My first baby bandensis, one of many I hope.

[lance]

how are they doing for you?

lance

 

[corpusse]

Here's some new photos.

They are still too small for their tank but hopefully will continue to grow over the next couple of weeks then make their way in. It kinda sucks they are still in the breeders net but theres macro algae in there and they don't seem crammed but would be lost in their 90 gallon and may not find food. At least in here I can be sure they are eating.

bumpy

smooth

a little out of focus but i love the pattern

don't touch me!

light brown

 

[DWhatley]

Coloring would suggest a male female pair, yes?

 

[smalljerm]

Looks very much like a male female pattern, anyway, nice pics!

 

[corpusse]

New video clip.

I'd say within 2 weeks I will feel comfortable enough to put them in their display tank.

 

[DWhatley]

Great video!

 

[corpusse]

I woke up today and was shocked to discover one died the smaller of the 2. Was fine as of yesterday so I'm thinking the larger one may have killed it. I am now down to a single cuttle, I once had more then 20 and have invested more then a couple thousand in their tank.

Still I won't rush to get the final one in. I'll just have to acquire more eggs and try again.

 

[corpusse]

my cuttlefish is getting sooo lazy

No he's not "oild" yet still around midlife which is shocking enough. I guess he's about 6 months old now. Anyway I feed him with a feeding stick. Uncooked grocery store shimp cut up. He eats about half a shrimp a day 5 days or so a week. I skip a couple of days which may or may not prolong his life a bit. The same can be said for no exercise. He swims around during the day and at night, but also spends a lot of time perched in caves. Tonight I went to feed him and he wouldn't move. Now this is not a huge surprise as he knows the food is dead, but 10-15minutes go by I want to do other things before getting ready for bed. Where he is in the cave the feeding stick can't reach. I'm litterly half an inch from his face. So I left the top rock up move the shrimp right against him and bam he grabs it almost instantly.

Silly cuttlefish. He just stood there staring at me. I'd move my fingers around against the glass and he'd get a little excited but not enough to reach out and grab his dinner.

 

[cuttlegirl]

You might want to try some live food for variety (and some exercise).

 

[corpusse]

What do you think about chromis as a treat? It's very expensive to ship live food to Canada so I don't plan on getting anymore until I get more eggs. I guess a couple of fw ghost shrimp would do. I actually kept 6 shore shrimp incase I ever go away for a day or 2 someone else can add them to the tank since no one else would be willing to hand feed him.

 

[DWhatley]

I don't know if they will eat small fish but Sailfin Mollys are brackishand can be kept in salt water if you can find them and produce young readily (they will also consume the fry though). A pair might live in the tank and produce spontaneous food but get an OK from Thales or CG before thinking about this as I have not tried it for cuttles. I did try keeping them in a separate tank for my seahorses but the seahorses did not eat the fry. Also, if you can keep one or more of larger peppermint shrimp they are likely to spawn and create consumable food if the cuttles won't find the hatchlings too small to bother with (this worked well when I kept pipefish. Both the pipes and the mandarin went crazy when the shrimp spawned) and if they will ignore the adults (best to introduce the shrimp when the cuttle is full, better if the shrimp are in the tank before introducing the cuttles).

 

[Thales]

I would go with the ghost shrimp if they are easy for you to get.
The cuttle in question is prolly too big for baby mollies, but adults on the other hand...

 

[DWhatley]

Thales, the sailfins I had (different than the pet store mollies - these I got from Paul Sachs) were about 4" long. Could a bandensis eat one that length? I was concerned about the babies being too tiny or that they would just be ignored (the horses ignored them) or that the sailfins would not be a good idea in with the cuttles but I would not have expected the cuttles to be able to eat fish that big.

 

[corpusse]

Right now he eats about half a table shirmp a day. They are the size of ones on a shrimp ring roughly although they are uncooked.

I'm not looking for a staple this is fine, just occasional treat. I'm not sure if I can get ghost shrimp but they would be much easier to get then more shore shrimp.

Chromis are actually reef fish which is why I consider them over freshwater / brackish water fish. I know fish are not a main part of their diet but I think it is an occasional part.

 

[Thales]

An adult could eat a salifin - I have a male bandensis at work that is huge! Its generally pretty amazing the size of prey that they go after. Though I am sure the entire fish wouldn't get eaten. I would be uncomfortable keeping them together if they didn't get eaten because sailfins tend to pick at stuff.

We really don't know how much of their diet is fish and how much isn't. Prolly not much since they seem to mostly hunt at night.

I balk at using wild caught fish as feeders because of the effort and resources it takes to get them to market. For an occasional treat any freshwater crustacean would be fine and should be readily available - even in Canada!