Anyone with Cuddlefish experiences

[Jeremy S.]

Does anyone in the club have any experience with cuddlefish or other inverts of the same nature. I'm curious about them but would like to talk to someone with first hand experience. They seem like a very interesting and rewarding challenge.

 

[Tennsquire]

RC Mike either has some or has recently had some cuttlefish. It was a relatively recent thread....

 

[Volitans67]

Here you go https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/mi...ish-anyone-have-any-chaeto-lot-amphipods.html

 

[Volitans67]

Here is another great resource Articles | TONMO.com: The Octopus News Magazine Online

 

[rcmike]

Yep, I have 5 babies now. I lost two of the first ones while out of town for a weekend. I really think I just didn't put in enough food for them. I ordered six more but one was DOA and one died soon after getting them. I lost another a few days later. The 5 I have now are doing well though. I gave up on feeding mysis and started feeding amphipods from Reefs2Go. I am hoping they reproduce enough to be sustainable. 3 have grown quite and two are growing more slowly. They all seem healthy though so I'm not sure why. They were pretty boring in the beginning but they are starting to be a little more active, especially in the mornings and evenings.

 

[Thales]

Here is some basic info:

Sepia bandensis: husbandry and breeding (from TFH) | Rich Ross
Display, Husbandry and Breeding of Dwarf Cuttle, Sepia bandensis, at the California Academy of Sciences | Rich Ross

How much are you feeding?

 

[Jeremy S.]

Yep, I have 5 babies now. I lost two of the first ones while out of town for a weekend. I really think I just didn't put in enough food for them. I ordered six more but one was DOA and one died soon after getting them. I lost another a few days later. The 5 I have now are doing well though. I gave up on feeding mysis and started feeding amphipods from Reefs2Go. I am hoping they reproduce enough to be sustainable. 3 have grown quite and two are growing more slowly. They all seem healthy though so I'm not sure why. They were pretty boring in the beginning but they are starting to be a little more active, especially in the mornings and evenings.

Where did you get your babies from? I'm considering setting up a few tanks dedicated to sustaining a few cuttlefish. Have you had any experiences with them reproducing?

 

[revhtree]

Would be nice to get some great discussion here!

 

[Jeremy S.]

My top questions are

What different methods have been used to raise from egg to adult?

Whats the sexually mature age for a cuttlefish?

Is a low flow tank required for these and should all inlets/outlets be covered with mesh?

And most importantly can we make these creatures sustainable and increase their lifespan in captivity?

 

[laversace]

I am on my second generation of cuttlefishes (bandensis). It has been a great experience so far and these cephs are so uniquely fascinating to watch. I will attempt to answer your questions based on my personal experience.
Live food is a definite requirement in the first month. Live Mysis was a primary food source. Many have attempted and failed at raising these cephs on adult Artemia (both enriched and non-enriched forms) but neither had nearly the amount of required fatty acids, lipids and protein as live Mysis. I fed my brood of 16 hatchlings 2 times a day (2-3 Mysis for each cuttle at each feeding). At this feeding frequency their growth rate was rapid. I believe that because of their short lifespan, their nutritional requirements in the first month was high in order to achieve sexual maturity in the shortest time frame as possible. If the cuttles are not provided the high amount of food (the appropriate food source as well) to achieve this rapid growth rate then most likely they will die prematurely. Unfortunately, it’s the law of nature, only the healthiest will survive to propagate.
Sexual maturity was reached when they achieved a maximum size of 4 inches which was approximately 3-4 months.
A low to medium flow rate is ideal since this duplicates their natural habitat. I didn’t have any problem with inlets since they were transferred to the display tank only after they reach maximum size. At adult size they were able to confidently navigate the water current. Prior to that they were in a low flow grow out tank.
Sustainability through captive breeding is the current method to enjoy these cephs on a long term basis. The vast amount of researched so far does not reveal any novel approaches to increase their longevity in captivity. Because of their rapid growth rate I am inclined to assume that they are naturally short lived. It’s like trying to keep worker ants alive more than a few weeks. Some species just have rapid life cycles but compensates by having a high reproductive rates. My pair of cuttles laid over 200 eggs during their short 14 months life span. But they lived gloriously and beautifully.

 

[Jeremy S.]

