breeder net for the 1st month of their lives. After that I will move them to the main tank. At about 2 months, if more than 2 are still happy and well, I will have to find a new home for the others (prolly my LFS). For feeding, they will be fed pods and mysids from birth (hoping to start a culture(5ish gallon tank for shrimp and later on crabs)) up until one month. i will toss the pods into the net and let them go at them but place mysids in for each individual and monitor how many each gets. then i will start freezing dead mysids to wean them onto frozen food. after they are around an inch long (1-2 months) i will start feeding them shore shrimp (hoping to start a culture too after the mysids are gone from the food tank) and hopefully any meaty frozen food if they will readily accept. after 3 months (or around 1.5-2 inches long) hopefully i can stop using live food all together and just use frozen shrimp, silversides, and other meaty marine foods. to keep their hunting skills at their best i will occasionally throw in some live fiddlers and to also give them some fun in their lives.

Now for the qsts.
1) how many mysids(birth to 1month) should i feed each cuddle each day after the pods that will be free floating in the breeder net?
2) how many shore shrimp (1.5-3months) should each cuddle be getting daily?
3) what is the best food for cuttles 3+ months and how many of these should each be getting daily?
4) what is the best temp for the tank to increase longevity and promote mating and viable eggs? I read about some guy who had a cuttle produce 200+ eggs and live longer than he thought it would since his thermometer broke and his tank was at 73F instead of his previous 75-78F. just want to know if cooler temps (not freezing but low 70'sF will do all this.

THX!!!:cuttle: My future cuttles will thank you!
 
1. the first couple of weeks you may not see them eat, but during the first month I like to feed 2-6 mysids per animal per day if they will take that many.
2. 1-2
3. Depends on what is available to you, and depends on the size of the food item. I am able to purchase 'grass' shrimp (Cragnon), so they get 1-2 a day depending on their appetite. Crabs and shrimp generally are thought to make the best food.
4. 76-80. I have seen no evidence that lower temps are helpful in regards to longetivity or egg production. I have had S. bandensis live to 17-18 months and lay eggs all the while at 78-80 degrees, so I think the story you read may be confusing correlation with causation.

I am not a fan of Ocean Pro for various reasons. If you do a search for them here you can come to your own conclusion.
 
thanks a lot thales. also is 34g enough for 2 bandesis cuttles? and are there any other places only that sell cuttle eggs besides ocean pro aquatics? I prefer to order online instead from private aquarists since they dont run out as fast and more keep coming online.
 

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