THAI CUTTLES II - Eggs and Aquaculture

[chalcosoma]

Hello everyone, and thanks for your replies about Pharoah Cuttles.

I'm still in the process of setting up my 500L tank, waiting on a skimmer. In the meantime, I visited the Rayong Aquaculture Research Center. That's where the NRCC recieved the eggs for their Pharoah Cuttle propagation reseach a few years ago. Now they are raising Sepioteuthis lessiona and Sepia pharoahensis (sp?). The cuttles were quite "friendly" and came to the surface to check us out. They had a few hundred eggs of both species, and some of the cuttle eggs had already hatched. According to the center, the eggs have a much higher hatching rate if they are separated from the egg-bunch, as they receive more oxygen (90%).

They may be able to supply me with some in August (the cuttles will lay more eggs). This is good because eggs cannot ink in a bag!

Due to the language barrier it's difficult to get a lot of specific info on rearing. I'm a bit worried that if I have some eggs that hatch in my tank, the young'ins will get lost in that big tank and starve, or whatnot. I don't know if I could cultivate enough "ecosystem" for them to hunt on their own either.

Any suggections on how to monitor hatchlings in a big tank and keep them fed? And safe from overflows and powerheads?

I know I won't be able to keep many full-grown adults in one 500 L, but I'm hoping the adult size will be significantly smaller than usual, as the F3 and F4 etc. generations have smaller eggs and adult sizes than the wild-caught F1.

Thanks for any thoughts!

 

[Thales]

Nice Colin!

I keep hatchlings (and eggs) in net breeders in the main tank - 5 or 6 per net breeder. That way I can watch them all to see if they eat.

When do they separate the eggs from the mass?

 

[chalcosoma]

EGGS

Thanks Righty, I'll use the net breeders too.

Not sure when they separate the eggs, I'll ask when I go next. I think it's soon after they are laid, because they were cutting the squid eggs off from their mass with scissors when I was there, and said those eggs would hatch in about 3 weeks.

I'm thinking if I add Thai live rock to the tank, it can help with the food problem. There are HUNDREDS of tiny crabs in the liverock (big problem for people who want to keep corals, but just perfect for a cephalopod situation!).

Now I'm just trying to get ahold of an Aqua Medic Skimmer, which is not so easy to do here....

 

[chalcosoma]

Oops, Avatar Theivery

Hmm, I guess I stole Colin's Avatar accidentally, so here's a new one.

 

[Mikey]

Good luck with the eggs friend! Pictures woulld be nice when you geth them!