• 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.

Doggy - the Chambered Nautilus

ngdo

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
65
Something I forgot to mention about yesterdays feeding. Doggy only ate half his minnow and spit the rest out. It was quickly covered by hermits and snails. Maybe 1 hour later he went to the mount of CUC and separated all the snails/crabs before jetting away with the remains. It was pretty neat to watch, but unfortunately I couldn't get my phone in time.
IMG_20140602_130609.jpg
 

ngdo

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
65
Downside of running a medium sized business, bringing my 2y/o daughter to my office with me every day and having an awesome ceph tank next to my desk is that I don't always get to capture the cool ceph moments on tape :wink:
 

DWhatley

Kraken
Staff member
Moderator (Staff)
Joined
Sep 4, 2006
Messages
21,020
Chicken is kind of weird. It is used for marine bait a lot, especially for crabs. Perhaps it is not so much chicken as bird and scavengers would find them naturally.
 

ngdo

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
65
So potential terrible news. Doggy is still alive though.

Over the weekend the hose to the return pump came undone and Doggy's tank started to crash. Amongst the dead livestock include crabs, stars - you know, some of the heartier marine animals. Doggy was floating on top not moving and I assumed the worst.

I quickly re-attached the return - and miraculously he started moving around on his own. He's swimming (weakly) and submerging.

We're currently waiting on the local aquarium service company to come do a large water change, and in the interium have attached additional cannister filters with chemical media (as well as dumping in some Prime).

Of course, this service visit marks the last dealings we'll have with the company, as they set the tank up and service it weekly. First time in my many years in the hobby that I've had a commercial setup and maintenance done; it just made the most sense for the office setting.

Updates to follow.

:frown:
 

ngdo

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
65
I would like to add - it is pretty crazy for me to look at the tank right now and to see Doggy recovering(???) so well, and seeing dead damselfish (which normally seem to be the impossibel to kill animal).

Slaughtering a chicken and saying a prayer to Cthuhlu.
 

ngdo

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
65
Doggy is acting fully recovered.

50 gallon water change today, will do another 50 again tomorrow. Intermittent carbon dosing as well to help bacterial populations.
 

ngdo

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
65
What happened to the S. bandensis hatchlings?

I haven't seen any signs of them in awhile, so I don't know. I would occassionally see one coming out of the LR and swiming around, but assumed they either weren't able to develop in the cooler water and died or are/were just being reclusive. Chances are they are dead now, if they weren't before. ;-(
 

ngdo

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
65
He's eating a shrimp and acting like nothing happened. What a crazy day.

Water parameters seem to be okay - will do full parameter testing after water change tomorrow. Water has gotten a bit cloudy but I'll blame that on my extra carbon dosing. Added a second skimmer and both are working pretty hard.

Adding airstone to DT, extra return pump and who knows what else tomorrow as well. Probably a plastic hose clamp as well!#[email protected]#[email protected][email protected]#

Can't stress how amazed I am that Doggy managed to live, but the random damsel didn't. That damsel had been with me for awhile too - managed to migrate several tanks and always evaded actual capture... survived generations of cuttles as well!
 

ngdo

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
65
Doggy is doing great! Tank has come alive - snails, stars, etc. are moving about regularly. Lost the urchin (as in, no idea where he went).

Water parameters test good. Just using cheap strips so won't bother pretending they are super accurate, but looks good enough at a glance. I'm never really concerned about specifics, especially in a tank like this as long as everything indicates its in a "safe" range. Still going to have a larger water change done this morning to be on the safe side.

So we probably just dealt with severely deoxygenated water over the weekend, and perhaps the Nautilus are more adept to dealing with low-oxygen conditions than some of the random life in the tank. A very scary lesson learned - airstone has been added to the DT. :wink:

Taking the water from the change and putting it in the 60G that is sitting empty next to it. Have some old LR I took out of a different tank (one with life removed, and left to crash) so going to let the 60G cycle for a few months before plumbing everything together and figure out some other interesting animal to add in.

@cuttlegirl - there are plenty of caverns in the rockwork, so I'm not likely to notice the cuttlebones. Also they'd be the size and color of some of the crushed coral so even harder to spot! Like I said, I have no idea how well they could actually develop in 65 degree water, although food was plentiful. I've also never had cuttles hatched directly in the DT, or released any when they were that small.
 

ngdo

O. bimaculoides
Registered
Joined
Jul 27, 2013
Messages
65
Cutting shrimp in half, removing shell from upper portion and wrapping it around the tail then feeding to Doggy. 24 hour soak in Selcon before feeding, of course!

Seems happy with the preparation.
 
Top