• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

capturing cuttles for transfer

jon_bondy

Cuttlefish
Registered
Joined
Apr 19, 2003
Messages
15
If I need to move my cuttles into a larger tank, how do I go about capturing them without upsetting them and having them ink all over the place? Someone mentioned a sedative chemical that can be added to the water, but they did not mention a dosage. Would one first put the sedative into the main tank, then remove the critters with a net? How to researchers do this?

Thanks!

Jon
 
Have always had good luck using a clear plastic vessel of some sort...like a beer pitcher...since it is clear, they don't stress too much, and you don't have to take them out of the water at all...just gently back them into the submerged pitcher, pull it slowly out of the tank (you might want to cover the opening with one hand) and gently lower it into the new tank...Viola !!!
greg
 
I moved three near adults by a similar method to Joel and Greg.

If you use a net to catch them they will ink the second they are returned to water, its doesnt work. But you can use the net to guide them into a bag or jug/pitcher.

keep the lights low, work slowly and always have spare clean marine water just in case.

The chemical is MgCl2 but i dont have dosage rates handy. Either way my cuttles made it from scotland to ireland with no MgCl2 and no inking!

cheers and let us know how it turns out
C
 
I'll look out the doses for MgCl2.

We transfer them to a bucket with the sedative in and wait around 5 minutes until they are nice and sleepy and then move them while they are too far under to bother with inking... yeah man!

We'd then bag them and ship them for over 24 hours, on planes, in trucks and whatever else and have no problems with them inking.

But if you are just going from one tank to another this is probably slightly excessive
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top