[Cuttlefish]: My Bandensis, Sugarbear, Clyde, Skelator, & Patricia

[Squirlntus]

The story of my four Sepia Bandensis starts at the end of my last job. I was working for a marine wholesaler when Clyde hatched. I started out by catching him copepods, amphipods, and mysids from our systems to feed him. I soon moved him over to ghost shrimp that were gut loaded with omega one marine flakes.
Thats when we found sugarbear. Sugarbear had escaped the nursery basket upon hatching and lived the first part of his/her? Life wandering around a tank with my adult cuttlefish Bubba. Sugarbear was already an inch long when we found her? She was captured and introduced to Clyde. Theu got along well and took to eating ghost shrimp and peppermint shrimp. (Awe the good old days when I had a large companies resources at my disposal) that was about the time I put in my two week notice. My tank at home had been cycling for more than six months. I had a nitrate problem and wanted to be absolutely sure my tank was ready before I brought my precious babies home. A week after I started my new job I went back and picked up Sugarbear and Clyde. I also picked out two of the largest hatchlings I could find.
To my dismay the cuttles had been moved from the larger tank in our shrimp system, into about 2 inches of water filled with detritus, and barely any flow. Sugarbear was doing what I call the death spin when I pulled her. Clyde didnt look like he was doing so well either. I rushed them home to start acclimating them. Shug was spinning when I pulled her, when I bagged her, when I placed her in the bucket for acclimation. Locals were looking at me like I was crazy for buying a cuttle that was doing the death spin. But I had been working with her and it was either she came home with me and had a chance, or she stayed and died. I wasnt about to leave her. After about five minutes of acclimation she stopped spinning. She hovered up to where the drip line was and stayed underneath it till I was ready to put them into the nursery basket. When I put her in she didnt spin at all. I guess she liked my water.
I put a shrimp in with them and skelator was the first to eat. I was a bit suprised. They all ate that day. Even shy little Patricia.

 

[Squirlntus]

They were all eatimg very well. I would have to feed them in order of size or else the bigger cuttlefish would eat all the small shrimp and the smaller ones would be intimidated by the larger ones.
I had been breeding cherry shrimp and the babies were a perfect size for the smaller ones. Skelator was always very bold, but Patricia has always been very timid. She always needed the tiny hatchling neocardinias. I decided it was time to switch them over to frozen food. I think thats when the problems started. I tried moving the frozen krill around with tongs to get them to think it was still alive, but they just seemed to get irritated. I tried sewing a piece of string to a krill and floating it around. But theu would just do this wierd hermit crab thing where they would pretend they were hermit crabs, then they wouldnt eat it. I tried sand crabs from the bait store. They didnt like that. I tried ghost shrimp that I had frozen, they didnt like that either. It seemed like the harder I tried the more irritated they got with me. Finally one day I tried not feeding them for a day to see if that would help them eat the frozen food better. It works with seahorses, why not cuttlefish? That was a mistake! Thats when Clyde started attacking Sugarbear. I gave that up and went back to feeding them live food. Only they were suddenly suspicious of everything I tried to give them. All excpet Patricia. She was still intimidated. I started giving her frozen mysis and she took to them immediatly and without issue.
Sugarbear was starting to get antsy about getting out of the breeder basket. So the day Clyde attacked her I let her out into the main tank. She did well and found her food well and likes to watch me through the side of the tank. I often wake up with her watching me sleep. She begs for food and is much happier.
Clyde started becoming fixated on her through the nursery basket. He wouldnt pay attention to anything else. But he wasnt displaying like the males in vidoes do. I thought it would be better for him to come out too. He was big enough and eating well.
The second I let him out he went straight for sugarbear. He turned red and flat. He flattened his arms out flat and wide. Then he approached her like she was a she was a shrimp. Then he grabbed her side like he was trying to eat her. Suddenly there was ink! Tons of it!!! And more and more! And the whole tank was black! I was panicked! First thing I did was track Clyde down and put him back in the basket. Then I noticed my water flow was spreading the ink around. I unplugged everything and siphoned as much ink as I could. I only had five gallons of water. It wasnt enough. The tank was still a cloudy black. My skimmer has never worked the way it should, but my water quality has always been really good so I wasnt worried about replacing it. That was a huge regret. I posted here and got some advice, ran to the store for some carbon, and introduced an extra filter, two bags of filter carbon, loads of extra filter floss, and an airstone. They made it to the next day and I did a big water change. The water cleared up. I replaced my black filter floss and checked my water quality. Everything looked good and everyone was still alive.

 

[tonmo]

Wow! That's a lot of learning and a lot of drama

This is particularly great... some would consider it a point of no return; not so apparently!

After about five minutes of acclimation she stopped spinning.

 

[Squirlntus]

Wow! That's a lot of learning and a lot of drama

This is particularly great... some would consider it a point of no return; not so apparently!

I totally thought it was a point of no return. I thought she was gone. But I wasnt leaving her there. For sure she would have died.

 

[tonmo]

well done! do you have any pics of these characters?

 

[Squirlntus]

Yes. I was trying to upload video, but it keeps sayimg the videos are too big.

 

[Squirlntus]

Clyde didnt make it. He was 3 1/2 months old. He didnt want to eat for the past 2 days. He was fixated on Sugarbear and wouldnt pay attention to anything else. My ammonia is at zero. My nitrite is at 0 my nitrate is at 0. My ph is 8.2 My temp is 78 my salinity is 1.026 I dont know what happened. They eat ghost shrimp. Do you think they could have gotten internal parasites? Or maybe they need a different food? Skelator hasnt been eating very enthusiastically either. That is out of character. Im worried. Sugarbear and Patricia are still eating thank god.

 

[Squirlntus]

RIP Clyde

 

[Squirlntus]

Sugarbear and Patricia

 

[tonmo]

sorry for your loss and thanks for the pics.

have you tried uploading your video to our photo/video gallery? I think there's a bigger limit there. we are working on optimizing this experience.

 

[Squirlntus]

Thank you. Its all part of it. I just do my best to avoid it.
I will try to upload my videos to the video gallery!! Thanks

 

[tonmo]

I will try to upload my videos to the video gallery!! Thanks

Great... and I *just now* increased our file limit from 100mb to 250mb. Hopefully that helps.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Where are you getting your ghost shrimp? Is it possible that they are being treated with something that is making the cuttles sick? I'm guessing that SugarBear is a male - usually it's male/male aggression...

 

[Squirlntus]

Ya. I think Sugarbear is a male. I dont see the same colors or postures coming from Sugar, but im sure Clyde wouldnt have attacked had Sugarbear been female. Unless that was his wacky idea of a matimg attempt. Im not sure.
The ghost shrimp I get from a fish store. Or from the wholesaler. I know ghost shrimp are not what they would normally eat so I was worried about nutritional value, but it seems that research suggests that it is fine for them. I considered the possibility that they might be medicated, but I know the wholesaler doesnt medicate their shrimp systems. It seems that Sugarbear, Skelator and Patricia are doing fine and eating well So im relieved, just wish I knew what happened.

 

[Tomh]

Hi what do you feed for ghost shrimp, I just got a pair of Flamboyant cuttles and i was told to fatten up ghost shrimp with vitamin enriched foods then feed to cuttles. Sorry for your loss. Tom