Some photos and video clips of my baby cuttlefish

[andrewkw]

These are Sepia Bandensis. They are about 3 weeks old. I got them as eggs, have been feeding them live mysid shrimp but they have mostly taken to PE Mysis as well so I'm trying to feed them mostly PE since it's like 25x cheaper but still have quite a few mysids left.

Originally I was keeping them in my frag tank, but a window fan fell cracked my frag tank, had to relocate all my frags to my display and the cuttlefish to a 10g. I ended up losing 3 in the move. It may have been they just weren't eating but I did get a nitrate spike which has since been corrected by a large water change. They will remain in the 10g for now, with a k1, airpump and remora skimmer for circulation blocked in by tank dividers so they can't get caught up in them.

In about a months time they will move to their own softy and macro algae reef. I have about 20 but only plan on keeping 6. The rest will be sold or traded locally.

These guys are much more interesting then your average fish and look like little ufo's. It's too bad their lifespan is so short but I hope to breed them and keep several generations of these very interesting see creatures.

This is a short clip of one changing colour

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcuEoIg_jGQ

here is a 5min montage of them hunting, changing colours, hovering and towards the end even inking. They are available in HD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYhsBCNfBWY

 

[romanr]

Very nice!
How big a tank you do you need for these? Are they coral safe, invert safe, fish safe? How big will they get? Do you have to have a group for best success?

 

[andrewkw]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15308845#post15308845 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by romanr
Very nice!
How big a tank you do you need for these? Are they coral safe, invert safe, fish safe? How big will they get? Do you have to have a group for best success?

I plan on 6 in a custom 90 (36x24x24)

They are coral safe, some invert safe, snails, hermits, starfish but not shrimp safe. They will also eat any fish they can catch and large fish may eat them.

They get 4-5" and are social so they can be kept in a group. You can keep one singly but their lifespan is so short having at least a breeding pair is the way to go imo.

All your questions can also be answered here by more of an expert

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-10/feature/index.php

 

[romanr]

Fantastic info, great link. Most of my fish would become meals sooner or later. This just gives me a great excuse to setup another tank. They big drawback is the short life spans.

 

[luther1200]

Cool. How big are those ones in the video?

 

[jhentr]

Nice. Thanks for sharing! Maybe one day....

 

[andrewkw]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15308952#post15308952 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luther1200
Cool. How big are those ones in the video?

The first video of the one changing colour is from a couple weeks ago so he'd be about 1/2" then. Now they are roughly as long as PE mysis so anywhere from 3/4 to 1" and growing fast.

 

[luther1200]

Cool, what are you going to feed them when they get bigger?

 

[ludnix]

Thanks for sharing! Please keep us posted on any updates!

 

[andrewkw]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15309273#post15309273 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by luther1200
Cool, what are you going to feed them when they get bigger?

When they get a little bigger I will look into order shore shrimp, they are similar to ghost shrimp except saltwater. I'll also consider some freshwater live shrimps. Generally it's not advised to feed freshwater organisms to marine creatures, but pe is freshwater and my reef fish and corals for that matter have been eating it almost exclusively for years and now the cuttlefish eat them too.

When they get to full size I will feed them uncooked people shrimp from the grocery store as well as the occasional hitchiker crab and perhaps peppermint or similar shrimp when they are on sale for really low prices.

Live food is a good stimulant for them but they are well on their way to accepting frozen food as the bulk of their diet.

 

[Hephalump]

That's so cool how they use two tentacles like little legs to walk around and sneak up on the mysis! Congratulations!

 

[sikpupy]

Okay, those things are absolutely, unequivocally, 100% positively just not right, lol.

 

[Plankt0s]

I looked at your video of one inking. He was like a little ninja throwing a smoke bomb.