For the nitrates, you might try just a bare tank (they don't need the bottom substrate for anything). I will sometimes put LR but never sand in with my shrimp. The ones I have now are in a 2 gallon but there are not that many. When I get a bunch I use a 10 gallon with a large cascade but no bottom substrate.
[Cuttlefish Eggs]: Ray's 125G Cuttle Rearing System
- Thread starter magnetar68
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Biopellets or Vodka might be a good idea.
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8 Week Update (at 8.5 Weeks)
They get an upgraded pad: a 20G long with plenty of (easily removable) hidding places.
They get an upgraded pad: a 20G long with plenty of (easily removable) hidding places.
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11 Weeks Update: Pics & Feeding Video
I still have all 8 of the original hatch 11 weeks ago. They are getting much larger now that they are eating larger feed. They spend the day very well embedded in my Red Grape Algae (at the right in the first picture below). At night, they are more active (I have a red LED light that illuminates part of the tank at night so I can observe their behavior). There is one that seems to be about 2x larger than the others. I have been feeding 8-10 Palaemonetes Vulgaris once per day at night after the lights go out. Most of them are waiting by the front of tank, but one or two do not seem to come out, but they all must be eating. Once or twice a week I feed in the morning as well.
I bought my most recent batch of 200 P. Vulgaris from Sachs Systems Aquaculture and was very happy with their customer service and the quality of the shipment.
Here are some pics and video:
Their current tank (20G Long plumpbed into my larger system with a glass-holes.com overflow):
Blending in with the Substrate:
Feeding Video
I still have all 8 of the original hatch 11 weeks ago. They are getting much larger now that they are eating larger feed. They spend the day very well embedded in my Red Grape Algae (at the right in the first picture below). At night, they are more active (I have a red LED light that illuminates part of the tank at night so I can observe their behavior). There is one that seems to be about 2x larger than the others. I have been feeding 8-10 Palaemonetes Vulgaris once per day at night after the lights go out. Most of them are waiting by the front of tank, but one or two do not seem to come out, but they all must be eating. Once or twice a week I feed in the morning as well.
I bought my most recent batch of 200 P. Vulgaris from Sachs Systems Aquaculture and was very happy with their customer service and the quality of the shipment.
Here are some pics and video:
Their current tank (20G Long plumpbed into my larger system with a glass-holes.com overflow):
Blending in with the Substrate:
Feeding Video
They look HUGE compared to when they first hatched. How long before the go into the main tank?
Paul et al (daughter and one other employee last I communicated) are great and you won't find a more personable, reliable supplier for the shrimp or fiddlers. Anecdotally, the one item they do sell that others have had better luck with is the mysis. Paul's are wild caught and the captive raised seem to do somewhat better as far as survival. His are cheaper in the short run and likely just as good for the cuttles but don't seem to survive as long in an aquarium environment.
Paul et al (daughter and one other employee last I communicated) are great and you won't find a more personable, reliable supplier for the shrimp or fiddlers. Anecdotally, the one item they do sell that others have had better luck with is the mysis. Paul's are wild caught and the captive raised seem to do somewhat better as far as survival. His are cheaper in the short run and likely just as good for the cuttles but don't seem to survive as long in an aquarium environment.
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i was going to put them in the display tank next week or the week after.
Nice setup and great videos and pics. I am jealous... was planning on getting another batch of eggs this fall but I don't know if I can wait that long... lol
They look large enough to put in the main tank at this point. Infact they are mostly full grown. Are you getting any aggression amongst the males yet?
They look large enough to put in the main tank at this point. Infact they are mostly full grown. Are you getting any aggression amongst the males yet?
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I put them in the display tank last weekend. Now at 14 weeks, all 8 cuttles are in their new digs.
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Coming up on 17 weeks post hatch this Saturday. I still have 8 cuttles. They are feeding on frozen saltwater "grass" shrimp (Crangon sp.) from Mike's Bait and the last of the live P. vulgaris from Sachs Aquaculture Systems. The frozen are much cheaper. For $5 I get about 10 days worth. I have not seen any aggressive behavior, but I did notice some mating behavior tonight. For now, there seems to be enough space that each cuttle get's their own rock/hiding space and they leave each other alone. I imagine this will change. During the day they rarely come out, but at lights out most of them swim around. It's hard to get a count of all eight and i need to count them as I feed shrimp with my feeding stick. Last night, however, was the first time in a while I could actually count all 8 because they were all out.
