S.Bandensis Eggs - Almondsaz Cuttlefish Journal

[Almondsaz]

I have another 500 mysid coming and I will not make the mistake of just flake for food. I am going to feed them brine twice a day and perhaps frozen mysids. Hopethat keeps the population in check.

 

[corpusse]

Frozen brine seems to work good too. If you don't have the patience to hatch baby.

 

[Almondsaz]

I will try the frozen brine and see if I have better results. I had been feeding flake and while they take it, their numbers dwindled quite quickly. Thanks corpusse for the tip. The cuttles are now about 31 days old so I am going to try to move them from live to frozen over these 500 mysids.

 

[Almondsaz]

Does anyone have a source for the really small crabs. Not fiddlers, but small feeder crabs. I have seen them on others posts but haven't seen a source for them.

 

[hobogato]

glad things are going so well for you david! when i start collecting shore shrimp and crabs, i may be able to ship some to you via lonestar overnight. that will likely be 2-3 weeks away as the water is sill a bit cold atm.

 

[CaptFish]

I use cramer's crittrs for my crabs. they are usually decorator crabs with a 1" body
http://www.ccritters.com/catalog/i203.html

 

[DWhatley]

I have a not hassle brine shrimp hatchery that is somewhat expensive but worth owning if you want to hatch your own brine. You will need 2 to keep a constant supply going but other than washing it daily, it takes all the hassle out of hatching them and the results are excellent with high hatching rates (limited amount of eggs but more than you will need) and 13 hour hatch times. This supplier also has excellent eggs. Mine are 4 years old and still hatch.

 

[Almondsaz]

Thanks D. I have one of the cheaper versions (black plastic box and clear collecting container) but since I am on the road my wife will use the frozen til I can get home and start my own cultures. I still have a lot of eggs left.

 

[Almondsaz]

I have no idea what happened, but I got another 500 on Thursday and when I got home on Friday not a one was left????? I am really frustrated. My wife fed them the frozen brine 2x/day and there aren't any left. So I am going to try a lure my cuttles into eating krill and silverside pieces - I will try the lure method.

I just got home last night from being gone for 2 weeks and my wife has taken great care of the cuttles. I can't believe their growth in those two weeks. Once I get caught up on the tank maintenance I will try and take some good photos and post them. It is exciting to see them look like a cuttlefish and not just a mini blob - cute, but still a blob. And do they color change....wow. I am wondering what is the criteria for releasing them into the DT? Can anyone help with that one?

 

[MAKOOKAM]

I used "first bites" when i was feeding my mysis. They seemed to last for quite some time on it. It's extremely small food particles designed for baby fish. Hikari info : Hikari Tropical First Bites

Criteria for release? You mean how large should they be? I waited until mine were over an inch long. Even then, they vanished into the liverock and were really hard to keep tabs on...and this was a small tank.

looking forwards to seeing some pics.

 

[Almondsaz]

When I moved them into the larger intank fuge I added some amphipods and they chowed down. They can strike fairly fast. I have one, a little smaller who isn't as fast as the other three.

Makookam: I am wishing I had a smaller tank so that I could keep tabs on them, but I am thinking about getting a couple of hundred shore shrimp and leaving them in the DT so that can hunt when they want -that is what happens in the wild, the food source is there and they seek it out. I will have to add some turtle grass to one end of the tank to make it more realistic and to give the shrimp a fighting chance.

 

[Almondsaz]

6 March 2010 Photos

Here are some quick pictures as promised. I really like the lazy one that is resting on the "snail button" (not sure the correct term). They are about 1" long before they stretch.

 

[DWhatley]

operculum

 

[Almondsaz]

thanks D! He is perched on an operculum and its his favorite resting place.

 

[Uber Alezz]

Hey, you said you saw your cuttle hatch right? How exactly do they look while hatching? Do they squirm their way out and the egg deflates? And was the egg big and puffy right before it hatched?

One of my eggs clearly has a cuttle in it that look's to be 1/4th of an inch and pretty chunky. I'd love to be able to watch it hatch. Lucky