90 gallon custom cuttlefish build

[andrewkw]

Finally my custom perfecto tank arrived yesterday. Picked it up real late at night but managed to paint the back a nice deep blue.

Right now i'm debating painting the left pane, after that I'll bring it inside and post some pics.

The tank is a custom perfecto 90g 36x24x24. The front pane is 1/2" starphire, my first starphire tank. I have a overflow box on the left side which is why i'm debating painting the left pane. This will hide the overflow pipe..

The tank will sit on a 2x4 stand that I build according to the specs in the diy section. Came out nice and level. I will eventually cover it but a couch will sit infront of it.

Sadly my frag tank that was holding my cuttlefish until this tank was ready cracked and I ended up losing al but 2. i will be getting more eggs in another month but these 2 are quickly growing up[ and will soon be ready to live their short lives in the cuttle display.

I've had 100 lbs of live rock in a barrel with powerhead and heater and remora skimmer going for more then a month and it was already pre cured before that and spent just 20mins out of water. So it should be quickly ready for a cleanup crew followed by a few soft corals and then the cuttlefish.

Lighting is just 2x39 T5. I may go to 4 bulbs and keep some monti caps but for now this will suffice. I'm trying to keep power costs down. Low voltage aquamedic return pump, heater that will barely come on, and vortech mp40 wil be the other other things to plug in plus a grounding probe. Oh and for a skimmer I will be using a bk mini 200. Forgot about that since I got it used it;'s missing a few screws so it will be a couple of weeks before thats running.

So should I paint the side pane and over the drain pipe? Once I decide this I'll post some pics :)

[andrewkw]

So tank is 2/3rds full. I lost my threaded adapter otherwise I'd fill it up all the way and just close the valves.

Monday getting glass cut for the sump baffles should be done by the end of the week.

more to come

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SpnsU1Z49dI/AAAAAAAAAhE/bHJ8qoNrigI/s800/t1.JPG

[Bonta]

Nice tank :) I hope the cuttlefish does great in its new home.

[entropygain]

I love cuttlefish diving. They are very curious about what your doing.
Hmmm.... you got me thinking!

[andrewkw]

Found this crawling on the glass this morning. I promptly destroyed it after taking this view clip.

Looks like aptasia but moves like a worm.

<object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/4POUtdDFYJ0&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/4POUtdDFYJ0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object>

[sam11909]

Looks like a speghetti worm.

[Greenxb]

what kind of paint do u use?

[andrewkw]

Thanks for the ID. Surprisingly I've never seen one of these before. I eliminated it as I don't want any pests in this tank (doing things right for a change).

I spray painted the back with krylon fusion - patriot blue. Cheesy name aside the colour is quite nice. Several coats and its a perfect finish.

[andrewkw]

Tank is now fully running. I am still waiting on the skimmer parts and debating putting a dsb in the fuge but other then that it's running smooth.

I've put a few soft corals in and they seem to be doing fine. Nitrates are still kicking around at about 5ppm but hopefully the cheato will help eliminate it.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SqV2ADsAjxI/AAAAAAAAAi0/VPT2uPWv-2E/s800/sept7thfts.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SqV2A7CiihI/AAAAAAAAAi4/mx6zAPqh28g/s800/IMG_1962.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SqV2Bgj5zuI/AAAAAAAAAjA/5nxE8EsZzwE/s800/IMG_1965.JPG

here are a couple of the cuttlefish. they are getting bigger but still too small to go in the display.

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SqQj2QCk20I/AAAAAAAAAiM/BCfY21FKwY0/s800/pic2.JPG

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SqQj2Oj3c3I/AAAAAAAAAiI/QJVzW7gJYIM/s800/pic1.JPG

[noahm]

yeah, that was a spaghetti worm. Good scavengers. If you see a bunch of those tentacles coming from a hole in a rock, just leave 'em be. They usually only come all the way out like that when they get stressed.

