Hi New Here and have some ?s

[littlecuttle]

Hi everyone,
My names Alyssa and Im new here but not to reef keeping, have been in the hobby for 4yrs and I breed and raise seahorses. I recently have been reading about cuttlefish. They are amazing and I might setup a tank for one. I was thinking about a bandensis since I dont have much more room with 6 tanks already .

I was thinking of a 20gl with a single bandensis. The tank would be plumbed into my 46gl seahorse tank. It would have many caves and overhangs to hide and macro for cover. (I have plenty w/ the seahorses)The seahorses tank has a skimmer and sump/refugium plumbed in. Does my setup sound ok? Would krill, crabs and some frozen/live shrimp be a good diet? I have plenty of different foods for the reef and my eel. . Then my last question is where would i go about getting one? I know Righty breeds them so I tried to contact him, but I havent heard back from him. I hope he got my message.
Thanks alot in advance. Glad to be part of the Tonmo group!
Alyssa

 

[Jean]

Alyssa,

You should check out Righty's article on how to keep and breed cuttlefish over on the cuttlefish care Q & A forum.

From what he says you may be pushing it to keep one in a 20G, he recommends a 30G which is taller rather than wide!

The food sounds great....don't be tempted to use freshwater species for anything other than a treat............you'll find I have a bee in my bonnet about that topic and I tend to about it a bit

The other thing you will want is a sand bed, most cuttles like to bury themselves.

Righty has been breeding them and so, I believe has Jim at Octopets (www.otcopets.com)

Cheers

Jean

 

[littlecuttle]

Hi Jean,
Thanks for the welcome.
Yes I was planning on a sand bed, I dont like BB very much. The 20gl I have is actually a 20gl high, so it is really tall. The seahorses like height too and this was their tank before I upgraded. I wasnt going to really use FW fish anyway except for a treat, but thanks for the word of warning. I will try and email Jim also and see if he has any. Thanks alot!
Alyssa

 

[OCTO OAKLEY]

Uh oh! I will step in for a sec and give some words of wisdom ha ha! first of all your tall 20 g. is not to good of an idea, the cuttle would probablly end up getting butt burn from the lack of space to swim! Oh and is it a hex or a regular tall?

 

[littlecuttle]

It is just a reg tall. The demensions are 20"long,24"high,and 10"wide. It is really a pretty big tank if you look at it compared to a reg 20gl long. I was planning on getting eggs or a juvie so it really wouldnt be that large. Righty did say in his article that you could keep one in a 20gl high, thats why I am thinking about this. Im brand new to this stuff so I dont really know what would be good yet. But looking at the size of the tank vs how small the cuttle would be, I really dont think he'll be getting butt burn but maybe Im wrong. Thats why Im asking questions first.
Alyssa

 

[tonmo]

Sorry for the side-bar here, but welcome, and thanks for becoming our 3,500th registered TONMO.com member!

 

[Thales]

I think a 20 tall would be fine, but I feel better with a 30 tall.

I haven't yet seen a bandensis with butt burn.

 

[littlecuttle]

Hi righty,
I think Ill start with a 20gl, then you can always upgrade. Nothing wrong with a bigger tank! Would you have any cuttles available in then near future if I did go and set this up?
Thx
ALyssa

 

[main_board]

I just have a question regarding littlecuttle's queries: Should extra means of filtration be added to the setup if she's going to tie the cuttle tank in with the seahorse's setup? (I'm actually not sure if you are planning on adding anything extra or not, littlecuttle, but just thought I'd ask.) Cephalopods are pretty messy animals (though a small bandensis might be an exception) and it's my understanding that seahorses are pretty picky when it comes to water quality. I'm just not sure if tying the cuttle in with the seahorses will sufficiently handle the increased bio-load, though of course this is dependent on how much filtration you've already got! I imagine you've thought of this already, given your experience, but the thought crossed my mind, curiousity.

and congrats on being lucky number 3500!

Cheers!

 

[cthulhu77]

Welcome to Tonmo ! It seems the cuttlebug has bitten quite a few members as of late!
greg

 

[littlecuttle]

Thanks greg for the welcome. Pretty cool to be 3,500 lol.
Main Board,
I have alot of filtration running though there already and I can always add a small skimmer to the actual cuttle tank for extra filtration. I dont think the cuttle will add that much bioload, and as dainty as they seem, seahorses produce ALOT of waste b/c they have no stomachs and food passes very quickly thru them! Strange little fact I learned.
Alyssa

 

[Jean]

seahorses produce ALOT of waste b/c they have no stomachs and food passes very quickly thru them! Strange little fact I learned.
Alyssa

That's a wee fact that ALWAYS stuns aquarium visitors when we tell them.................especially as we have H. abdominalis which look like they should have plenty of stomach!!!!

J

 

[main_board]

I dont think the cuttle will add that much bioload, and as dainty as they seem, seahorses produce ALOT of waste b/c they have no stomachs and food passes very quickly thru them! Strange little fact I learned.

I figured you'd know what you were doing. Very interesting indeed, good to learn these little points here and there. Out of curiosity, what is your feeding regime? Also, is there any one thing that you feel really contributes to success with seahorses?

Cheers!

 

[littlecuttle]

I feed them mysis shrimp twice a day, and they snack on pods all day. I think the one thing that really adds to my sucess is being ready for anything thats thrown at you. That means researching possible problems before they happen. If all of the sudden your seahorse gets an air bubble in his pouch, you have to know what to do before it gets worse. Or if they get tail rot, have meds on hand. Thats what really saves them, because when they get fatally sick, it happens fast. Thats really what helps alot!
Alyssa

 

[main_board]

I feed them mysis shrimp twice a day, and they snack on pods all day. I think the one thing that really adds to my sucess is being ready for anything thats thrown at you. That means researching possible problems before they happen. If all of the sudden your seahorse gets an air bubble in his pouch, you have to know what to do before it gets worse.

As with any pet, research is crucial! They get air bubbles in their pouches? Now you've sparked my interest, what the heck do you do about that? And is your setup just big enough to allow a culture of pods to exist inside the tank? Very fascinating!

Cheers!