Rosia Pacifica Questions

[NickA5582]

Hi, I decided to get a stubby squid instead of a cuttle and have a few questions.
How big of a tank will they need? Also, how deep of a sand bed should I have for one? Can more than one be in a tank? Are they as messy as octos? Should I get the tank sealed of with duct tape, or do they not try to escape? Should I put live rock in the tank, or just sand? Also, do they ship well? Thanks in advance.

 

[Jean]

Re: Rosia Pacifica Questions

Hi, I decided to get a stubby squid instead of a cuttle and have a few questions.
How big of a tank will they need? Also, how deep of a sand bed should I have for one? Can more than one be in a tank? Are they as messy as octos? Should I get the tank sealed of with duct tape, or do they not try to escape? Should I put live rock in the tank, or just sand? Also, do they ship well? Thanks in advance.

Hi Nick

We don't get Rossia here but we have a relative Sepioloidea (different family but has similar behaviours), which we've held and bred. They need a minimum of 2-3 cm sand depth..not too coarse! You can have more than one to a tank and yep they can be messy eaters. I guess some live rock would be fine but remember that these animals need to bury so you will need more open space than with an octi. Not sure about the shipping. But I suspect they will be relatively sensitive as we have lost some transporting by boat from the catch site to the lab.

One thing you might want to consider is that Rossia etc are very nocturnal!

Cheers

J

 

[NickA5582]

Thanks Jean; anyone know if there are ways of identifying if its a male or female squid? Also, would my 20 gallon be okay to breed them in, and are they easy to take care of as baby squids?
Thanks again.

 

[Jean]

Thanks Jean; anyone know if there are ways of identifying if its a male or female squid? Also, would my 20 gallon be okay to breed them in, and are they easy to take care of as baby squids?
Thanks again.

A 20 Gall should be OK but be prepared you WILL lose some! They're reasonably easy care...The biggest prob we have (apart from getting enough food.......they're little pigs!) is cannibalism, even at relatively low stocking densities (remember I'm not talking about Rossia here) and even when fed to excess.


Steve....have you held Sepioloidea ? Any ideas????

J

 

[NickA5582]

Thanks again, what should I feed the baby squid? I'll be getting the shrimp on the Buy, Sell, And Trade forum for the adults.

 

[joel_ang]

Brine shrimp can be fed but are said to cause some problems, I'm not sure but you could try amphipods for the babies.

 

[Colin]

Any mysis or gammarus shrimp would be better than artemia, but getting them live is more tricky

 

[joel_ang]

Its kinda easy to get frozen mysis ( well here anyway), you could try those.

 

[Colin]

Most shops should sell packets of frozen mysis/krill just dont know if juvs would accept them if they were dead. I know that the cuttles i had didnt take dead until they were about 50mm or so

 

[Jean]

With our Sepioloidea we used mysids, and mixed plankton (there are certain advantages to being right on the harbour!!) Nick I forget where you are but if you're anywhere near the ocean you can find yourself a brackish area (drains that open into the sea are good!) and catch your own mysids!

We've used artemia in a pinch but they MUST be enriched otherwise it's a bit like us living on a diet of lettuce You can enrich using something like Selcon (expensive!) but what we do is feed the artemia (on artemia food and rice flour!) about half an hour before you feed the cephs. Then feed the artemia to the cephs but I have to emphasise this is emergency food only! It's not suitable for long term feeding.

Cheers

J