My Cuttles Hatched!!!

[Posledni Czar]

I bought five Sepia bandensis eggs about two weeks ago and last night I looked into the breeding net and had two hatchlings!!! I'm going to start a log here to keep track of their progress. I also felt this would be a fitting fist post in a long time on a forum i've lurked on for ages. I haven't had a chance to take any pics yet, and i'll have a hard time doing so. they are soooo tiny!! about the size of my pinkey nail. and to take good pics i'd have to shoot thru the top of the tank as they are in a breeding net.

wish me luck in this new adventure

 

[Posledni Czar]

I've lost one! he seems to have gotten out of the net into the display. now I gotta fish him out of there

 

[2Addicted]

Thats awesome im excited to see pictures!!!

 

[Posledni Czar]

Found the little bugger, he was hiding in some macro in the main tank. He's back in the net now. yeah I gotta work on taking some pics, its not easy tho. maybe i'll cup em for a few to do a photo shoot.

 

[wantfish?]

hey what water temp is ur tank?? i would like to know what are the best tank conditions. i have caught one and its not doing so well. its a little one the size of my fist.. it doesnt move around much compared to the first few days and react to any thing that pokes it?? im pretty sure its dying and want to fix the problem before it happens.. thx!

 

[Posledni Czar]

My tank is at 78F. I'm guessing if you caught one your not in the US, so the temp is 25C. Before you go adjusting your temp, you need to realize yo need to adjust the temp to the conditions you caught them at. You'd also want to Identify your cuttlefish. S. bandensis come from Indonesia but there are a lot of different cuttles that live off the european coast or in australian waters.

Also most importantly your tank cannot have any traces of copper, as it is lethal to cuttlefish. This means your tank should never have been treated with copper whether it was ever freshwater or otherwise. the silicone seals absorb the copper and then leach it back into the water.

another important point is that the average lifespan of most cuttlefish is just about a year, maybe a year and a half. the cuttle you caught could just be old.

There is a lot of good information on a website dedicated to cephs, tonmo.com. I really recommend checking them out. this is my first foray into ceph keeping so I don't have much experience.

Lastly I recommend releasing the one you caught, reading up and then trying again. I'd recommend starting with S. bandensis because they stay small and there is a decent amount of info one them, plus a decent community of keepers who are willing to help.

 

[Koshmar]

Congratulations! I remember raising my first, I was so nervous! I hope you have a ton of mysid shrimp ready! Another good site is Cephbase the cephalopod page by dr woods.

 

[Posledni Czar]

Thanks! I had a shipment last week of mysids last week that came in DOA but I should be getting 200ct today! Can't wait, i've been scouring my sump for amphipods and such for the past few days.

 

[asianer]

I bought five Sepia bandensis eggs about two weeks ago and last night I looked into the breeding net and had two hatchlings!!! I'm going to start a log here to keep track of their progress. I also felt this would be a fitting fist post in a long time on a forum i've lurked on for ages. I haven't had a chance to take any pics yet, and i'll have a hard time doing so. they are soooo tiny!! about the size of my pinkey nail. and to take good pics i'd have to shoot thru the top of the tank as they are in a breeding net.

wish me luck in this new adventure

Good luck, If you wouldn't mind could you put me in contact with someone that sells the eggs?

 

[Posledni Czar]

have three now! I wouldn't mind but my contact is out. I dont know when he'll have more, but there is usually someone selling them on tonmo.com, or someone knowing someone who's selling them. If I'm able to raise all of mine and get a pair, I'll be selling the extra ones. I have two more unhatched eggs and they look like they have potential.

 

[Posledni Czar]

All the cuttles hatched! there are five of them now. Here are pics from their first photoshoot, made possible by the generosity of Rryyddeerr (lent me a breeder net w/ an acrylic pane for viewing)

Sorry guys thats the best I could do. I'll be taking them out of the tank for a few minutes tomorrow for maintenance. Hopefully i'll be abele to get clearer shots then.

 

[Posledni Czar]

Thanks moto


some better pics. I just had to clean the glass lol.

group shot w/ flash. all 5 are there ones just hiding behind the mangrove in the middle you can see him peeping out.

another angle, no flash

Dinner time!

I almost had this great shot of the little guy striking but the focus was off ... next time.

mmm... amphipod

maybe a pair

 

[Koshmar]

Awesome, you got a little army growing there! I love it when they are just learning to feed, so funny. They miss a lot for the first few days then they figure it out. I was actually worried when I had mine that it would starve but the little guy figured it out eventually. Nice shots.

 

[GhostCon1]

The second batch of pics I got to see them! I have seen this thread always as the topic when I am searching through the forums, so I finally decided to look.

Those look so cool! Congrats!

 

[826 moto]

how are they eating ?

 

[fishkeeper7]

congrats on your cuttles! where did you get them? ive had them once before but tank crashed, been looking for a source for about a week and a half now.

I miss them so much =/ lol

 

[mx838]

I had 10 eggs and hatch and was so excited when it happened. Make sure you have lots of mysis. in nj you should be able to go to the beach and collect them also. I get them all the time in maine for my cuttlefish. They are easy to catch at the ocean. Looks great you will have fun.

 

[Posledni Czar]

They are eating well. They are in main tank eating all the pods in there. I just got a bunch of amphipods and such and I caught some minnows i'd like to try to feed.

 

[kyle1284]

that is so awesome! i have always wanted to raise some cuttles of my own but can not find a source? did you have the eggs shipped? if so where from? do you know of any places in tx where i could get some eggs?

 

[Medicoles]

I'm Jealous. I'd love to have a cuttle tank. I just think the wife might shoot me if I brought another tank into the house. Congrats on your success.