Safe tank mates for s.bandensis

[William Tyson]

i kept them with anglers and were fine but i think a cuttle would love to eat a slow moving sea horse

 

[cuttlegirl]

I am considering purchasing a 55 gallon from a guy with mushrooms and zooanthids in it. It also has a maroon clown and three blue damsels. I would set this tank up and when the cuttles get too big for the 30 gallon, move them to the 55 and move the fish to the 30... (as long as I can catch the damsels... ) As far as I can tell, the 'shrooms and zoo's will be OK with the S. bandensis. It's a great deal, with a set up sump and refugium and protein skimmer. His tank has been running for 3 years, the only catch is I have to tear it down myself and move it...

Is it the consensus that these types of soft corals can co-exist with the cuttles?

 

[Illithid]

I have mushrooms, zoos, a crocea clam, and xenia in a 30 with a single bandensis right now. I also have a serpent star, and a spotted mandarin, and a true percula clown (both will be moved out when the cuttle is bigger.)

I had lost 6 cuttles before in breeder nets so I decided to just put one in the tank with tons of food - and it has worked great. I am moving him to ghost shrimp today, as he is fat on pods right now but a little big for them.

The tank is a 30 gallon hex so I vertically stacked the rockwork so that there are tons of hiding spaces and ways to get out of the light. I got a 70w metal halide Sunpod for the coral, but the light is from the top center, so there are lots of shadowy areas and the LEDs work well for him too-lots of dusk and dawn hunting.

I'll see if I can borrow my brothers good digital camera to get some pics.

 

[DHyslop]

Sounds like a good plan! With a 55 and a 30 it'll start to look like my living room!

As an aside, I'll share my method for catching damsels: cut a piece of eggcrage to the cross-sectional size of the tank. After you've got most of the rockwork and corals out, slide the piece into the tank, and just push it towards the edge, trapping a damsel. You can usually catch the damsel with a net once it doesn't have room to zoom around.

Dan

 

[Paradox]

I had a sea horse and a yellow tang living with 6 bandensis!!

 

[Paradox]

To be sure I introduce the new inhabitant inside a plastic breeder and leave him in there for a day to observe the behaviour of the cuttles. Once I was sure I dont see any hostile actions, I slowly released them into the tank.

I would advise you to do the same, to ensure that my experiences were not isolated and abnormal.

 

[cuttlegirl]

I am going to purchase the 55 gallon, my plan is to just have the cuttles with the mushroom corals and the zooanthids and all of the fish will be in the 30 gallon (I only have two fish in the 30 gallon right now, a tiny percula clown and a six lined wrasse).

Next Friday (July 7th) I am going over to the guy's house and breaking down the tank and resetting it up at my place. The only potentially bad thing is that he used tap water and a conditioner instead of RO/DI. I will be making about 50 gallons beforehand to replace his water... it will be a couple of months before I move the cuttles, they are still too tiny for that tank...

Thanks for all the input!

 

[Paradox]

I wish i had more room to set up more tanks...

but that might be a bad thing tooo =)