First egg hatched!!

[reefergeorge]

I thought I had about another week, but was looking at the eggs with a flashlight and found my first baby swimming around. When I can get some pics I will post them, but a few questions..

Should I wait to try feeding the mysids? And. will the shrimp if not ate hurt the other eggs?

[reefergeorge]

Camera phone + 2am = bad pics but just an idea.

[Bluemon]

congratulations!

[reefergeorge]

Thanks! Still no sign of hunting behavior, but its only day 2. Three of the other eggs look ready to pop. You can see the lil guys waiting to get out.
Hopefully I don't get too many at once or the food will leave me eating romen noodles.

[reefergeorge]

Another baby last night. This one seems more active and changes colors when I walk up to the tank.

I still havn't seen the first one eat but shrimp are missing. Hopefully he makes it.

[barnfrog]

where did you get the eggs? I've been thinking of setting up a cuttle tank

[reefergeorge]

My Lfs ordered them in for me. They are amazing little animals. I need to find my camera charger so I can get some better shots. My phone doesn't like the leds and all the pics come out red.

[reefergeorge]

Three hatched last night. 5 live babies, and 7 eggs left, but a few look like duds. I'm pretty sure the first one born is eating, but I haven't seen it yet. They seem VERY nocturnal.

[AmadorLax1]

are you selling??? and where did you buy the eggs from?

[reefergeorge]

I wouldn't ship, and my lfs ordered them in for me.

I have 7 babies now, and have seen three eat mysids. It's so neat to watch them hunt. They seem to move with no effort.

[reefergeorge]

So far still have seven babies. The one is getting good at hunting, and is pretty active. The others are still hiding most of the day. I noticed today that one that is still in the egg jumped back when I was sucking out some of the dead food. I guess they can see the world from inside their egg..

I have tried cyclopeez with no luck, and still adding live brine to the new hatched ones to try to get them hunting.
Anyone that has kept them, when did you start trying to mix in frozen?

[ousnakebyte]

After you see them start hunting live food, you can start mixing in frozen right away. I usually use a small defrosted mysis on a thin string of fishing line. I run the fishing line through a length of rigid airline tubing to make a "stick feeder." If/when the cuttle strikes or grabs hold of the food, you can pull the fishing line away through the rigid airline tubing.

It won't happen right away, but eventually they will learn to associate "meat on a stick" with feeding time.

Good luck.

Cheers
Mike

[reefergeorge]

Update: nine babies now.
I have two that are hunting, and grab food as soon as it hits the water. two other ones eat, but wait till the shrimp is in front of them, and the others I haven't seen eat yet.. I tossed two eggs that looked empty and flat, and still have two "maybes" left. I would be happy only feeding nine. :-/

As soon as I figure out how to transfer them, I am going to put the larger ones into a separate breeder to introduce frozen foods.

[reefergeorge]

I'm happy to report that I got four of them to eat frozen mysis last night. I used a pipette from my refractometer to gently blow them, and the cuttles went right for them. Hopefully this weeks mysids will be the last order!!

[blesk]

Congrats .

[asid61]

Nice! Where are they going when they get bigger?

[reefergeorge]

Originally Posted by asid61

Nice! Where are they going when they get bigger?

Thanks I'm only keeping two or maybe three. The rest will be traded to some local guys. They will be going into my 24x24x12 frag tank that has slowly turned into a reef tank. Right now they are just floating in a 6x6 box with a bunch of holes.

[reefergeorge]

Update: I had one that was having problems eating and the rest were growing much faster, so I let him free into the DT. Hopefully I see him again.
The other eight are doing great! The pe-mysis were to large for them, but I found some smaller frozen ones and they go nuts over them.
Is it possible to over feed them? They each eat 2-3 mysids three times a day.

I need to start rehoming some of them.
[/QUOTE]

[humaguy]

very cool project...can't wait to watch them grow!!!

[ousnakebyte]

2-3 small frozen mysids three times a day is what I would call a good target. IME, if they aren't hungry (a rarity...), they won't eat. I target three times a day too.

So, no I don't think you are overfeeding them.

Sounds like you've got a good start!

Cheers
Mike

[Willster]

Tagging along

[reefergeorge]

I really need a real camera, but tried taking some more pics with my phone tonight. Everything is going well, and they all eat like crazy. I'm still not sure what i'm going to do with the five extra if they all make it. What a problem to have.

[allendavant]

Wow, awesome man! I have been wanting a Seppia Bandensis for a few years! I might finally be setting up a 29 gallon bio cube up for one this spring!

[reefergeorge]

Originally Posted by allendavant

Wow, awesome man! I have been wanting a Seppia Bandensis for a few years! I might finally be setting up a 29 gallon bio cube up for one this spring!

My goal is to have a breeding pair, but for now just getting rid of the extra six is hard enough. I also think they do better in groups, and with how short lived they are, captive breeding is always the way to go.

I saw the one I let go into the DT hunting the other night. He is smaller than the other, but was walking along the rocks striking at something. I was extremely shocked he is still alive.

[Jayreefer]

Sweet, just set up a 29 gallon bio cube and I think I will get 3-4 eggs myself in a couple of months when the tank is ready.