Squid Keeping

[kingsnar]

Why does no one keep squids on tonmo? Are they difficult to keep? I often dive in the puget sound and I always find tons of squid, don't seem like their care would be any different from keeping an octo or cuttle.

 

[Animal Mother]

My understanding is their requirements are more extreme than those of cuttles and octopus. I'm sure someone else can tell you better.

They tend to smash themselves into walls and they require colder water, in general.

My girlfriend wants some small ones, Bobtail Squids, and I remember reading about someone keeping a few, but they are extremely hard to find, plus as mentioned, can't meet their requirements.

I could be wrong though.

 

[marinebio_guy]

I have kept about 4-5 different species. They usually require a larger tank (oval or circular in design). Also generally have to have live food. They can be difficult to ship. And they do not live very long about the same life span of cuttlefish 4-12 months

 

[Jean]

It depends on the species and family of squids. The bobtailed and bottle tailed squids can be kept but tend to be VERY nocturnal and thus can be rather boring!!!

Loliginid squid such as the California market squids or the Australasian Broad squid can be kept but you need much more tank per animal (many many litres more) than say an octopus and as marine bio guys says the tank needs to be circular or oval and you need to be prepared to get (catch or pay for!) HEAPS of live food such as krill & mysids when they are young and fish when they are older.

Onychoteuthids (Eg warty squid) and Ommastrephids (eg Arrow squid, humbolt squid) have even more extreme requirements.

For a home pet...............I'd stick to octopus or cuttles!

Cheers

Jean

 

[kingsnar]

Thanks guys.

One squid commonly encountered in the Puget Sound is the Stubby Squid (Rossia pacifica). According to one article on the cephalopod page stubby squids are actually easily kept in aquariums. Heres the LINK to that article. I guess they mostly eat small shrimp, If I could get a round tank and a chiller do you think I could keep one of these guys? I have a constant supply of live shrimp.

 

[Jean]

Thanks guys.

One squid commonly encountered in the Puget Sound is the Stubby Squid (Rossia pacifica). According to one article on the cephalopod page stubby squids are actually easily kept in aquariums. Heres the LINK to that article. I guess they mostly eat small shrimp, If I could get a round tank and a chiller do you think I could keep one of these guys? I have a constant supply of live shrimp.

Yup Rossia should be easy to keep as they are either bottle or bob tails (I forget which, we don't get them here ). They will eat small shrimps. They will need a sand bed to bury themselves in and are I believe pretty nocturnal.................their burying behaviour can be interesting to watch though (at least in our wee Sepiolid types it is!).

Cheers

Jean

 

[Animal Mother]

Bobtail's, says so in the article.

 

[Jean]

Bobtail's, says so in the article.

Ta........I ALWAYS get those muddled!!! We call them cuttlefish in NZ!

Cheers

Jean

 

[kingsnar]

Will they still need a rounded tank since they spend most of their time in/on the sand bed?

 

[Animal Mother]

Doubtful. The article says they spend most of their time on the bottom.

 

[kingsnar]

Nice, I might get some then since they probably don't need a rounded tank.

PS- What octo species is in your avatar AM?

 

[Mola Mola]

Hmmm, interesting, I was always under the impression that Squids were impossible to keep.

 

[Jean]

Hmmm, interesting, I was always under the impression that Squids were impossible to keep.

They pretty much are impossible for the home aquarist. There are some being held in Galveston, my understanding is that they are mainly (all?)loliginids which seem to be slightly easier to keep than say ommastrephids or onychoteuthids..........................but you still need mega bucks, mega tanks, mega food source!!!!!!!!!!


As for the bob and bottle tails.......they're not quite the same as these other groups...........I tend to think of them as being more akin to cuttlefish. So yes Kingsnar you can keep them in normal tanks! We kept our Sepioloidea pacifica in rectangular holding tanks and they were fine (even bred!) .........although our display tanks are cylindrical!

Cheers

Jean

 

[Animal Mother]

Nice, I might get some then since they probably don't need a rounded tank.

PS- What octo species is in your avatar AM?

That's my little Mercatoris, Einy.