I am on my second generation of cuttlefishes (bandensis). It has been a great experience so far and these cephs are so uniquely fascinating to watch. I will attempt to answer your questions based on my personal experience.
Live food is a definite requirement in the first month. Live Mysis was a primary food source. Many have attempted and failed at raising these cephs on adult Artemia (both enriched and non-enriched forms) but neither had nearly the amount of required fatty acids, lipids and protein as live Mysis. I fed my brood of 16 hatchlings 2 times a day (2-3 Mysis for each cuttle at each feeding). At this feeding frequency their growth rate was rapid. I believe that because of their short lifespan, their nutritional requirements in the first month was high in order to achieve sexual maturity in the shortest time frame as possible. If the cuttles are not provided the high amount of food (the appropriate food source as well) to achieve this rapid growth rate then most likely they will die prematurely. Unfortunately, it’s the law of nature, only the healthiest will survive to propagate.
Sexual maturity was reached when they achieved a maximum size of 4 inches which was approximately 3-4 months.
A low to medium flow rate is ideal since this duplicates their natural habitat. I didn’t have any problem with inlets since they were transferred to the display tank only after they reach maximum size. At adult size they were able to confidently navigate the water current. Prior to that they were in a low flow grow out tank.
Sustainability through captive breeding is the current method to enjoy these cephs on a long term basis. The vast amount of researched so far does not reveal any novel approaches to increase their longevity in captivity. Because of their rapid growth rate I am inclined to assume that they are naturally short lived. It’s like trying to keep worker ants alive more than a few weeks. Some species just have rapid life cycles but compensates by having a high reproductive rates. My pair of cuttles laid over 200 eggs during their short 14 months life span. But they lived gloriously and beautifully.

This answered a lot of my questions. The more I learn about these animals the more I want to try to raise my own and hopefully succeed at breeding them.

I've noticed some pages showing the eggs attached to rocks or other peices in the aquarium. Do they need to be hatched in a kresiel tank or can they stay where they are laid within the tank?

 

[laversace]

The eggs can be located anywhere as long as the current is providing a slight movement to the eggs to remove any debris that may fall upon them as well as providing a constant flow of oxygen around the eggs. I removed and relocated my batch to a small hanging box in the main display tank in order to monitor and observe their development. Removal and relocation must be performed with the utmost of care since the eggs are very early in the development stage and the developing fetal cells have not developed secure attachments to the outer egg membrane yet. Aggressive movement will most likely dislodge them and may result in a "miscarriage" so to speak. I also ensured that the eggs were always submerged in tank water during relocation, as any period in atmospheric pressure will most likely crush the delicate egg membrane as well. I will post some images later tonight of my current brood of 18 cuttles. They are utterly fascinating and I encourage other enthusiast to have their own breeding program.

 

[laversace]

These are my current 2nd generation hatchlings approximately 3 weeks old. Out of 25 plus eggs about 20 did hatch. All that hatched are still going strong. Hope I was able to attach the images for your viewing.

 

[Jeremy S.]

Im looking at going the route of just buying a decent number of eggs once my tanks are setup and cycled completely. I noticed on Blue Zoo Aquatics they have eggs for sale, but are they priced per egg or per cluster? I want to make sure I order a cluster that hasn't been split up into individual eggs just to make sure they don't get damaged.

 

[laversace]

Good idea, I forgot which local store I got mine from originally. But a year later I am still at it. The eggs can be pricey too. I think I bought mine for about 10 dollars each egg.

 

[Jeremy S.]

Good idea, I forgot which local store I got mine from originally. But a year later I am still at it. The eggs can be pricey too. I think I bought mine for about 10 dollars each egg.

I think, dont hold me to this, that Blue Zoo sells their eggs for $9 but if you buy like 10 of them the price goes down to $6 or $7. This is why I'm curious about if its price per cluster or per egg. If it's per egg then I know I'll atleast order 2 clusters so I should get the cheapest pricing. If you could provide a local source that'd be awesome. I'm nervous about shipping even eggs, though I heard they are pretty robust.

 

[laversace]

That's a good price for the clusters. Shipping shouldn't be a problem if they have a lot of water in the bag. As far as the local store, I'm in San Diego so shipping will still be needed.

 

[Jeremy S.]

That's a good price for the clusters. Shipping shouldn't be a problem if they have a lot of water in the bag. As far as the local store, I'm in San Diego so shipping will still be needed.

Ah ok that makes much more sense now haha. So far Blue Zoo is the only I've been able to stumble across with eggs or juveniles available.

 

[rcmike]

I got mine from blue zoo and I ordered the baby ones. They look like they were just hatched because they were the size of a pea. They eggs for sale are per egg and just a little less than already hatched. I have read of the difficulties in hatching eggs, especially after separating them, so I decided to go for the already hatched.

 

[Jeremy S.]

I got mine from blue zoo and I ordered the baby ones. They look like they were just hatched because they were the size of a pea. They eggs for sale are per egg and just a little less than already hatched. I have read of the difficulties in hatching eggs, especially after separating them, so I decided to go for the already hatched.

I think once my tanks are running well I'll probably order a pair of hatched ones and contact them about getting a pair of clusters so that they don't have to be seperated from each other. Hopefully that will keep them intact and I'll have a better chance at hatching them. I've considered setting up a kresiel tank, but from what I've ready they aren't entirely necessary.