[Octopus]: Unidentified Flying Octopus & Baby Cuttlefish

[Hahmlet]

My cuttlefish just passed away. It was pale white and I could tell he wasn't breathing, with ink seeping out slowly from its siphon.
When I took it out of the water, it started to leak a lot of ink.

I suppose the cause of death could be one of the following reasons.
1) High phosphates caused by ich meds
2) Something else in ich meds
3) Senescence (less likely, as the last of my 4 cuttlefish fries died in the past week as well)

 

[tonmo]

sorry for your loss, @Hahmlet.

 

[Hahmlet]

sorry for your loss, @Hahmlet.

Thanks tonmo. Cuttlefish are another level. There doesn't seem to be a lot of documented success cases from hobbyists. Gonna do more research.

 

[tonmo]

Definitely use our Search feature, and also check out the Cuttlefish Care forum (LOTS of threads there). Also, you can check specific Journals that start with the Cuttlefish prefix using the Filter function;; here are some direct links for you:
[Cuttlefish]
[Cuttlefish eggs]

 

[Hahmlet]

Definitely use our Search feature, and also check out the Cuttlefish Care forum (LOTS of threads there). Also, you can check specific Journals that start with the Cuttlefish prefix using the Filter function;; here are some direct links for you:
[Cuttlefish]
[Cuttlefish eggs]

Thanks, looking through to see if there are any I missed.

 

[Hahmlet]

Octopus Day 54 - 4 July 2023

• Feeding her every other day now. Found a huge chunk of clam melting away.
• Very messy girl this one.
• Didn't feed her and she turned white and breathing visibly hard in her cave. Nothing surprising though, she does this quite often.

 

[Hahmlet]

Octopus Day 73 - 23 July 2023

• Coming out from her cave earlier now around 6pm daily, doing her heavy breathing ritual while laying quite flat on the sand.

 

[Hahmlet]

Octopus Day 88 - 7 August 2023

• I think my girl is going through senescence.
• Coming out during the day and breathing heavily in her cave.
• Crawling up to the glass looking confused.
• Rubbing her arms around her body often.
• She had not eaten for over 2 weeks, but yesterday she took a small piece of shrimp.

 

[Hahmlet]

Cuttlefish Day 3 - 13 August 2023

• I got me another cuttlefish! It was hiding in an LSF for 3 months, and many people didn't know about it.
  • Species: The LFS can't remember which shipment it was from, but my guess is that it's likely the same as my previous cuttlefish sepia bandensis from the Philippines.
  • Size: It is quite a bit smaller than my previous cuttlefish, measuring at about 2 inches, while my previous one was more than 3 inches.
  • Age: The LFS has had it for 3 months, and it was about 1 inch when it first arrived. So my guess is that it was already about 3~4 months old. (My sepia bandensis fries that grew for 2 and a half months were only about half an inch long.) That would make my sepia bandensis about 6-7 months old at least.
  • Gender: I suppose it could be a female, which may make it a little smaller as well. So let's call her she from now on and I guess my previous cuttlefish was a big male.
• Differences with my previous sepia bandensis include:
  • Eyesight. I do not have to wave the shrimp in front of this girl, she sees it from a distance and comes over.
  • She eats fish, while my previous boy never touched fish despite numerous tries to feed it. Not sure if this is an individual taste that each cuttlefish has, or possibly it could be dependent on gender or stage in life.

Two nights ago, I let it out into the rest of the tank after it settled down in the breeder box for about an hour.
It immediately went after a sailfin blenny that had half its body out of its cave. It was a point blank range at 2 inches, and the aim seemed spot on, I thought that was it for the sailfin blenny, but surprisingly, the blenny did not get pulled up, and went deeper into the cave. I think the strong slime coating on the blenny may actually provide a means of escape for it.

Exactly 24 hours later, it came out hunting again and took my baby blue tang.

Octopus Day 94 - 13 August 2023

• Not sure if senescence comes and goes in the beginning, but my girl started eating again every other day since 8 August, although she doesn't seem to be as excited about food as much as before.

 

[tonmo]

The cuttlefish is very cool, congrats! Interesting behavior with your octo; great to hear about the improvement.

Keep up the good work! and thanks for keeping us posted

 

[Hahmlet]

Cuttlefish Day 8 - 18 August 2023

• Ok so this girl definitely has very good eyesight compared to my previous cuttlefish and also a huge appetite despite being a lot smaller. This leads me to think that my previous cuttlefish may have been very old and was already going through senescence.
• I can only feed it one shrimp at a time, then I need to wait for her to finish her shrimp so that I can give her the next so it takes some time to feed her, so I've only managed to feed her 4~6 ghost shrimp a day. My previous cuttlefish that was much bigger only took 1~3 a day. I am sure she could eat more, but feeding 6 takes quite awhile and feels like a good number.
• I do not have to wave the shrimp in front of her to get her to attack. Even if the shrimp is far, she will see it and hover over right away.
• She also identifies me as the feeder. If I go around the tank to look at her, she will look back at me and react by coming out of her cave a little. That's how I know she's hungry.
• Also when I pick up the black net to go catch shrimp, she sees the black net and it seems like she's reacting to it, and she'll leave her cave.
• She even eats from my hand.

Octopus Day 99 - 18 August 2023

• Still eating every other day now.

 

[tonmo]

great feeding vid! Congrats on your continued success!

 

[Hahmlet]

Cuttlefish Day 11 - 21 August 2023
Octopus Day 102 - 21 August 2023

• I recently got a bigger blue tang. It was only about 1/4 inch longer than the previous baby, but the cuttlefish never regarded it as food.
• Just last night I noticed it was beginning to get ich. It had 3 small white dots.
• I took it out to treat it in a hospital tank, and decided to treat the main tank with Microbe-Lift Artemiss as a precaution.
• BIG MISTAKE. It says 100% natural and harmless for all fish, corals and invertebrates, and I double checked with the LFS and he told me it's a herbal immune booster.
• I dosed about 80% of the recommended dose, and as soon as I did, I could smell it, and I realized it was Melafix.
• I decided to leave my skimmer on and was a little worried. My cuttlefish was showing stress colors and my octopus was on the top of tank.
• I came back a few minutes later and my cuttlefish was lifeless against the intake, and my octopus was very pale and breathing very hard. I nudged the cuttlefish and she sort of woke up and went back into her cave.
• A lot of carbon and a water change later, they seemed to be doing better.
• In the morning, the skimmer cup was almost full and had a strong Artemiss smell.
• Lessen of the day. Do not use Artemiss or Melafix with cephalopods.

 

[Hahmlet]

Cuttlefish Day 16 - 26 August 2023

• Doing well, eating 4-5 ghost shrimp a day.

Octopus Day 107 - 26 August 2023

• Looks like the final stages of senescence. She has not eaten for the past 2 days, and autophagy has started. This morning, she was out on the glass, very pale with one arm missing.

 

[tonmo]

I'm sorry @Hahmlet, but you've done great with your octo tank. We appreciate your journaling!