• Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.

New babies

Well, it looks like my other sickly little guy didn't make it. I'm kind of surprised, even though he's been "on the roof" over the last day or so, he still seemed interested in food and was flashing colors earlier today.

Anyway, of my three left I've got two that are relatively big, and one smaller one, about equivalent in size to his newly deceased brother, but more active and presumably healthier.

I feel bad about not having food for them for a couple of days, it might have made the difference for this little guy (Sneezy had already stopped eating this weekend, so I think it was too late for him either way). But, live, learn and keep perspective.

Dan
 
cuttlegirl said:
Sorry to hear about your latest loss... :sad: Now you have triplets like me...

Well, I bought five because I expected some degree of attrition. I try to keep my relationship with my aquarium life relatively professional--with these two little cuttles I don't have the same sense of loss as many owners who lose their cephs after long and interactive lives.

Above all I have high hopes for my triplets, though.

Dan
 
We're still all new at this, but maybe we can begin to develop guidelines, like how much food 5 baby cuttles will eat in a day. Everyone seems to be underestimating. Just how much food must be onhand when they arrive?

Nancy
 
The problem I was having with the mysids was that they are very cannabalistic, so if I got 100, then within 5 days, I had 0. I was feeding the cuttles 2-3 per day so that meant I should have only used 15 mysids. I am having better luck keeping the shore shrimp alive and happy. They eat flake food, and I feed 1-2 of these shrimp to the cuttles every day.
 
A good day for cuttlefish

Well, today is what I would call the first "normal" day for my three extant cuttles, T+ one week. I fed them this morning about ten before I turned the lights on and saw each of them eat. It struck me today that my two biggest ones have grown noticeably. The smaller one shows all signs of health and vitality, but is a little shy about catching food. He's just a bit too cautious in swimming up and he'll launch his club a little too slow and tap the mysid instead of grabbing hold. Nonetheless after a couple tries he ate two this morning (the bigger ones each ate three or four).

I fed them again a few minutes ago and all ate. The little one was still a little too cautious and scared most of his potential meals away. I tossed in a small shore shrimp to see if the big guys would go after it, and oddly enough he landed by my little guy who proceeded to hook him in the gills and swim around for a second or two before letting go!

When I say the first normal day, this is the first time they've all accepted food and shown aggression more than once. They're getting used to me being near the tank, and they're more colorful during the day. If I can get the big guys to eat the shore shrimp, I can let them have their fill and then put mysids in so the little guy doesn't have competition for food in the coming week.

Dan
 
One of them is eating a shore shrimp as we speak!

I think there's a lightbulb that goes off in their heads at the pivotal moment, "Hey I can eat that thing!" One day you can drop it in, it'll swim right in front of them and they won't notice. The next day they've all got their arms out like dowsing rods the instant it hits the water.

I also like the way he grabbed hold of the telson and just eats his way forward :smile:

Dan
 
Well, for one of them, at least :smile:

The two bigger ones were both interested in the shrimp when I put him in, but I put a second shrimp in for the other cuttle and he wasn't interested. I'm going to run out of mysids tomorrow morning, I suspect he'll be ready then. I can't believe how fast they grow.

Dan
 

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