Flamboyant Cuttlefish

[Cyclone]

Hello guys,
I wonder whether you might have any idea where I could track down a flamboyant cuttlefish for our aquarium? I am based in Queensland, Australia. I'm also interested in getting hold of a tropical blue ring octopus found in Queensland waters, but I know these are incredibly hard to come across.
Really hope you can help.
Many many thanks.

 

[OB]

First and foremost, to TONMO! As you may have gathered from our assorted sections and guidelines, both flamboyant cuttlefish and blueringed octopus are not considered hobbyist species; flamboyants for reasons of the absolute uncertainty towards their natural abundance and the blueringed octopus for the fact that they are positively lethal and should exclusively be kept in a lab environment. Could you provide us with a bit more background as to why you are inquiring after purchasing any of these?


PS: For reasons stated above, I have moved this thread into the exotics and rare species forum.

 

[SabrinaR]

Flamboyant cuttlefish are band from sell here in Texas I believe. I know a fish store in Dallas got raided for selling them and they went to the Dallas aquarium. Not really relevant but still interesting.

 

[corpusse]

That seems a little excessive. How much of a demand if any could there be? Enough to justify raiding?

If any where ever available locally I'd buy in the hopes of getting a female carrying fertile eggs. I imagine a species like this it would be very hard to get any kind of accurate numbers to the wild populations given how well they can hide.

You would also think given the extremely low demand it would not take many captive pairs to produce enough eggs to sustain the aquarium trade. Then again we are still collecting sepia bandensis eggs from the wild so maybe not.

 

[Neogonodactylus]

To my knowledge it is not illegal to possess or sell fc anywhere in the United States with the possible exception if they were illegally collected and/or exported violating the laws of the country of origin or through which they were shipped.

Roy

 

[SabrinaR]

To my knowledge it is not illegal to possess or sell fc anywhere in the United States with the possible exception if they were illegally collected and/or exported violating the laws of the country of origin or through which they were shipped.

Roy

That was actually my thought (after I posted). I would think they had to have violated some sort of import export law. Other wise how could they justify a raid on a fish store? IDK

 

[SabrinaR]

There are a number of problems with this species in regards to shipping and keeping them. First like you have already mentioned they are very hard to find and second they do not ship well at all... no live cuttlefish do. So my first thought would be any animal you found in the LFS wouldn't fair to well for long.

 

[skywindsurfer]

Flamboyant cuttlefish are band from sell here in Texas I believe. I know a fish store in Dallas got raided for selling them and they went to the Dallas aquarium. Not really relevant but still interesting.

Do you know when this happened, and excatlly which aquarium in Dallas they went to?

 

[skywindsurfer]

That seems a little excessive. How much of a demand if any could there be? Enough to justify raiding?

If any where ever available locally I'd buy in the hopes of getting a female carrying fertile eggs. I imagine a species like this it would be very hard to get any kind of accurate numbers to the wild populations given how well they can hide.

You would also think given the extremely low demand it would not take many captive pairs to produce enough eggs to sustain the aquarium trade. Then again we are still collecting sepia bandensis eggs from the wild so maybe not.

I don't believe that the demand for these animals are as low as you think. I firmly believe that once these animals hit the market the demand would sky rocket. Further more the breeding and rearing of this species is extremely difficult for reasons unknown to myself. I have seen attempts first hand that did not produce well results.

 

[Thales]

That seems a little excessive. How much of a demand if any could there be? Enough to justify raiding?

I don't believe these animals were taken because of what they are. Like Roy, I have hard nothing about these animals having any kind of legality, besides getting around fish and game on import, tied to them.

If any where ever available locally I'd buy in the hopes of getting a female carrying fertile eggs. I imagine a species like this it would be very hard to get any kind of accurate numbers to the wild populations given how well they can hide.

They ship terribly. Much worse than any other cuttle I have worked with and most of them ship terribly as well.

You would also think given the extremely low demand it would not take many captive pairs to produce enough eggs to sustain the aquarium trade. Then again we are still collecting sepia bandensis eggs from the wild so maybe not.

Maybe, maybe not. The problem is that captive raising cuttles is expensive, and most people simply don't want to pay what they actually cost to produce. When I had captive raised bandensis available, many people didn't want to pay what it cost to raise them, and that was really just including the price of food - never mind electricity, time etc. The market just isn't that big for cephs, though is is getting marginally larger (the whole short lifespan and dedicated tank thing is a real stumbling block for most people). Long term viability of bandensis culture is also unknown, so we don't know how many animals are needed to maintain genetic diversity. S. bandensis seem plentiful in the wild so the collection of their eggs is ok with me. Metasepia on the other hand is a big unknown, so I am really worried about these animals becoming a 'hit' with home aquarists. Also, Metasepia haven't been cracked yet breeding wise, so its premature to think that CB ones could be available any time soon - sourcing broodstock is always problematic, but I have approval to work on it again this year so we'll see what happens.

 

[SabrinaR]

Do you know when this happened, and excatlly which aquarium in Dallas they went to?

I dont... I was told about it at my LFS (Fish Gallery). I guess the news about a raid moves fast in those circles.

 

[corpusse]

Cuttlefish aren't on cites are they?

 

[DWhatley]

As far as I know from prior reading, there are no cephalopods on CITES but here is a pdf of the three appendix listing the animals. The main site has a link to the database and I could not find any cephs doing a quick search.

 

[CPayne]

Do you know when this happened, and excatlly which aquarium in Dallas they went to?

More than likely DWA. I don't think that the remodel of the Dallas Zoo aquarium in Fair Park is done yet and the Fort Worth Zoo I don't think has the facilities to take on something like that on the spur of the moment like a raid.

Any idea what shop had them? I don't know if I would want to deal with them if they are doing anything shady... but the reality of the animal trade is a great deal of it is unfortunately.

 

[OB]

Cyclone, you still there? #radiosilence