...just thought i'd share my experience with keeping them in captivity.
First off I gotta say, I have a Mantis Shrimp have had 4 different types of octos, but the most entertaining of all was my Cuddle Fish. I've had 2 of them.
A cool LFS got them on 2 different occasions and I bought one each time. I guess i'll start with the second one, which was disappointing. He didn't last through the night, but it was because of my bad preparation. I had a twin spot wrasse in there that started messing with it almost immediately, well why the hell would I do that right? Mix the two. Dum decision, I know. I'd had the twin spot since it was just a babby bubba and was always intimidated by octos and my first Cuddler. But this Cuddler was only like say 2 inches long as opposed to my first cuddler that was like over 3 1/2 inches long, and my twin spot had really grown since the first one. Needless to say he got scared to death, literally. He just froze up after awhile. I couldn't get him out due to a deep tank (2 1/2 feet) and all the rock. Then it all kinda snowballed from there, my twin spot realized he liked tentacles and ate a few of the octos legs. Anyway I finally caught that punk, caught him slipping hiding under the sand, and brought him to the LFS.
But.....my first Cuddler was awesome. I had him about 7 months, and he died from natural causes. But everyday during those 7 months were amazing, their behavior is something to behold indeed. And the rate that they change colors not only rivaled my last octo's but was even more dramatic. The coolest thing was watching him creep up on or stalk his food/prey. I always give my Cephs and Mantis live food. The Cuddler loved to attack from a distance, shooting those inner arms 6+ inches to grab his prey. One of the funniest/craziest things i've ever seen in my tanks was one time I put a crayfish twice his size in there and man he almost killed him out of sheer intimatation. One thing about Cuddlers, they are downright scary at times. Octos have a general happy vibe to them most of the time as they like to dance around and such. Man, Cuddlers will scare the crap out of you. They are the scariest most intimadating creatures i've ever kept. Talk about giving dirty looks, I mean he was a happy guy and dug the 110 gallon tank he was in, but man they look straight evil sometimes. If you've ever had a Cuddler come up to the glass and do their little hover dance with their waves of color morphing through them with those crazy eyes locked in on you, man you know what I mean. He took out all the shrimp I had in their previously, including a pricey fire shrimp, but it was worth it. It was really sad to see him die. I guess it was natural, one day he kinda shot out his load =) .....looked like 2 giant blue balls, and man he had a helluva time trying to get disconnected from them. He looked so depressed when he realized there would be no Lady Cuddler to hook them up, and died like the next day.
Oh and BTW, for those of you tring to come up with tankmates for Cephs, i've always kept seahorse with all of mine and they get along great, i've also kept larger pipefish like alligators, though I don't think i'd recommend it. I think the Cuddler did actually kill one once.
......anyhow, just thought i'd share that.
First off I gotta say, I have a Mantis Shrimp have had 4 different types of octos, but the most entertaining of all was my Cuddle Fish. I've had 2 of them.
A cool LFS got them on 2 different occasions and I bought one each time. I guess i'll start with the second one, which was disappointing. He didn't last through the night, but it was because of my bad preparation. I had a twin spot wrasse in there that started messing with it almost immediately, well why the hell would I do that right? Mix the two. Dum decision, I know. I'd had the twin spot since it was just a babby bubba and was always intimidated by octos and my first Cuddler. But this Cuddler was only like say 2 inches long as opposed to my first cuddler that was like over 3 1/2 inches long, and my twin spot had really grown since the first one. Needless to say he got scared to death, literally. He just froze up after awhile. I couldn't get him out due to a deep tank (2 1/2 feet) and all the rock. Then it all kinda snowballed from there, my twin spot realized he liked tentacles and ate a few of the octos legs. Anyway I finally caught that punk, caught him slipping hiding under the sand, and brought him to the LFS.
But.....my first Cuddler was awesome. I had him about 7 months, and he died from natural causes. But everyday during those 7 months were amazing, their behavior is something to behold indeed. And the rate that they change colors not only rivaled my last octo's but was even more dramatic. The coolest thing was watching him creep up on or stalk his food/prey. I always give my Cephs and Mantis live food. The Cuddler loved to attack from a distance, shooting those inner arms 6+ inches to grab his prey. One of the funniest/craziest things i've ever seen in my tanks was one time I put a crayfish twice his size in there and man he almost killed him out of sheer intimatation. One thing about Cuddlers, they are downright scary at times. Octos have a general happy vibe to them most of the time as they like to dance around and such. Man, Cuddlers will scare the crap out of you. They are the scariest most intimadating creatures i've ever kept. Talk about giving dirty looks, I mean he was a happy guy and dug the 110 gallon tank he was in, but man they look straight evil sometimes. If you've ever had a Cuddler come up to the glass and do their little hover dance with their waves of color morphing through them with those crazy eyes locked in on you, man you know what I mean. He took out all the shrimp I had in their previously, including a pricey fire shrimp, but it was worth it. It was really sad to see him die. I guess it was natural, one day he kinda shot out his load =) .....looked like 2 giant blue balls, and man he had a helluva time trying to get disconnected from them. He looked so depressed when he realized there would be no Lady Cuddler to hook them up, and died like the next day.
Oh and BTW, for those of you tring to come up with tankmates for Cephs, i've always kept seahorse with all of mine and they get along great, i've also kept larger pipefish like alligators, though I don't think i'd recommend it. I think the Cuddler did actually kill one once.
......anyhow, just thought i'd share that.
