- Joined
- Jul 23, 2006
- Messages
- 151
Intro:
My fascination with cephalopods started about two years ago after I found a few online articles about keeping cephalopods. Soon after, I discovered TONMO.com and started researching cephalopods. I got my first cephalopod, an octopus, about a year and a half ago. He was already very large and I assume he was near the end of his life cycle so he was only with me for about a week. Then, a few months ago I got another octopus. This time he was very small, with his mantle being about the size of a grape and a leg span of only 3-4". Unfortunatly, during a tank switch, he crawled out of his tank and I found him struggling on the floor. It took me a minute or two to finally get him up [slippery little things], and get him in the tank. The next day I found him dead, I assume from the stressful event the previous day. So, after that I gave up on cephalopods, thinking that they must be above my capabilities. Then, months later I found Paradox's 150g. cuttle reef. I dismissed the idea untill I read the whole thread and found that he had eggs and babies currently available! I thought, "Well, I do have a tank that is currently cycling, so its the perfect timing, right?" So, after a talk with my parents and a few emails I am currently on my way to getting dwarf cuttlefish (Sepia Bandensis)!
The Tank:
The tank is a 30g. oceanic cube which is currently still cycling. I want this to double as a reef [and a good one too] so I tried to stick with a setup that is semi-nice for the coral but not overboard for the cuttlefish. My goal is to try and keep the water clean enough for some easier SPS such as some montipora and keep the tank pretty much algea free. For filtration I will have the 10g. sump which will have a refugium section and I will also have a Euro-Reef RS80 which should help a lot with filtration. Then, for additional algea control, I will have a phosban reactor with GFO (Grannular Ferric Oxide) in it. I am also currently looking into a sulfur denitrator to help with nitrates.The return pump is still undecided, but it will be around 300gph and there will be an inline chiller (1/10HP). Flow is still undecided but I dont want something too strong because of the cuttlefish. As for lighting, I am using my old Aqualight which has a 150w MH and 130w of PC.
Feeding:
The ones I am getting are going to be about 3 weeks old and approx 3/4". For the first month they will be on a diet of live amphipods and mysid shrimp. They will each get about 4 amphipods/mysids per day and hopefully I will start to wean them onto frozen mysids during this time. Then after that, once they reach about 1" and are around 1.5 months old I will introduce them to small shore shrimp and Sargassum Shrimp. Most of my food will be ordered from www.aquaculturestore.com and some of it, the sargassum shrimp, will be caught locally.
The Nursery:
Since they are so small and because their future home is still cycling, I have set them up a nursery that will be their home for the first month and a half. This tank consists of a 10g. tank with an Aquaclear 20 with some filter floss that was previously in my 90g. It has a few peices of LR rubble on the bottom and some cheato for filtration. It has an old sunpod 70w MH and a titanium heater. However, they will not be in contact with any of that becuase they will be isolated inside of a small breeder net to monitor their eating and to keep them away from filters, predators, and burning themselves on the heater. :P
The rest of the tank I plan to use as the feeding tank, where I will store all the live food for them to eat.
Here are some pictures of the nursery and my mysids that just came in today! Me and Thales are planning for the cuttles to arrive this wednesday so pics of them on wed.
My fascination with cephalopods started about two years ago after I found a few online articles about keeping cephalopods. Soon after, I discovered TONMO.com and started researching cephalopods. I got my first cephalopod, an octopus, about a year and a half ago. He was already very large and I assume he was near the end of his life cycle so he was only with me for about a week. Then, a few months ago I got another octopus. This time he was very small, with his mantle being about the size of a grape and a leg span of only 3-4". Unfortunatly, during a tank switch, he crawled out of his tank and I found him struggling on the floor. It took me a minute or two to finally get him up [slippery little things], and get him in the tank. The next day I found him dead, I assume from the stressful event the previous day. So, after that I gave up on cephalopods, thinking that they must be above my capabilities. Then, months later I found Paradox's 150g. cuttle reef. I dismissed the idea untill I read the whole thread and found that he had eggs and babies currently available! I thought, "Well, I do have a tank that is currently cycling, so its the perfect timing, right?" So, after a talk with my parents and a few emails I am currently on my way to getting dwarf cuttlefish (Sepia Bandensis)!
The Tank:
The tank is a 30g. oceanic cube which is currently still cycling. I want this to double as a reef [and a good one too] so I tried to stick with a setup that is semi-nice for the coral but not overboard for the cuttlefish. My goal is to try and keep the water clean enough for some easier SPS such as some montipora and keep the tank pretty much algea free. For filtration I will have the 10g. sump which will have a refugium section and I will also have a Euro-Reef RS80 which should help a lot with filtration. Then, for additional algea control, I will have a phosban reactor with GFO (Grannular Ferric Oxide) in it. I am also currently looking into a sulfur denitrator to help with nitrates.The return pump is still undecided, but it will be around 300gph and there will be an inline chiller (1/10HP). Flow is still undecided but I dont want something too strong because of the cuttlefish. As for lighting, I am using my old Aqualight which has a 150w MH and 130w of PC.
Feeding:
The ones I am getting are going to be about 3 weeks old and approx 3/4". For the first month they will be on a diet of live amphipods and mysid shrimp. They will each get about 4 amphipods/mysids per day and hopefully I will start to wean them onto frozen mysids during this time. Then after that, once they reach about 1" and are around 1.5 months old I will introduce them to small shore shrimp and Sargassum Shrimp. Most of my food will be ordered from www.aquaculturestore.com and some of it, the sargassum shrimp, will be caught locally.
The Nursery:
Since they are so small and because their future home is still cycling, I have set them up a nursery that will be their home for the first month and a half. This tank consists of a 10g. tank with an Aquaclear 20 with some filter floss that was previously in my 90g. It has a few peices of LR rubble on the bottom and some cheato for filtration. It has an old sunpod 70w MH and a titanium heater. However, they will not be in contact with any of that becuase they will be isolated inside of a small breeder net to monitor their eating and to keep them away from filters, predators, and burning themselves on the heater. :P
The rest of the tank I plan to use as the feeding tank, where I will store all the live food for them to eat.
Here are some pictures of the nursery and my mysids that just came in today! Me and Thales are planning for the cuttles to arrive this wednesday so pics of them on wed.


