my cuttlefish endeavor
 

i started with three hatchlings and two eggs that i found in an lfs in the middle of august. only one of them survived for a couple of weeks. i had them special order 6 eggs on the 31st of august to give that one some company and he disappeared the day before they arrived. four of the six from that second batch are still with me.

they all hatched in transit except 2, which hatched that night.

i am keeping them in a fluval chi 5 gallon tank with constant water changes using water from my 250 gallon reef. i have only fed them large amphipods and copepods harvested from the 250 up until now. i have a friend with lots of mysids growing in her tank, so i will start adding some of those as suppliment and to help train them to frozen mysis.

here is a video of one of them hunting at 1 week old (this one is from the first batch, but he didnt make it)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GW2Oeztoytc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

here is the cuttle nursery

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...c/DSC08546.jpg

here are some pics of the current batch this morning

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...c/DSC08633.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...c/DSC08632.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...c/DSC08634.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...c/DSC08636.jpg

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...DSC08634_2.jpg

here is the 150 gallon tank that i am setting up now to eventually house them

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c3...0/DSC08630.jpg

Are you feeding live mysis or just amphipods?

just amphipods at this point, but i am going to start adding some live mysis from a friends fuge. i have amphipods that are longer than the cuttles tho, and they are getting the food i am feeding my baby clownfish in the reef, so they are really nutritious.

you can order mysid from here if your stock runs out:
http://www.aquaculturestore.com/swinverts.html
about 2/3 down the page.

thanks for the link :)

I tried them and was not happy with their product or their shipping methods.

Haven't tried the ones from seahorse source, but they stock them
http://www.seahorsesource.com/cgi-bi...-Live&start=10

oh, and the reason I was reading... aren't they escape artists? The open top tank doesn't scare you?

No.
Cuttlefish do not try to leave the tank the way octopi do.

Thanks! I hadn't done a lot of research, but had always been interested... Kind of ruled them out on the assumption of escape...maybe I'll do some reading..

well, the tiny one didnt make it, but the other three seem to be doing really well. they have at least doubled in size since hatching.

I've used them before and was quite happy with the mysid. However, they are wild caught.

i have not spent anything on food this time. i have a large reef tank that has an inexhaustible supply of pods up, many of which are bigger than adult mysid shrimp. i tried this a couple of years ago with mysids and spent a fortune. i was not successfull then, with two different batches of eggs.

this time, i thought i was having better success, but today it seems i was wrong. i have lost two of my last three and the one that is left does not appear to be acting normally.

rip little guys.

not going to be necessary, he isnt going to be with us much longer :(

where did you order your eggs from?

amphipods are too large for newborns. After a month or 2 they can eat them, but mysis are really the only reasonable option. IMO the BEST source is http://www.reefnutrition.com/specialty_feeds.html#mysid they are lab grown and always arrive healthy.

I too was unhappy with Sach's mysis but part of the problem is his are wild caught. He is a great source for shore shrimp which you are going to need as they get bigger.

Once they start eating about a week after hatching usually 1-2 mysis per day is good, then 3-4 and once they make it to about 5, amphipods are okay to feed and then shore shrimp.

Old thread, but to people looking into keeping them..
I have nine baby cuttles that I hatched and grew. It took four weeks on live mysis from Paul Sachs before they took to frozen. The $26 a week for fish food isn't fun, but well worth it.

Mysids are not the only food for cuttlefish babies I have a bunch now that are eating Munnids Isopods and only after 2 weeks do I have a few eating amphipods. Going to write a report on MBI soon will post link when done.

How are your cuttlefish doing? Any pics?

how are the cuttels doing? I hatched 9 a week ago my self. just wanted to see if you have had any good or bad progress.

an update would be nice

and photos