Cuttlefish tank; Is it possible?

[silverfishar]

I have a couple reef tanks up and running.

I have always been amazed at cuttlefish, though, and last weekend I was at an aquarium in Tulsa OK where they had a modest Cuttlefish display.

Has anyone ever done a recreational cuttlefish tank?

I expect it to be very difficult, and don't plan to try soon, but early research is the best.

thanks

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Sure you can. Check here for more information in the Cephalopod Forum

So, how did you like the Oklahoma Aquarium? It's not too bad for a rather small place. There are some pretty amazing displays and some quite educational areas. I think they did a pretty good job. COMAS and OMAS got a behind the scene tour a while back. Here are some pictures of it. We got to see their holding tanks. THey just got back from a collection trip down in Galveston, TX.

**Sorry that the pictures look distorted. I had to resize them with HTML, so I can only guess. They should probably be 500x400 instead of 500x300.

Here are two Loggerhead Turtles
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image086.jpg" height=300 width=500>

Here is an extreme closeup of one. I didn't realize it was trying to eat my camera lense cap that I accidently left dangling from the camera
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image090.jpg" height=300 width=500>

Here are a couple Bonnethead Sharks
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image106.jpg" height=300 width=500>
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image116.jpg" height=300 width=500>

Here is another shark that I can't remember the name of. Possibly a White Tipped Reef Shark?
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image108.jpg" height=300 width=500>

Here are a bunch of Stingrays that they brought back with them
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image100.jpg" height=300 width=500>

Here is a picture from above the shark tank looking across it.
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image125.jpg" height=300 width=500>

Here is one of the sharks circling in the tank. With human presence, they come to the top looking for food.
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image134.jpg" height=300 width=500>

Here is one of my favorite pictures. Can you see the silohette of the shark swimming over the walkthrough tunnel?
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image126.jpg" height=300 width=500>

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Even my work place unknowingly helps out. I laughed as I found this cup when they showed us the food preperation area.
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image141.jpg" height=300 width=500>

Here is the Surge Device for the Carribean Tank. It's three troughs that get water pumped to them. As the fill, the weight pushes it over, and it dumps it back into the reef system. The cool part is is that each wave is at a random time because they all fill up at different and varying speeds.
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image145.jpg" height=300 width=500>
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image146.jpg" height=300 width=500>
<img src="http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a184/TravisStevens/Image143.jpg" height=300 width=500>

 

[Lordhelmet]

pm Lefty. he was the Bay Area Reefers club president. he does a lot with cuttlefish, in fact he has some videos posted here on RC

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=694780

after looking it looks like he removed the video.

 

[silverfishar]

Thanks for the guidance. I will do more research.

I think the aquarium in Tulsa is pretty good, particularly considering its location. Those are cool details from behind the scenes, I can't imagine how big some of their skimmers and stuff must be.

I dated a girl who got me behind the scenes at the "Living Seas" or whatever it is called at Disney once, but that was 10 years ago before I had developed this particular hobby/habit so I didn't completely appreciate what I got to see.

Thanks again

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

They had TONS of skimmers. They looked a good 10'+ tall. They were amazing. The shark tank had something like 15-20 pool filters on it.

 

[KevinFJB]

I've had a cuttlefish (S. bandensis) for several months. This species reaches a maximum size of ~ 4 inches, among the smallest of available species. It is in a 16g tall tank with a little live rock and a big clump of chaeto and approx. and inch of substrate.

During the day, it camouflages itself by sitting on the live rock, burying itself in sand or blending in with the clump of algae, and at night - even when tank lights are on - it swims and flashes colours. An eager eater of live foods that are not too big, and with some gentle persuasion will take food from the feeding stick.

I run a Prizm HOB skimmer and a Penguin 125 w/o the bio wheel and a small bag of Marineland carbon. I has inked a few times that I've witnessed, but without causing any problems - carbon and skimmer seem to be able to handle it easily. I do not add any supplements to the water and use a 2 year old Coralife PC 50/50 10K light - I've read they do not like bright light and that it may be harmful to their eyes

For feeding, I gather as many small hitchhiker crabs or shrimp (pistol or mantis usually) that I can get from my LFS (which ordered the cuttle for me) and supplement with Florida (feshwater) crayfish, small live bearer fish, and pieces of thawed tiger shrimp from the grocery store on the tip of a feeding stick. It is an incredible predator and sometimes waits in ambush and others hunting. When feeding small fish, it waves its tentacles around seemingly to attract the fish. Add shrimp/small crab/crayfish and it will rise verticallly, angle itself and then shoot out its long arms and grab the prey in a fraction of a second. Amazing to see. Its camouflage abilty is so good that it takes several minutes for me to find it each day while it is right in front of my eyes.

