Sepia Bandensis - First Round

[MAKOOKAM]

Fantastic videos! That looks very similar to what was happening in my reef the other day.

 

[Almondsaz]

Snowmaker....great video. The color changes are amazing. One suggestion would be to get some Joe's juice and hit that aiptasia so the cuttles don't get stung. Your past the point I think of peppermint shrimp surviving long enough to take care of them. Just a thought.

 

[snowmaker]

Yes,
I have my own version of aiptasia-x... Either I'm lazy or when I think of doing it, the cuttlefish are nesting right under the anemone. The sodium hydroxide / kalkwasser mix may injure them if it fell or dripped on them.
Interestingly, one or more of the cuttles likes to hang out ON an Acanthastrea rotundiflora. It is slippery to it as I can see it constantly trying to grip it.
Aiptasia has been a huge problem in many of my tanks. I've never seen a Pep. shrimp help and have had many, I suppose possibly not the right ones though, I can't tell them apart.

 

[DWhatley]

I have had VERY good luck with peps controlling aptasia (ie no new ones show up and tiny ones disappear) but never eat the easily visable (larger) ones.

 

[Almondsaz]

I have always had great luck with peppermint shrimp. I had a very bad case of aptasia in my overflow and they were mature (large). I put three small peppermint shrimp in the overflow and inside 2 weeks the aptasia problem was gone. I think it takes a little longer in the DT as they have to search and find them. The same shrimp in the DT seemed to miss the two aptasia that were really annoying me. Some of the shrimp are a bit hit/miss as to if they will eat the aptasia or not.

 

[snowmaker]

Another vid. - Caught a few rather large crabs last time out collecting amphipods.

 

[DWhatley]

They seem to know where the food comes from

 

[snowmaker]

Yes they do. I notice the begging posture - smooth, light even color with tentacles tucked, is pretty much opposite the threatening posture - rough, sharp contrasting colors, tentacles raised.

A few pictures from last night:

 

[snowmaker]

2 more:

 

[snowmaker]

I have been sticking with the native amphipods for cuttle staple, which brings up another subject. A lot of these are female with a male attached underneath them.
I ran a Carbon reactor in the amphipod 20g tank for a couple weeks. When I removed to clean, there were HUNDREDS of babies - around 3/16". I am betting these would make for great first foods.
I am guessing they were surviving on the detritus, bacteria and sediment in the reactor.

There is a lot of mating going on, especially after a good feed. Still no eggs yet. Surprisingly, I've seen very little fighting. I do notice circular marks on some of them. Anyone else seen this?
In mid May, a friend is going to take 2 of the 5 cuttles. This should be better for them, than having all 5 in a 40g breeder.

 

[snowmaker]

This is the best pic I could find showing the circular mark. Another one has one similar on top of the mantle body.
I guessed either fighting marks or maybe a parasite?

 

[snowmaker]

Oh, I finally went on an aiptasia killing spree in the cuttle tank, frag farm and 120 sps reef. I also moved quite a few lower light, higher nutrient frags into the cuttlefish tank, along with 2 new macro algae clumps. I don't know what it is called yet. Any ideas? PO4 here is .09ppm according to photometer. SPS tank running .01ppm.
All of the little white spots on it are copepods and isopods. There are tons of them in this tank. Good coral food I suppose.

 

[MAKOOKAM]

Awesome shots of your cuttles. I havent seen any marks on my female at all and she and one male hang out together like the have velcro attached to them. There was a lot of aggression between my two males and that forced me to move the second male to another tank.

No idea what that macro is but it looks very interesting.

 

[cuttlegirl]

This is the best pic I could find showing the circular mark. Another one has one similar on top of the mantle body.
I guessed either fighting marks or maybe a parasite?

That's a common mark from fighting - my males had those marks and so did Thales'.

 

[snowmaker]

Exciting Day!

Today the five cuttlefish are 4 mos. + 1 week old.
I saw 3 loose eggs then looked around and found a bunch of around 40. They were placed right where I added rock to make a ceiling between two of the Tonga branches. I found a breeder net at a local shop and placed them all in it.
I have offered eggs for free to any of my local club's www.clubswam.org members (suggesting a donation to the clubs general funds) and also that they make the same offer if they are successful at getting eggs. I think it would be great to keep these going in the area.

2 questions -
Should I expect to see more eggs?
Is there a time frame from egg laying to hatching?

Thanks!