Because cuttlefish are awesome.
5Newest addition to my home aquaria. :) Huge shout out to a) My SO for saying we should get them and b) Scranton Aquarium, in Scranton PA, for ordering them in.
Still in the egg.
Wiggling!
http://vid153.photobucket.com/albums/s227/Maevinn/Mobile%20Uploads/2014-12/20141209_134511.mp4
2 high hatchling tower on tubing.
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That's awesome!
Years ago, I had a 125 gallon freshwater aquarium. I set up and ran all sorts of different communities in it over a few years. I eventually ended up with Cichlids for a few years. I loved it.
A couple of years later, my wife hurt her back and had to be out of work for quite some time. To help make ends meet, I sold my aquarium set up. $1600 invested, and I sold it all for $500 (fish and all). While I can't pretend I've regretted it (it was either that or miss a car payment or two), I've always wanted to get back into it.
I think that if I did start over, I would start over with a saltwater set up and do a nice reef tank (That RO filter Meh sent me would come in handy then). We still have some good, solid connections from when I used to sell Cichlids to a lot of pet stores in our area, but I want to wait until the children are old enough to not try to "help feed the fish" when we're not watching their every move.
How cool is that? Thank you for sharing!
The youngest (8) adores the fish. She has some that are "hers"--we do the maintenance, she monitors them and feeds them with supervision and names them. We've always let her feed a tank or two when she asks, so she's never tried feeding them on her own.
We have...bunches. No cichlids (just evicted an electric blue ram because he was a jerk), but a variety of pencil fish, aspidoras, paradise fish, endlers, ancistrus, rasboras, shrimp and a few other odds and ends in FW, plus a pair of clowns and corals, and now the cuttles in SW. I think the current gallon count is somewhere around 500, which is down a bit since we're moving things around to set up a big reef and a permanent home for the cuttles.
They're adorable!
Awesome! I want to see pics of the entire setup. A sweet fish tank is something I've always thought would be really cool to have but probably more trouble than I'm willing to go through to maintain.
@JonT Ditto. I have always liked it when I have friends with aquariums, reptiles, ferrets and big tropical birds for me to visit. They are like kids, I enjoy admiring them when they belong to other people but never wanted the responsibility of caring for my own.
@JonT One or two isn't bad. Figure 30-45 minutes once a week for water changes, 3-4 minutes a day to feed and monitor...unless you want bigger than 50 gallons or high tech planted, or salt. Then add a few more minutes and a lot more money. I'll get pics up, but right now nothing is terribly impressive. This setup is a 37 gallon cube, very basic sand and rock, and the cuttles are in a plastic critter keeper inside it. I don't have many full tank shots... Most of the fish are small enough that they aren't visible from a distance. :)
@JonT
Like I said, it's pretty bare bones. :) But it's easy to clean, and in a month + they'll be moving into a bigger setup.
I found that Cichlids were actually easy to take care of once you got it set up with enough places for them all to hide. I only ever had one dominant fish, who eventually took over one entire half of the tank and wouldn't let anything else over there.
Here is the Cichlid tank I got in 2005. I sold it in 2008 or 2009 -- been too long and I can't remember exactly when. The stand was built by me (first piece of real furniture I ever built). It eventually got doors and some trim around the top. It was a huge selling point when I sold the tank.
Sorry, didn't meant to highjack your post. I just had so much fun with it, I felt like I had to share
@capguncowboy nice set up! I belong to several fish clubs, so have learned a lot about cichlids...just not enough to want any. :)
@Mavyn They're definitely not for everyone. I had a friend that had a horrible experience and couldn't get his to quit fighting until one of the fish had killed everything in the tank. Before I forget, I wanted to share a bit of advice. Of all the money I spent on my aquarium, the best purchase was definitely the UV sterilizer. As soon as I put that on the tank, it was easier to keep it clean, the fish stayed healthy, and the water never got cloudy again.
@moondrake These are Sepia Bandensis, and are tank bred. :) They max out at about 4 inches.
@Mavyn I'd love to see them when they grow up. They are cute little Chthulus.
@moondrake I'll keep taking bad pictures of them, I'm sure. :D
My fantasy football team is the Cuttlefish. Whoohoo! Cuttlefish really do rock!
@Teripie Yeah? How'd they do? :) Early in the season, I was certain you were going to take it all. Then the injuries started
@capguncowboy They had their moments. (Which translates to, They sucked!) But I had a ball doing it. And it's definately something I plan on doing next year, but not in a 16 team league!
I was going to ask how big they got so I'm glad I read all the comments before I blurted that out. It's so cool that you were able to raise them from eggs.
@hallmike There several species, some that get to be about 18 inches but most are in the 4-12 inch range.
I used to think they were Cuddle Fish. then I saw a picture and knew I was wrong
True Facts about the cuttlefish. Very educational.
@Teripie Best thing ever
@Teripie I think you meant to say "Very Edyoucashanul". Great video
@Teripie "Ahhh! A fish! Heh" - the best line.
Had 3 goldfish once. They were cat TV. Cats loved watching them and it was hysterical watching the cats and fish interact. I was amazed how they interacted with things outside of the tank. When I realized they would eventually need 10 gal each and live to 20+ years I found them a new home. I found fish more work than cats though.
@Kidsandliz Yeah, goldfish aren't really good aquarium pets. They do best in a pond. My current cat completely ignores the fish, but I've had cats that would spend hours watching the fish, cats that drank from the tanks, and one cat who loved to chase one of the fish around--the fish would swim laps, and he'd race around following. My current fish have lifespans ranging from 6 months to 20 years. And I agree, fish are a little more work, but they're also easier to leave on their own for a week without any problem.
I was watching a nature show, I forget which one, where a cuttlefish pretended to be a female so that I could get past a bigger male and mate with the real female. That's all the knowledge of them that I retained, but it was enough for me to agree that they're awesome.
@milujite There are several aquatic species that use this technique. I know in cuttlefish, it's resulted in 2 dominant forms of males, the big guys and the little guys. There are many species where sub-males won't display any male characteristics until the dominant male it removed...and of course, many species where all juveniles are male, and only the dominant one becomes female or vice versa.
The Flamboyant Cuttlefish is tiny but walks like a boss
@mavyn are these anything like the type or size of the ones you're hatching?
@denboy Flamboyant are a little smaller as adults, but yes, similar. Think they max out at 4 inches while bandensis can hit 6 inches. I know someone with Flamboyants, and keep trying to get him to share eggs!
@Mavyn you really know who your real friends are when they share flamboyant eggs