Cool build. Did you happen to catch the cuttlefish episode of Nature that aired a while back on PBS?

[andrewkw]

Not much has changed in the tank. I put a couple of zoo frags in from my display tank. I'll probably add a bunch of softies in another week.

Here's a new video clip of the cuttles though. They should be going in within 2 or 3 weeks. The tank is ready for them I just want them to be bigger :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJd9vKd4LYQ

I also want to add a bunch of coral first so I dont have my hands in the tank until they are comfortable as they are very willing to ink.

[spleen93]

Very cute!

[madean]

Thats awesome. What type of cuttlefish are those and where did you get them? Are they a pair? What is there lifespan and how big do they get? I have always been fascinated with cuttlefish and octopus. I was succesful once with an octopus from bali but mostly unsuccesful which has discouraged me from trying cuttlefish. That and trying to find the cute little buggers for under a few hundred a piece.

[andrewkw]

They are dwarf cuttlefish sepia bandenesis. They max out at 4 -4.5". I got them from a local reef store as eggs. They've been with me since day one. I actually had over 20 at one point but the tank they were in cracked and they are tough to acclimate. I had to put them in new water and lost all but 3. one more did die but these guys have grown many times their original size and are now big enough not to worry.

Their lifespan is approximately 1 year. They can live slightly longer but we'll see. It does appear I have a male and a female but its impossible to be certain a male can look like a female and a female can look like a male. They change colour and texture.

I will be geting more eggs in a few weeks to raise more. I want to keep 6-8 in my cuttle display and hope to eventually have a breeding stock (to supply the display not so much to sell or anything). The cuttlefish themselves are dirt cheap but as babies I can spend more a week on food for them then me. They ONLY eat live foods at this age. Live mysids are about the only option. I'm no where near the ocean so i have to have them shipped to me every week or 2. It's not cheap. Mysids are actually harder to raise then the cuttlefish they are extremely canabolistic and need to be fed several times a day. I feed them a mix of cyclopeeze and baby brine shrimp. I don't feed the brine since they are easily replaced in the millions for pennies.

For now I am getting this tank ready. It is a really new tank but i had the precured live rock in a vat for some time, never got much of a cycle a ditatom bloom since the rock was not under light but its already purpleing up with coraline and the soft corals I have in are doing fine. Once everythings a bit more established I'll buy a bunch of corals 50 or so snails then get cuttles in. I'm scared I won't be able to find them when they're really small and ensure they are eating. Then once they grow a bit it will be like a regular softy tank. They are moderately skittish now because they only see me from above but in time should grow to recignize me.

[madean]

Thanks for the info. About how much are you paying for the eggs? I have never heard or seen a lfs selling any eggs other than shark eggs. Also (I will try ank make this my last question, sorry you have just got the wheels turning in my head-in a good way with envy) what is your method of hatching and raising the young cuttlefish?

[andrewkw]

The egg price is nothing. I think I paid about $30 for the cluster of eggs but even if you are paying 30$ per egg keep in mind they are going to require hundreds and hundreds of dollars worth of live food. Unless you live near the ocean and can catch mysid shrimp. Brine, tigger pods all that other stuff is no good. They are too small.

The eggs just hatch. once they are born I seperated them into groups of about 6 and tried to make sure each one would eat 1 mysid a day then 2 then 4 and then onto bigger food. Breeders nets work great for seperating them and don't be afraid to ask more questions. It's better you know what you're getting yourself into.

If you can get past the cost of live food and dont try something like raising non nutritous brine as a cheap subsitute then if you can keep a reef you can keep these guys. Most of mine died because my tank cracked. Otherwise I suspect I would have had closer to a 75% sucess rate. More research is required and I do plan on getting more babies soon.

[ssublime1]

That tank is going to be BA once it's set up 100%.

