• 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.

Random bits of info on S. bandensis....

So each of those strainers would be pulling 1300+ gph.. Which would make them stronger then a maxijet..

I would construct something that will spread the area of suction, so its not a single strong source where the cuttles can be trapped. Even if you make a spraybar, I would still wrap it with a type of mesh. You will probably need to clean this often though...

I dont have a picture at the moment, but at a local dollar store, I found these plastic mesh sock like items used to attach to a faucet and hold small items and strain water through it. I just rolled these over the strainer intake of the maxijet. This puts about 1/2 inch of mesh over the strainer.
 
Fertile Eggs

Paradox, I did get some fertile eggs from one of the batches laid by a female a couple of weeks after I got it. It had mated before I got it though.

I lost a number of eggs to predatory worms, at least three different kinds, including spaghetti worms. Beware!

One egg managed to hatch. This batch was inside a plastic breeder trap with an airstone nearby for oxygenation and current. The eggs were suspended by fishing line from the top of the breeder. Unfortunately this was exactly as I was leaving the country for a few days. I left the tank in someone else's care and the baby did not survive. After that the tank started to have water quality issues and a serious electrical issue (it was a locally made system never really properly made for marine use). I donated the remaining adult cuttles to a local aquarist who still has them.

I really learned a lot about kind of what NOT to do with Sepia bandensis, such as:

- Do NOT leave the eggs on the rock where they were laid (at least not if you've got voracious worms living in the liverock)
- Do NOT introduce several S.bandensis adults into the same tank if they weren't raised together
- Do NOT have exposed intakes in the tank, even with grills on them.
- Do NOT feed crabs that are too large-clawed, or have long sharp legs (they should be "disarmed" first)

Some day I'll try it all again. Like when I retire!
 
Good stuff - I don't know about the worms killing the eggs part though. I have had all the same worms living on and in between eggs that hatch. I think it more likely that the egg went bad, then the worms started to eat it.
 
chalcosoma said:
- Do NOT introduce several S.bandensis adults into the same tank if they weren't raised together

Were these wild caught or tank raised? I mixed a group of 4 nine month olds with 4 four month olds and they did fine... Both groups were raised seperately and from eggs. I still dont see any signs of what sex the 4 month year olds are yet, so maybe they were all just females.
 
Worms - Innocent Scavengers or Calculated Killers?

Righty, I hope you are right because I don't like to think about it. But when she was laying the eggs, that spaghetti worm started pulling them into a hole in the rock SECONDS after they were laid. I don't know if it was able to bore into the egg or not but it pulled it right into the hole. There was another white worm that swam around and kept trying to get at the eggs that later hatched too. I just don't trust 'em!

And Paradox, they were wild-caught adults, two males and two females. The males displayed and fought (though not violently) and chased the females around constantly and very agressively trying to mate all day and all night. None of them hurt each other, but there were some serious inking sessions.

Me watching the tank: "Oh no. No don't do that. No, no, noooo!!!"
(A female inks at the male chasing her. He inks back. She counter-inks. The presence of ink in the water triggers the other two to panick and ink; everything fades to black. I am running for the siphon!)
 

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