Cuttle fish

[Crakeur]

Obviously not for a nano but I was wondering if anyone had any experience keeping a cuttlefish in a larger tank. Just curious about them and thought I would see if anyone has any knowledge to pass along.

[Djm9288]

they look neat, it would be interesting to keep one.

[TiGs]

Dry cuttlefish makes for a tasty snack:D

[Satchmo]

Crakeur's evil wheels are spinning again. Where are you contemplating pulling this one off? A cuttlefish would be awesome. They're supposedly one of the most intelligent creatures on the planet, which doesn't seem so far fetched when you live in NJ.

[DLN]

I had a cuttlefish last year, in a 75gallon long tank. I had to have my biology teacher sign a form in order for me to get one. It was about 90 dollors with shipping. 3-4 inches long very cute but VERY hard to feed. Only eats live shrimp. It tends to ink everytime you turn the light on, so you have to have 1 or 2 HEAVY DUTY protein skimmers to remove the ink from the water or the cuttlefish will die. You also need to have a very long tank with little or NO objects in the tank (NO lr, nothing sharp, just sand bottom). This is because the cuttlefish swims backwards and if it bumps things alot, the tissue in the back will wear away exposing the bone and thus making it an easy target for infection.

 

Hope this helps you!,

If you have any other questions I would be glad to answer them for you.

[technoshaman]

Crakeur, check www.tonmo.com there are also a few threads on cuttles there amongst other cephalopods. Liveaquaria.com occasionallly offers them for sale and the sepia bandesis species? They are neat looking but like octopus have an acclerated lifespan a year or two at most. Biggest problem getting them in the US is none are native to anywhere close, most come from mediterranen for temperate ? and indo pacific for tropical. Add to this them not shipping well, the aforementioned inking fouling shipping water and they are a very seldom seen item.

 

FWIW there is a place a few hours south of where I live in Galveston that breeds them by the tankful and you can get one provided it's for research. Other than that as a hobbyist it's darn hard. Maybe talk to a friend in the biology department of your local university?

 

Here's the link for the NRCC if you are interested.

 

http://www.nrcc.utmb.edu/

 

There is a cool photo essay somewhere of someones visit there and all the tanks full of cuttles and octos. If you are interested in a cephalopod you might want to start with an octopus (still challenging but easier than a cuttle) www.fishsupply.com can get you a o.bimaculateus which are regarded to be about the best species for captive life.

 

Also heres link for tonmo if you missed it earlier.

 

http://www.tonmo.com/

 

can you tell I like cephalopods?

 

HTH

 

-Mike

[Crakeur]

Originally posted by Satchmo

Crakeur's evil wheels are spinning again.  Where are you contemplating pulling this one off?  

 

I thought one or two might be real cool in the office tank (the 180) that you saw. The cuttle might go after a few of the smaller fish so I probably won't do it but I saw them for sale and thought they would be neat as hell to put in the tank. Might have to add a skimmer in case of inking tho.

[Crakeur]

Mike, I doubt I will actually do it as they are real hard to keep, real expensive and don't live very long. I was more curious than anything else but the prospect of having one around is nagging at me. Thanks for the links, I'll be sure and check them out.