Other than doing a 4g water change every 2-3 weeks and topping up the tank with fresh RO/DI water every day, it is easy to care for and amazing to watch.

You might come across S. officianlis which will get to 18" and require 180g plus tank. Unfortunately, regardless of species, they live only 1-1.5 years and reportedly do not ship well, which is made worse by the fact that they are not native to North American waters.

If you can set up dedicated tank for it with suiotable filtration (as in skimmer and carbon with water apssing through it, I'd suggest gettign a S. bandensis. I'm not convinced it isn't from another planet the way it changes colour, pattern, and skin texture. Really amazing to see.

 

[Razzagas]

Kevin-
That sounds amazing!!! Do you have any pics? Also can you explain how you got it? Where, and how much it costs?
Thanks

 

[Razzagas]

I found this article:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2005/9/aafeature/view?searchterm=cuttle fish
Its really good and has a lot of info on keeping S. bandensis

 

[KevinFJB]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7257705#post7257705 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Razzagas
Kevin-
That sounds amazing!!! Do you have any pics? Also can you explain how you got it? Where, and how much it costs?
Thanks

I'll see if I can capture some decent pics and post - I'm at work right now and will try from home later.

It is frm a LFS near my place called Reef Raft, in Mississauga, Ontario. I'm not sure if cuttles are covered under CITES, but Reef Raft has gottne them in before. If there are cross border restrictions, and even if not, it would probably be good to contact Daisy Hill cuttle farms located in the U.S. to get a bandensis.

I paid $75.00 CDN for the cuttle. It was not full grown but defintely not a baby when I picked it up. I am fascinated by cephalpods and best thing about cuttles is the fact they don't try and climb out of the tank.

 

[Salamander]

Here is a pic of a cuttle from the Ripley's Aquarium in TN.

 

[Qwiv]

Yah, the president of our local reef club (BAR) raises cuttle fish, his RC tag is "lefty."

here is his website
http://www.stickycricket.com./
He has some cool stuff on there. I am sure he would help you out.

You can find him in the BAR forumn
http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=298
The first thread is by him as a sticky.

 

[JHemdal]

Hi,

Cuttlefish can certainly be kept by home aquarists - if they are willing/able to meet their very specific needs. Here is the copy from a section from my new book, "Advanced Marine Aquarium Techniques" that discusses Sepia officinalis:


**************************************
Cuttlefish Sepia officinalis Sepiidae
While the husbandry requirements of most octopuses is fairly well known, and easily met, and squid are known to be almost impossible to keep under the best of circumstances, cuttlefish are lay somewhere between these two extremes. Commonly bred for use in laboratory research on nerve function, the European cuttlefish is available to public and private aquarists who are willing to meet their needs. This species does best when kept alone, or with sedentary invertebrates that they are not interested in trying to eat. They have however, been successfully kept with chambered nautilus and pinecone fish in large public aquariums. Because they are a temperate marine species, the water temperature should be kept between 62 and 68 degrees F. As the animals mature, males develop a zebra stripe pattern on their outer arms. They then become aggressive and will badger the females as they try to mate with them, and will fight with other males in the same aquarium. These altercations will often result in the cuttlefish releasing ink as a defensive reaction. Successful cuttlefish husbandry therefore requires close attention to the sexual dynamics that develop in the aquarium, the ability to remove offending animals, and the need to perform massive water changes in order to remove any ink that is released by the animals ââ"šÂ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å“ before it can cause harm to them. Being sight feeders, wild cuttlefish may require initial feedings of live shrimp or small fish. Captive raised cuttlefish will feed readily on chopped seafoods such as shrimp tails, smelt and squid pieces. Even with the best of care, cuttlefish are short-lived animals and one that reaches 16 months of age is considered an old animal. When kept in groups, cuttlefish will often mate and the females may lay fertile eggs. Newly hatched cuttlefish are difficult to rear, while they will feed on Artemia nauplii; they seem to need better nutrition for long-term survival. Perhaps live copepods or juvenile mysid shrimp would serve as a better initial food source. Periodically, tropical species of cuttlefish are imported for sale. Their care requirements are similar (except for needing warmer temperature water) and they really should only be acquired for aquariums where they will be the primary inhabitant (Donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t try to add them to a reef aquarium for example!).
**********************************

I'm sorry - but I don't have much experience with the tropical cuttles that have recently been for sale in the pet trade, but captive care for the whole family is presumed to be very similar.

Jay Hemdal

p.s. - try a search on Amazon.com if you are interested in this book.

 

[KevinFJB]

Here are some (sorry about the quality) pics. During the day it mainly is at rest blending in and at much more active at night.

Here is is resting on top of the live rock in the center of the tank

Crusing around

At rest camouflaged

It uses two tentacles to "walk" along the substrate or rock surface

Crusing around at night