NEWBY - HELP PLEASE - HATCHING OF CUTTLE EGGS

[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.

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Thanks!

Yip I have cheato in the breeder net. The problem I have with the locally caught Mysis is not keeping them alive, (they stay alive in round aerated buckets for more than a week), but die within 20-30 seconds after introducing them to the rearing tank's water. Like I've mentioned, I have not been successful in aclimatising them to the warmer water. Also the locally caught Mysis are more than double the length of the new born cuttle. I'm starting to stress out!!

 

[DWhatley]

Oops, we have a couple simultaneous new cuttle threads going and I miss-ided your last post when replying . Can you get something called a "tiger" pod there? I have little hope that they will work but have seen them used in conjunction with mysis with success. Once they start hunting and eating, they can take down the larger prey but getting to that point is a major hurdle.

When you have collected the mysis, are there other, smaller animals in the tow? Adding a brine shrimp net filtered plankton tow has not been tried (or at least reported and you risk adding unwanted bacteria or other things to the tank that may be undesirable) but might be worth a last resort effort.

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Thanks, DWhatley !

Nope, nothing else in the net when catching Mysis. Some of the Amphipods/Grasshrimp I have are tiny though (0.11 - 0.19 inches, and shrimp 0.40-0.60 inch).The problem with the pods are that they all climb out of the breeder net. Looks like I'm going to have to go scratch around rock pools and under rocks to see what I can find. Will also try a finer net in the spot where I catch the shrimp. This is soooo frustrating !

 

[rryyddeerr]

A. my advice can hardly be construed as expert, but thank you very much.
B. they are climbing out?? that's a new one to me. mine zip all over the place and hang onto the net, but seem to be relatively content to stay in the water.
C. amphipods come in a variety of sizes. the ones i collected are very small and the newest ones are probably 2-3mm in length and the cuttles I've kept have had little trouble mastering them.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Thanks, DWhatley !

Nope, nothing else in the net when catching Mysis. Some of the Amphipods/Grasshrimp I have are tiny though (0.11 - 0.19 inches, and shrimp 0.40-0.60 inch).The problem with the pods are that they all climb out of the breeder net. Looks like I'm going to have to go scratch around rock pools and under rocks to see what I can find. Will also try a finer net in the spot where I catch the shrimp. This is soooo frustrating !

Are they climbing out to get to air? Some pods are terrestrial and get their oxygen from the air...

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Hi All !
Thanks for the replies. Yip, the Amphipods (95%) climb out of the water, but a few hide in the Cheato. I've now added a piece of dried seaweed to the net breeder in the hopes that they will swim down to have a munch, but no luck so far. I'll be collecting some Mysis again on Friday with our local Public Aquarium guys, to see if the cuttle will be able to catch some before they die (previous experiment they only stayed alive for 30 seconds after adding them to the warmer tank water). I'm not going to give up !

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Update:
9 out of 10 of the eggs hatched. Trying Mysis again.

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Thank you.

I'm seriously worried ! None of the hatchlings are eating. Tried amphipods, small shore shrimp, and mysis (like I mentioned, the mysids die too quickly). Tried more current ( as was suggested by cuttlegirl), to keep the dead mysids moving, no luck. This is sooooo frustrating.

 

[DWhatley]

The only suggestion I have is to keep trying as sometimes they don't eat immediately and often eat at night. If you are keeping the mysis alive in a separate bucket, be sure to add some after dark.

 

[CUTTLE-ADVENTURE]

Thanks again @DWhatley, you are always on the ball !!

I've been adding amphipods/mysis in the evening and at 5 in the mornings. Hopefully some of them eat.