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Seeing Aggression
18.5 Weeks and I am seeing some aggression between some of the cuttles. As a result, I had to remove a cuttle tonight and put it back into the 20G long rearing tank.
Yesterday, I noticed that one of the cuttles had a white mark on the end of its mantle and it was covered in circles made by thin white outlines on its skin (see pic below -- it's the best I could do for now). I will call him "Chafe" and assume he is a male although I don't know that. Chafe was also reluctant to feed yesterday. Today, Chafe ate OK, but I woke up in the middle of the night in order to observe what was going on when the cuttles were active at night.
Tonight, Chafe was solo floating around in the tank near the top of the water column. As he made his was down towards another cuttle burried in the sand (the burried cuttle was displaying mainly white colors to blend into the substrate so I will call her - another assumption - "Milky"). As Chafe got close to Milky, a large cuttle (aka "Brutus") came quickly from a nearby rock, displaying very dark (looked black under the red lights) colors and flashed spots and stripes. He then proceeded to attack Chafe and would not let go. Brutus dragged Chafed around the tank and while Chafed broke away a couple of times, Brutus came back at him.
Fortunately, it was not difficult to remove Chafe. He was too nervous to go down, so I was able to scoop him into a plastic container and move him to the 20G Long in the fish room (this tank is plumped into the same system as the display tank). My hope is that he will heal and be OK in this smaller tank until I can find him a home, but I don't know what type of healing cuttles do.
18.5 Weeks and I am seeing some aggression between some of the cuttles. As a result, I had to remove a cuttle tonight and put it back into the 20G long rearing tank.
Yesterday, I noticed that one of the cuttles had a white mark on the end of its mantle and it was covered in circles made by thin white outlines on its skin (see pic below -- it's the best I could do for now). I will call him "Chafe" and assume he is a male although I don't know that. Chafe was also reluctant to feed yesterday. Today, Chafe ate OK, but I woke up in the middle of the night in order to observe what was going on when the cuttles were active at night.
Tonight, Chafe was solo floating around in the tank near the top of the water column. As he made his was down towards another cuttle burried in the sand (the burried cuttle was displaying mainly white colors to blend into the substrate so I will call her - another assumption - "Milky"). As Chafe got close to Milky, a large cuttle (aka "Brutus") came quickly from a nearby rock, displaying very dark (looked black under the red lights) colors and flashed spots and stripes. He then proceeded to attack Chafe and would not let go. Brutus dragged Chafed around the tank and while Chafed broke away a couple of times, Brutus came back at him.
Fortunately, it was not difficult to remove Chafe. He was too nervous to go down, so I was able to scoop him into a plastic container and move him to the 20G Long in the fish room (this tank is plumped into the same system as the display tank). My hope is that he will heal and be OK in this smaller tank until I can find him a home, but I don't know what type of healing cuttles do.
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So sorry about Chafe... Brutus is definitely a male. and those marks have been seen before by other cuttle keepers. My two males fought (I had two males and one female), sometimes twirling underwater, but I never saw that many marks on either of my males. Is Chafe still floating in the 20 gallon? The really white mark near the rear of Chafe is worrisome, I have seen cuttles get bacteria in their cuttlebones after this type of abrasion.
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Chafe is now acting like a normal cuttle and eating in the 20G all by himself. Richard Ross chimed in on my post in my local area reefer forum and confirmed that is an unusually high number of marks. I noticed that two other cuttles have a few bit marks, but not nearly as many as Chafe. I either have 2 males & 5 females or 3 males & 4 females in the display tank. I will just need to keep am eye on things, but I expected to have losses if I had too many males.
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i am down to 4 cuttles in the dt. one went to a foster home,one died (i assume from fighting), and 2 are in support tanks but doing fine. in the dt, i have one male and three females. today, there was a batch of eggs. first clutch. about 10 eggs.
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Picture of the eggs. Looks to be about 15 of them.
