[Cuttlefish]: BIG Cuttle Journal

[TQN]

Well, today was my day off work, and we were cruising around to a couple of the good LFS's to see if they had anything cool. At one store, someone mentioned that another store had gotten in some cuttlefish! Although it was clear across town, we decided to brave the rush-hour traffic to get there.
When we got there, we saw four bandensis! They appear to be young sub-adults from what I could tell (mantle length of 1.25"-1.75", total length of about 2"-2.5"). It is hard for me to judge their age, since I have not seen an adult bandensis in person, and it is hard to compare size from the photos/videos I have seen online. But I am pretty sure they are still not even close to full-grown. Maybe 4-5-ish months old?
By the way, does anyone have any pics they could post of an adult next to a ruler or something?

Anyhow, needless to say, they came home with us.
They are still in a bucket drip-acclimating now, but are doing very well. By their colors and behavior, I am making a tentative guess that they are two pairs. I decided to test their feeding response, and each immediately snagged a shore shrimp. They ended up taking two apiece. Then i tried some PE mysis, which each of them grabbed and instantly spit out.
There have been a couple of instances of what appears to be "protective male behavior", with both of the larger cuttles turning darker and seeming to "herd" the two smaller ones. They don't go into full aggressive display, but it seems like they might be "flexing their muscles".
There was also a possible mating between one of the pairs. They locked arms for a minute, then the female broke loose and jetted to the opposite side of the bucket. So who knows for sure, but they are off to a good start anyway!
Below are a couple pics of the new guys, if anyone wants to hazard a guess as to their age. In the second pic, the feeding clip is there to show scale--it is exactly 2" wide.

 

[sedna]

Congratulations on the new family members! Now you have to journal double! Thanks for the cute pix.

 

[TQN]

Thanks!

I thought my babies were getting big, but they look so tiny next to these monsters!

 

[Animal Mother]

Cool!

 

[TQN]

Thanks!
I thought the babies were pretty darn cool, but these big guys definitely have them beat. Not shy or scared of me at all--I put my hand into the water, and the biggest guy came over and checked out my hand with his arms for a second. Already much more interactive--sweet. Now I can't wait until the babies catch up!
I have been giving them a long, slow acclimation--I tested the water they came in, and thought my hydrometer was broken for a minute there. At the LFS they were being kept at 1.016....yikes! I have them about halfway there now, since I don't want to move too fast and shock them or anything. But they look very healthy and are adapting well so far...

 

[Paradox]

Nice! Its very difficult to tell the age because size is very defendant on their diet and how much they were able to eat. Before we experimented with varied diets, my adult bandensis at its largest size would only be 2-3 inches when now they reach 4-5.

The coloring and pattern look a little strange to me. Im looking fwd to the pictures of them in the tank.

 

[TQN]

Thanks, I can't wait to see them in the tank as well! They are FINALLY almost done acclimating though. When they are, I will post more pics. I'm so excited I don't think I will be able to sleep much tonight anyway.
That is interesting--I did not know that their size was that dependant on diet!
Is there anything specific in their color/pattern that looks strange? Are you implying that they might not be bandensis??

In the meantime, here are a couple more pics showing more of their range of color. The change from light to dark in the first 2 pics happened instantly.
more soon to come...

 

[TQN]

Hmmm, really helps if I actually attach the pics...

 

[TQN]

Now they are loose in the tank! I got a few pics, but I did not want to stress them out too much. I figure they have had enough excitement for one day
The color is off in the pics because I am just running the actinics for now, until the cuttles settle in. Sorry about the poor picture quality, but here are a couple shots anyway.

If you look closely at the first pic, you can see little light dots in the cuttle's skirt, where it is trying to mimic the blue spots on the crocea! It is hard to believe that such different creatures are actually pretty closely related...

 

[TQN]

a couple more, showing the color changes from light to dark and back again--

 

[DWhatley]

Paradox,
Have you seen black on the bandensis? I only had mine a few months but black was not a color they displayed ... or is the black color really brown appearing black?

 

[TQN]

hmm, this is interesting...
They have shown colors of both dark brown and a true black. The "males" are the two that have darkened up to black, while the darkest I have seen from the smaller "females" is a deep chocolate brown.

 

[L8 2 RISE]

Nice find! I am by no means good at identifying these, nor have I ever seen a bandensis in person- only pharaonis and officinales. But when I saw the title of your post - "big" cuttlefish journal, I just came in and scrolled through all the pics and they immediately reminded me of the officinales I've seen, especially in the last set you posted... Also, the officinales I've seen almost always had dotted skirts which you mentioned... Did you find out where they came from? Also, do any of them ever display a dark saddle like pattern across their back? (If they do you'll definetly know it). Because if so, this is an extremely common pattern on almost every officinales I've seen.

I'm probably off here, but these are just my thoughts...

 

[cuttlegirl]

I was thinking that they might be S. officinalis too. I would love a close up of their eyes. S. officinalis have more of a "W" shape to their eyes and S. bandensis have little flaps on their iris. Hmm... will have to search for some pictures...

Try this link, where some differences between the two species are discussed. http://www.tonmo.com/community/index.php?threads/5910/

Are they "walking" on their tentacles on the substrate?

The first photo (one of Paradox's) isS. bandensis. The second photo is S. officinalis.

 

[TQN]

Wow, thanks for the info, guys...when I originally said "big" in the title of this journal, I was thinking in comparison to my little 1" bandensis babies! It did not even cross my mind that they might really be BIG cuttles.
All I could find out about them is they came in with a shipment from Indo...
I have not noticed a definite "saddle" pattern on any of them yet, but I have only had them for a matter of hours. I will keep an eye out for that...

One strange thing about them that I did notice right away is their eyes--they don't show a clear "W" shape. Even my 1/2"-1" bandensis show a clear "W" pattern in their eyes, but no matter what the light intensity, I have not seen it in the bigger ones. Almost like they have even more "flaps" on the iris than bandensis do.
I have not seen any of them walking on the substrate like bandensis--seems like they are either flattening down against the substrate and trying to blend in, hovering in the water column, or perched up in the rockwork. These ones do seem much more free-swimming than my bandensis so far...
I had also noticed that the big guys seem much more smooth in general than the bandensis, and their body shape/proportions are a little off--more streamlined, and less chunky. At first I just automatically assumed that these ones were bandensis, and thought that the differences were just between baby/adult. So this is getting very interesting...I definitely want to find out for sure what they are!