How many mysids/glass shrimp do they require per day? Could you use very small ghost shrimp when they are first hatched? I live by the ocean and can get these no problem. Also are amphipods useful? Again lots of these living in the seaweed.

[andrewkw]

It takes them anywhere from 3-10 days to start eating after being born. Depending on how much yolksac they have left when they hatch. For a couple of weeks they eat one mysid per day then it grows to 2,3,4 once you reach 4-5 per day they are usually big enough to eat small shrimp. At this stage amphipods are also good, but when they are small even they are too big for them to eat.

Ghost shrimp are freshwater the shrimp I'm feeding are called shore shrimp. A marine version. Usually you hear freshwater animals are bad to feed to marine although I'm not sure that is true because I use PE mysis as the staple for my reef fish and lps corals and they are freshwater.

Right now my guys are eating 2-3 shore shrimp a day which are about 3/4 the size of them. They eat a lot grow fast, and live fast.

[ssublime1]

Ok, that's about what i was expecting. The name ghost shrimp can loosely be applied to salt or freshwater in my experience. I can find many kinds of shrimp (I caught a coral banded for my son's tank the other day) and the clear shrimp living in chaeto and other seaweeds are very common. I see squid and cuttle eggs from time to time but of course there's no telling what species they are. I've seen some really good sized cuttles out there.

[entropygain]

Now that is a cool video!

[andrewkw]

Some updates. My soul survivor is getting close to full grown. I'd say he's around 3.5 now. He now eats silversides in addition to shore shrimp. He can handle about 5 a day so my stock will soon be depleted at which time I hope he can survive entirely on frozen which shouldn't be a problem. I'm going to pick up some uncooked shrimp from the grocery store later. He eats off a feeding stick or a fishing line. I couldn't find any fishing line so I made the stick first.

Here's a video from about 3 weeks ago he is MUCH bigger now as this is before he started eating silversides http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGUGKLX1Ibw

The tank itself is looking half decent. Added some colour with some red macro algae and a neon green singulaira from austraillia. I'm starting to dislike the yellow lights so I'll be switching the bulbs soon. I'm just using the stock 10k actnic setup so I think I'll switch both to 14k bulbs. I am also going to add 2 more bulbs that will be on for just a couple hours a day to display the corals better.

In the next week or 2 I'll be getting some more cuttlefish eggs and starting the cycle all over. Hopefully this time no tank breaks and I'll end up with at least 5 or 6 to go in the 90 gallon.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SuRlG6EjrZI/AAAAAAAAAqo/R527OIjKQp4/s800/IMGP7149.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/StuCywZwINI/AAAAAAAAAqA/_mBCbYZzdv8/s800/IMG_2150.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SuRje95r7GI/AAAAAAAAAqc/i1QG2llYe3I/s800/IMG_2181.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SuRjfJtujDI/AAAAAAAAAqg/6HLdTeiX8zA/s800/IMG_2198.JPG

[Bonta]

Awesome video !

[MarineGirl411]

That is so cool. Your video rocks. Can't wait to see more of them.:bounce1::D

[andrewkw]

Here's a couple of new photos. I wanted to get one of him eating off the feeding stick but I could not hold it and the camera. By the time I had it in my hand he pulled the silverside off and was retreating and I just got the one photo.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SuzfwikUGlI/AAAAAAAAAsI/PoW0JiGP8o0/s800/IMG_2276.JPG

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SuzfwxSJxqI/AAAAAAAAAsM/7PEE3S0IXz8/s800/IMG_2272.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_OxZoGqFQrPI/SuzfxCVS5aI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/RILg2m_5kyk/s800/IMG_2261.JPG

[andrewkw]

Here's a new video clip of me hand feeding the cuttle with a feeding stick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNV-oOc7NSw

he no longer tries to strike at it as he knows its not live food. What's really neat is he lets me pull him around on the stick as he tries to pull it off. If i stop pulling he'll just eat it off the stick slowly. Much different then live food which he will strike at and devour quickly.