Tank information

[L8 2 RISE]

Since I saw my first cuttle in an aquarium Ive always loved them , but only recently have i discovered that they are available in the pet trade. Im hoping to get some s. bandesis eggs and grow them, and have been doing all I can to research.

Ive been trying to plan out how Im gonna care for them, and budget everything out. I have a 40 gallon tank which im gonna trade into an aquarium store for a
55-70 or so gallon tank.

I also have a five gallon tank which I hope to use to breed some type of fish or shrimp or crab or something to feed my cuttle every once in a while as I know it can be very expensive to go all live food so i want to go half frozen, half live.
I wonder if anyone has any advice on what to do?

But now for the real question, a long while back, I had some goldfish in a ten gallon tank that had had gerbils in it before, all of the fish kept diing untill we asked a pet store worker why, he said it was because you cant put fish in a tank that has had other animals in it before. Well, my five gallon tank, although a fish tank with all of the supplies, has had a frog in it before, does this mean that I cant keep fish in it again either? I just dont see why you wouldnt be able to keep fish in a tank after youve kept another animal in it. Would someone like to clear things up for me please

thanks,
L8 2 RISE

 

[Animal Mother]

Hi, welcome to TONMO.

Others can answer your cuttle-specific questions, but as for used tanks go... it's always a better idea to use a new tank, because of all the things that could possibly have been used in the tank before you might or might not have forgotten about. If the little tank has been treated with any kind of "Ich" medication it is basically useless. A tank that small should be cheap to replace. The cuttle(s) you keep will determine what they will eat. You might offer "dead" food but that doesn't mean they will accept it. Be prepared to feed nothing but live items until you actually get them to eat raw/frozen foods. Some of them never accept dead foods.

First things first, take your time. Patience goes a LONG ways in this hobby. You've come to the right place.

 

[Colin]

Newly hatched cuttles take a LOT of work to get them onto non-living prey items and could take as long as a couple of months. You should plan for live food only, initially

welcome to TONMO.com
Colin

 

[L8 2 RISE]

Newly hatched cuttles take a LOT of work to get them onto non-living prey items and could take as long as a couple of months. You should plan for live food only, initially

welcome to TONMO.com
Colin

this live food would be mysids and arthopods(or something like that) right?
and would it be possible to bread these to some extent?

 

[cuttlegirl]

When I have a moment, I will answer some of your questions...

 

[DWhatley]

When I have a moment, I will answer some of your questions...

Don't you WISH you had 8 arms about now (but NOT your newest cuddle - probably seems like eight stomachs though!)

 

[cuttlegirl]

this live food would be mysids and arthopods(or something like that) right?
and would it be possible to bread these to some extent?

I never had any luck breeding mysids or shore shrimp. The cuttles eat mysids or pods for the first few weeks and then they can switch to shore shrimp. Mine would take frozen shrimp but I mainly fed mine live shrimp. I think it is healthier to feed them live food.

I kept my shore shrimp in a large cooler with about two inches of salt water in the bottom of it.

 

[shipposhack]

Cuttles are even harder to get to eat frozen than octos are.

I also think it is healthier to feed live (although very expensive at first and it will likely be all they accept for some time), and it will not contaminate your water if they go uneaten. It is cool to watch them hunt to; especially the babies catching little shrimp.

Good luck

 

[L8 2 RISE]

I agree that its healthier for them to eat live food and that it's fun to watch, but Ive been doing some research and I cant see spending $60-$80 a week on live food so Id like to mix it up and if at all possible breed the food for the animals

 

[Animal Mother]

I agree that its healthier for them to eat live food and that it's fun to watch, but Ive been doing some research and I cant see spending $60-$80 a week on live food so Id like to mix it up and if at all possible breed the food for the animals

And now you know why so few people keep them.

 

[L8 2 RISE]

I know that it will probably be expensive to keep cuttlefish, and I expect that, but Im just looking for ways to lower these costs, at least a little. There are some beaches about 1-2 hrs away from where I live, which we go to often enough (not this time of year though ) that have an abundance of mole and purse crabs, I wonder, would cuttlefish eat these? I know purse crabs are TINY (or rather Tiny), so would those work for baby cuttles?

 

[shipposhack]

I don't know about the purse crabs because I have never seen one, but you can try to compare one to a frozen mysid. If they are comparable sizes they might work, though a crab might be hard for the babies to break down and digest. You may be able to find copepods under the rocks there, and perhaps even mysids; Thales or Monty would be better to talk about his though (I believe they went hunting for them together if I remember the get-together thread right). If the cuttles could eat the crabs they might be a good source of calcium to help their cuttlebone to grow.

You can't really short-change on the husbandry of cephs. You can wait until someone that raised from eggs has older ones available (I expect to sell some of mine in a few months), and feeding costs will be cheaper than newborns.

 

[cuttlegirl]

Is this what you mean by purse crab? I have found that cuttlefish usually prefer shrimp, but you could try to offer crabs as long as you have some shrimp just in case...

 

[L8 2 RISE]

Is this what you mean by purse crab? I have found that cuttlefish usually prefer shrimp, but you could try to offer crabs as long as you have some shrimp just in case...

yes, that looks like one, but I dont know how big that one is, most are the size of, if not a little smaller than a dime

 

[L8 2 RISE]

does anyone know if mole or purse crabs would be a good cuttle food