• 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.

S. officinalis hatched

zeekat

Blue Ring
Registered
Joined
Nov 14, 2010
Messages
41
I was lucky enough to find some eggs that were laying on a beach.

The eggs were suspended with a monofilament in a small 3 l container placed on top of my medditerrranean tank at 17°C.

The eggs hatched about a week ago.

The babies are fed with gammarus, praunus, live bloodworms and daphnia.
Today some took frozen mysis for the first time! I gues I got lucky with this.
 

Attachments

  • conv_304343.jpg
    conv_304343.jpg
    102 KB · Views: 119
  • conv_304344.jpg
    conv_304344.jpg
    78.6 KB · Views: 139
  • conv_304345.jpg
    conv_304345.jpg
    56.3 KB · Views: 118
They are now in a 3 l tank placed on top of the mediterranean which is 220/70/40 cm.
I have about 40 so will need to give some to friends.
 
Unfortunatelty I know about the minimum requirements for tank size:sad:, but I have no plans on adding the cuttles to my Mediterranean tank as they will devoure everything and I'm very fond of my Lepadogaster.

So I plan on adding a new system that is 250/100/70 cm that is about 1700 l (440g for those not using the metric system)

On a side note I tried small woodlice today and they were taken!
I thought woodlice are cructacea and they have very close marine relatives so let' s give it a try.

I guess I got lucky that some of the babies already take frozen mysis after a week.
 
zeekat,
It would be terrific if you would continue to journal these with us! I would like to move this thread to our Journals and Photos forum (with your permission) in hopes that you will keep us informed over the life of your serendipitous find.
 
We rarely have access to more than the wonderful bandensis in the US so it is really great to have journals for two different species (see Ramses for the broadclub journal) this year.
 
zeekat;166479 said:
On a side note I tried small woodlice today and they were taken!
I thought woodlice are cructacea and they have very close marine relatives so let' s give it a try.

Do you mean terrestrial woodlice? I would give those as a treat, but not as a steady diet.
 
I never planned to give the woodlice as a steady diet, but the more variety the better. I consider the bloodworms (mosquito larvae) not a good food but they 'contaminated' my daphnia culture and some of the cuttles like them.

Btw research has shown that fatty acid profiles aren' t all that different between freshwater and marine crustaceans.

Now about 50 % of the small cuttles eat frozen mysis.
 
The oldest ones now 2 weeks old. Stil about 20 eggs need to hatch.
And some more pics...
 

Attachments

  • conv_297322.jpg
    conv_297322.jpg
    78.8 KB · Views: 157
  • conv_297323.jpg
    conv_297323.jpg
    80.4 KB · Views: 156
  • conv_297324.jpg
    conv_297324.jpg
    67.7 KB · Views: 107
and then one where one catches a frozen mysis.
Sometimes it looks as if they have a square on the back.
 

Attachments

  • conv_297325.jpg
    conv_297325.jpg
    71.4 KB · Views: 137
  • conv_297326.jpg
    conv_297326.jpg
    71 KB · Views: 132
  • conv_297327.jpg
    conv_297327.jpg
    70.8 KB · Views: 147
zeekat,
Have you a reference for the marine vs FW crustaceans? I have been trying to find data on this as well because it would open up several foods if we can look at the numbers. I started a thread to compare some of the animals (lobster, shrimp, crayfish and crab) but could only find fat vs protein, not the kind of fats and would like to find and record on that thread any research any one comes across. So much is hearsay on this that it is hard to make an educated call.
 
I' ll see if I can find the references, could be on my laptop at work.

If I remember correctly there are some papers on Sepia culture using alternative prey, but I could only read the abstracts. I think it was procambarus. Artemia failed miserably.
 
The use of alternative diets to culture juvenile cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis: effects on growth and lipid composition

1. A. FERREIRA1,
2. L. MARQUEZ2,
3. E. ALMANSA2,3,
4. J.P. ANDRADE1,
5. A. LORENZO4,
6. P.M. DOMINGUES2
Abstract

The effects of feeding three natural frozen diets, grass shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.), crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) and fish (Sardina pilchardus) and two semi-humid artificial diets (based on fish or shrimp powder) to the cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, were analysed. Growth rate and feeding rate [FR; % body weight (BW) day−1] and food conversions (FC, %) were determined. Cuttlefish fed shrimp grew larger (3.8% BW day−1) and had the highest FC, followed by those fed crayfish, and sardine. The highest FR was obtained for cuttlefish fed crayfish (10.5% BW day−1). Although both artificial diets were accepted, none produced growth. Digestive gland-to-body weight ratio (DG/BW ratio) was calculated for animals fed each diet. A positive correlation (r = 0.94) between cuttlefish ingestion FR and DG weight was obtained. Mortality occurred mainly during the last week, and some cannibalism occurred among cuttlefish fed artificial diets. Finally, lipid composition of diets, DG and mantle of each group were analysed. Sardine diet was characterized by high levels of triacylglycerol (TG), whereas the main difference between shrimp and crayfish was the higher n-3/n-6 ratio found in shrimp. Changes in the lipid composition of DG were related to diet, but did not correlate with growth data. A strong loss of TG in the DG of artificial diets groups was notable. No differences in mantle lipid composition among the natural diets were found, but artificial diet groups showed higher contents of neutral lipids in their mantle respect to natural diets. According to results obtained, crayfish (P. clarkii) could be used as an alternative prey for rearing S. officinalis compared with shrimp. Artificial diets showed the worst effects in growth and mortality as well as the stronger influence on DG and mantle lipid composition of cuttlefish.
 

Shop Amazon

Shop Amazon
Shop Amazon; support TONMO!
Shop Amazon
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon and affiliated sites.
Back
Top