NEWBY - HELP PLEASE - HATCHING OF CUTTLE EGGS

[DWhatley]

Here is a link to the article I mentioned above:
Food imprinting, new evidence from the cuttlefish Sepia officinalis

Note that after it was published a few members experimented with bandensis without success. Unfortunately, I can't find the discussion.

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Thanks again !
I managed to catch some ghost/grass shrimp from the ocean this weekend. Interestingly they also acclimatise well to the warmer tank water (only 1 of 12 died with the experiment), and they are actually eating (Ocean Nutrition pellets). So maybe one can "gut load" the shrimp before feeding. The Amphipods are also still alive, but they aren't eating (tried flake, pellet and dried seaweed).

Another question,: What should the light intensity/photoperiod be over the hatchling tank ? (eggs are arriving on Wednesday)

Thanks !!

 

[DWhatley]

The shrimp won't need gut loading and will be fine as food when the cuttles are large enough but are way too big (and often aggressive) for new hatchlings.

We have not seen any issues with lighting that can be attributed to health problems. Cuttlefish eggs are laid in dark recesses so no lighting is required (this is true of most cephs throughout their lives but most of us do add lighting to enjoy the tank). The more lighting you have on their breeder net, the more issues you will have keeping it algae free. Anecdotally, adding a good sized clump of cheato to the hatchling tank seems to be helpful for giving them a place to hide as well as possibly an easier way to spot and catch food.

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Dammit ! I thought the shrimp might do it . The shrimp I acclimatised are the bigger ones (1" +), but most of the others I have are no more than 0.5 ", these still too big ?

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Herewith some pictures to gauge the sizes.

 

[rryyddeerr]

I have done almost exactly what you are doing now. my last two cuttles were raised entirely on amphipods and grass shrimp that i collected. my only regret is not trying to ween them off live shrimp sooner. its a bad ida to get stuck in the fall/winter without a source of food if thats all your cuttles will eat.
do your best to collect some tiny pods. it won't be long till the cuttles can take the smallest grass shrimp. their hunting ability is impressive.

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Update:
Received my eggs last night, so excited !! One can see the babies in the eggs (with a strong flashlight).They are about half the size of the egg casing they're in. Hopefully all goes well.

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Yeah!!! First baby hatched ( well sort of, got stuck in the egg and had to cut it free). Others eggs also almost there I think.

Some more expert help needed please @DWhatley , @rryyddeerr . How do one keep the amphipods in the water, as they all climb out of the water in the breeding net? Also what should the size of the pods/shrimps be for the newborn, the guy is tiny (4mm).

Thanks!!!!

 

[tonmo]

Oh boy - here you go!

 

[DWhatley]

Do you have cheato in the net? This will help keep any small food in a more accessible area as well as give a desirable hiding place for the cuttles. In general, amphipods are too large and copepods have not worked for new hatches. Tigerpods have a chance but the only consistent food has been live mysis. I found the mysis I got from Paul Sachs survived well in a round (bio-orb) tank with VERY gentle air flow (I used a soft air tube and lined the outer edges of the tank) and then feeding frozen daphnia twice a day (no water changes). Anything else I tried failed to keep the mysis alive but doing it this way, they lived for at least 3 weeks (two days was lucky prior to this method). Keeping the water cooler (no lights) possibly helped as well.