Squid Availiblility

[JeremyTMoore]

What are the species availible, and what are some of the spots to purchase them?

 

[marinebio_guy]

I'm not aware of any store selling squid at least in the U.S., the main reason is they are probably the hardest of the cephs to care for. There are several area's in the U.S. that you can catch them.

 

[Jean]

Jeremy

Squid are very difficult to keep. Much more than a similar sized octopus or cuttlefish!

1) you need a ginormous tank which must be cylindrical
2)they eat mega quantities of food, which must be live for most species
3)they get butt burn and infections very easily
4) they startle easily

However if you can afford a 2-5000L round tank, a fish market of live food every day and have a vet on standby you just might manage to keep 1 or 2

There are however sepiolids that you can keep more easily but they are fairly boring! They tend to be night active and bury in sand during the day, things like the bobtail and bottletail squid.

Most home ceph keepers give up on the idea of keeping squid and go for octopus or cuttlefish (see the ceph care articles for info!)

Cheers

Jean

 

[JeremyTMoore]

Well I have and do keep octopus and cuttlefish. I know they are extremley difficult to keep as well, but I wanted to give it a shot. I'm still thiking about it, but its probably not gonna happen.

 

[monty]

Well I have and do keep octopus and cuttlefish. I know they are extremley difficult to keep as well, but I wanted to give it a shot. I'm still thiking about it, but its probably not gonna happen.

to TONMO! I'm sure many here would love to hear about your octo and cuttle experiences...

By most accounts, Jean summed up the squid-keeping difficulties pretty accurately, but if you'd like to learn more, Steve and his students reported a fair bit about their experience with them that you can find by searching for "squidcam," and I think some of the NRCC folks have described a bit about it as well. I think most labs that keep squids tend to just keep them for a few days, rather than keep them long-term, because they're so difficult...

 

[marinebio_guy]

I've kept 4 species of squid, but only one would be suitable for home aquaiums (Lolliguncula brevis) which grows to 3-4 in. and is found along the Gulf Coast. The minimal tank would be 4 ft long although longer is better. It would be best for it to be round or oval shaped and at least 18 in. high. You would need to feed them live fish at least twice a day (If they go a day without food they will start eating each other). One down side to squid is they live very short lives, this species 3-6 months.

Again, I'm aware of no one that will sell them to hobbiest, so unless you collect them yourself (which can be done) your out of luck. Most other species are to big for hobbiest at the NRCC we used tanks 20ft long.