[Cuttlefish Eggs]: Cuttle babies

[shipposhack]

Last Tuesday (12/11/07) I received two clutches of cuttlefish eggs. Each had 10 eggs, but 3 out of the 20 were deflated leaving me 17. They are in 2 separate net breeders right now, one has more light and flow than the other. I want to see if that makes a difference in activity, growth rate, and willingness to use chromatophores. Both net breeders have some feather caulerpa and another kind of macroalgae in them for hiding.

My first hatchling was today (12/16/07), well probably last night, since I noticed him at about noon today. He is pretty shy. I wouldn't even have known he had hatched if I hadn't searched for him. I pulled out at least 50% of the macro in each net breeder because I was having a pretty hard time finding him. Now he hides under the piece of rubble in there *sigh*. He is already changing colors from white to brown, flashing at me when I push him out from under the rock. It was hard to get pictures of him and I was trying to get some of him brown, but I couldn't. I am getting a new camera tomorrow and it is much nicer than the one I have now, so it should be able to take better pictures. It also takes video, so I will be able to get some video as well.

I got some Mysids from work, I plan on ordering in lots from aquaculturestore.com when more hatch. I haven't seen him eat yet, but I expect he still has some of his yolk sac. I threw in probably about 5 mysids. He has been pretty lethargic so far today. I hope he is not sick, but I'm sure that's just me worrying .

Here's some pics:

The first two are from today, the last 2 are of each net breeder the day I received the eggs.

 

[corw314]

Awwww....how cute and congrats!!!

What type are they?

 

[shipposhack]

S. Bandensis. If I had the money and the space I would try to get Pharonis, Officinalis, or Apama; maybe in a few years.

Thanks for the congrats . I hope I can provide them a good home.

 

[cuttlegirl]

The newborns don't move around too much, so don't worry about him being lethargic. congratulations!

 

[Thales]

Nice! Glad you could get some!

With the holiday season happening, double check your sources for mysids and make sure you get them before you need them!

 

[shipposhack]

Thanks. I'll make sure I have a reliable source throughout the holidays, thanks for the advice.

 

[monty]

!

 

[Animal Mother]

Congratulations!

 

[Nancy]

Good luck with your cuttle eggs and the little cuttles!

Just a question - are the photos you posted only of the eggs, or is the little cuttle in there somewhere and I just don't see it?

Nancy

 

[monty]

Good luck with your cuttle eggs and the little cuttles!

Just a question - are the photos you posted only of the eggs, or is the little cuttle in there somewhere and I just don't see it?

Nancy

I think there's a tiny white cuttle in the center of each of the top 2 pics, unless I'm hallucinating again...

 

[shipposhack]

Thanks all!

Nancy- Monty is right. In the top two pictures there is my only baby so far (I expect to have at least one more tomorrow). He is in between the caulerpa to the right of the pipet. It was hard to get a good picture because the caulerpa didn't want to stay down, my camera is chunky and hard to use with one hand, and the cuttle kept moving. I was trying to get a picture of him changing colors, but he was too quick and it was too tough to even get regular pictures.

 

[Nancy]

OK, I see it now!
Nancy

 

[Paradox]

Congrats on the cuttles. Thats a lot of eggs!
Where did you end up getting them from?

 

[shipposhack]

Thanks, I got them from seacrop. Thanks to a tip from Thales .

Three more hatched last night; one in net 1 (first cuttle for that cluster), and 2 more in net 2. I am going to call aquaculturestore.com tomorrow and order mysids. I still haven't seen any of the cuttles eat. The two cuttles that hatched in net 2 hatched between 1130 pm (lights out) and 1230 am (I peeked ). The cuttle in net 1 hatched between 1 and 7 am. The cuttle in net 1 looks smaller than any of the 3 that have hatched in net 2. He also keeps a mottled golden-brown coloration during resting while the other cuttles stay white. It will be interesting to see if the entire cluster has different coloration.

Pictures! Camera didn't come today, sorry they are still kinda blurry. Pictures were easier to take than yesterday, however. The first two are of Net 2, which has 3 cuttles. I can tell the difference between the new ones and the one a day old! I circled one of them because he is really blurry and hides under the rock all day. The other is hiding behind his older brother under the plastic support. The 2nd one is of my only hatchling so far in net 1, again sorry for the blurriness.

 

[Paradox]

Thanks, I got them from seacrop. Thanks to a tip from Thales .
.

Hehe that tip came from me to thales =)

Congrats on the eggs. I know youve been wanting some for a while. Since they are seasonal, we may be hitting a dry period again for a while. Good luck with your!