Sepia bandensis - Dwarf Cuttlefish

[texasmetal]

Bought some eggs. One hatchling so far. The hatchling is swimming about and several of the eggs have similarly sized babies inside so I imagine it won't be long before the lone cuttle has company.
Teeny tiny! About 1cm long.

This is the nursery I Frankensteined out of some window screen and eggcrate and acrylic rods for hooks.

 

[subielover]

Looks pretty ingenious, can't wait to see them getting bigger.

 

[stdreb27]

that is pretty cool. I went to fish2morow in dfw over the holidays, that store had some pretty cool stuff in it, their sps collection was pretty good.

 

[cal559]

Thats Cool Man...cuttlefish are awesome!!!

 

[rotarymagic]

TexasMetal, have you ever kept Officionalis (sp?)?

 

[draconis321]

fully awsome

 

[texasmetal]

Originally Posted by Rotarymagic
http:///forum/post/2860641
TexasMetal, have you ever kept Officionalis (sp?)?
Nope. Don't have a tank big enough, and for the past couple of years that particular species has been pretty scarce in the USA. One of these days, when I can afford a really big tank and a really nice chiller...

 

[texasmetal]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
http:///forum/post/2859911
that is pretty cool. I went to fish2morow in dfw over the holidays, that store had some pretty cool stuff in it, their sps collection was pretty good.
Cool man. Robert has the best SPS selection in DFW as far as I'm concerned. And Helen is just fun to talk to. Next time you're in town maybe you should come by and check out the animals. I promise not to talk politics.

 

[mboswell1982]

dude, u rock, octo's an cuttles are cool as hell, but, i wont ever own any, i love em, but, i just dont feel i have anywhere near the experience to devote a tank to just them, and, id be constantly worried about them getting out lol

 

[texasmetal]

Originally Posted by mboswell1982
http:///forum/post/2860807
dude, u rock, octo's an cuttles are cool as hell, but, i wont ever own any, i love em, but, i just dont feel i have anywhere near the experience to devote a tank to just them, and, id be constantly worried about them getting out lol
If you know how to keep your water parameters in check, you're familiar with proper SW aquarium equipment, and you can use duct tape, you can keep an octopus. They don't get Ich! They don't require dosing. And, they don't require expensive lighting. I am by no means an "Advanced" or "Expert" aquarist. I can't keep an acro to save my life.
This is my first attempt at cuttles so I'm not going to claim they are all that easy... really their care is the same as an octopus, but they won't climb out of a tank.
The hardest part about it is providing live food if they don't ever decide they like dead frozen stuff.

 

[mboswell1982]

LOL the other thing keeping me away from em is my gf would freak over octo's LOL they scare the crap outta her, she's all into the sw tanks that we're gonna do, but octo's are worse than snakes to her LOL

 

[texasmetal]

Oh, now it comes out. Haha. I'm lucky I guess. My girlfriend thinks they're cute.

 

[mboswell1982]

eh, im luckier than most LOL she wants me to build twin 250g tanks, and is letting me get a nano and a 40g breeder, nano is reef, 40g is fowlr, as soonas we have a place rented, im stocking one 250, she's stocking the other

 

[texasmetal]

6 hatchlings so far.
For food I've been scavenging pods from my sumps and refugiums. I have filled half of the nursery with chaeto, the other half with rubble for them to hide in. I'm trying blowing around some frozen mysis so as to hopefully get them weaned on that soon. I haven't seen any eat, but I have found many empty pod skeletons. Could be they're getting munched on, could be they're just growing. Hopefully they're getting munched on.

 

[rebelprettyboy]

Sounds awesome. Got any new pics?

 

[texasmetal]

Not yet. They're hard to get in focus. When they are in plain sight they're usually moving around. They prefer shaded areas and I can only view them well from the top down, so it's their habits aren't conducive to good photography yet.

 

[texasmetal]

About the best I can do for now.

 

[stdreb27]

Originally Posted by TexasMetal
http:///forum/post/2860756
Cool man. Robert has the best SPS selection in DFW as far as I'm concerned. And Helen is just fun to talk to. Next time you're in town maybe you should come by and check out the animals. I promise not to talk politics.
She was nice. Their selection of sps was better than anything I've seen here in houston. I'd love to come by and see your cuddle fish. Where abouts in DFW do you live?

 

[subielover]

That's a cool little video

 

[texasmetal]

Originally Posted by stdreb27
http:///forum/post/2868205
She was nice. Their selection of sps was better than anything I've seen here in houston. I'd love to come by and see your cuddle fish. Where abouts in DFW do you live?
I live about 5 minutes away from Fish2Morrow. West of I35 on 287 toward Decatur.