[Cuttlefish Eggs]: Hatching Journal - eggs collected at local beach

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Apr 16, 2009
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Happened upon a cluster of eggs attached to a concrete pylon while snorkeling my local beach ~20 Nov 2020.

Plucked one to take home as an experiment and left it in a vodka bottle with seawater for ~1month. The single egg grew into an embryo and hatched ~20 Dec 2020

It is now being raised on amphipods and I'll update from time to time here.

Help with species ID needed!
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Additional notes:

Hatchling is approx 1cm long (tiny, smaller than pinky nail)
Very benthic but I do not provide sand for it to hide in due to cleaning issues and visibility for care.
 
Congratulations on the success of your hatchling! Before anybody could give you an identification, we need some basics on your location! Where is this local beach where are you found the eggs?
 
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Does anyone know what 65. means in cuttles? Our 10-day-old hatchling has started resting in this position for long periods of time after addition of sand to one corner of its tank.

It is feeding normally 2x a day on amphipods and small pistol shrimp.
 
Quote (and picture in above post in thread) taken directly from published literature:

65.Bipod headstand (n = 2). A variation of Bipod (68), Arms IV are extended and touch the substrate. Using the contact points between the tips of the arms and the substrate as pivot points, the entire body is suspended in the water column at a sharp angle. This component was observed only twice in very small animals that exhibited a very dark chromatic component combination. Thus, it may be a type of masquerade, although this requires further investigation in the future.

It seems to be associated with a resting behaviour; my cuttle is not dark in color as described above but rather pale white. Any experienced keepers chiming in would be appreciated
 
This happens sometimes to various species of cuttlefish babies. I have seen it happen most often with metasepia pfefferi but sometimes I have seen it in sepia bandensis babies as well.

In metasepia, I understand it to be a bit of a developmental issue that typically results in death. We call it "tombstoning" as a bit of a morbid joke. This might be the same case for you, but every animal is a bit different.

Another thing it could be is that you animal has some air underneath their mantle (we call this floaty-butt). If you see them struggling to stay on the bottom of the tank and they are floaty you can try to very gently by using your hands or a plastic spoon or something to orient the animal so that their mantle opening is facing up (essentially 180 degree rotation from image 65) in order to let the trapped air bubbles escape.

Aside from that, if your animal is eating well and behaving normally then there probably isn't much you can do aside from making sure their tank is clean and they are getting enough to eat. Cuttlefish are notoriously difficult to raise from eggs even in the best conditions. Realistically I wouldn't expect an egg that was taken from the wild and raised in a vodka bottle to survive very long, but you might get lucky with this one!

Good luck and keep us updated as things progress with your animal.
 
It lived for a month, and graduated onto small pistol shrimp. We moved it into a 10 gallon with a breeder net, but our house did not have a/c. The water temperature was easily 28c at night (I know this because we now have a 75 gallon with digital thermometer), so would have surpassed 30c during the day.

Combined with a hastily set up tank (not properly cycled), dubious water chemistry and water collected from the beach, wasn't surprised that it didn't last long either.
 
This happens sometimes to various species of cuttlefish babies. I have seen it happen most often with metasepia pfefferi but sometimes I have seen it in sepia bandensis babies as well.

In metasepia, I understand it to be a bit of a developmental issue that typically results in death. We call it "tombstoning" as a bit of a morbid joke. This might be the same case for you, but every animal is a bit different.

Another thing it could be is that you animal has some air underneath their mantle (we call this floaty-butt). If you see them struggling to stay on the bottom of the tank and they are floaty you can try to very gently by using your hands or a plastic spoon or something to orient the animal so that their mantle opening is facing up (essentially 180 degree rotation from image 65) in order to let the trapped air bubbles escape.

Aside from that, if your animal is eating well and behaving normally then there probably isn't much you can do aside from making sure their tank is clean and they are getting enough to eat. Cuttlefish are notoriously difficult to raise from eggs even in the best conditions. Realistically I wouldn't expect an egg that was taken from the wild and raised in a vodka bottle to survive very long, but you might get lucky with this one!

Good luck and keep us updated as things progress with your animal.
I happen across mating pairs of adult cuttlefish (most likely Sepia pharaonis from superficial ID and dive books) while out diving regularly. Have watched mating pairs and single females laying eggs deep into cracks in the reef (you can spot egg laying sites by stringy, white cobweblike filaments on the openings of the cavity). This time, didn't take any more. You were right, I don't have a system ready for them.
 

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