Hi all!
Well, my experiment with raising cuttlefish babies has failed horribly. I had 5 of the first batch of eggs hatch, 3 in the first 2 days of getting the eggs, and 2 more several days later. I never saw any of them eat. I had live baby mysis shrimp, brine shrimp (adult and babies), and copepods, and nothing seemed to interest them. They all died within 2 days of hatching.
So, not one to just give up, I got more eggs. My new LFS was kind enough to order some for me with their regular order which saved me a ton on shipping (I would highly recommend ordering through your LFS when at all possible-the order is packed better and is shipped faster, you don't have to pay all the shipping costs yourself, and you don't have to wait around all day for the FedEx guy to show up. You just stop in to the LFS and pick up your new additions)
Anyway, she ordered 2 bunches of eggs for me, which ended up to be about 20 viable looking eggs. One hatched before I even got to the store. 3 more hatched before I got them into my tank. By the next morning I had 9 baby cuttles. I was so excited I almost couldn't go to work. They were active and swimming around, which the first batch never did. When I got home I had 5 babies living. The next morning I had 3. 2 more eggs hatched, but the babies survived less than 12 hours. The rest of the eggs died. I never saw any of these eat either.
So, after the first batch didn't make it, I thought ok, something is wrong with the water parameters. Nope, everything was perfect. The only thing I could come up with was the water flow through the "breeder box" I had the eggs and babies in was pretty low, and from what I've read they like alot of water flow. So I hooked up another filter and directed the water output toward the case. Water flow through the box was much better, and as I mentioned, the new babies were much more active, though I don't know for certain if that was the reason.
Does anyone have any ideas what might have gone wrong? The fish store owner said she's never had any luck with them, (even though she has reef tanks that are amazing)
and doesn't know anyone that has raised them. I know they raise these on a large scale for research, what do they do that I didn't?
So, I had this pretty tank, all this live food, and nothing in it. I added a couple hitching posts and got two pairs of captive bred seahorses. They are doing splendidly and they love hunting the live food--though I have probably spoiled them and they will never eat frozen again.
I will continue to research raising cuttlefish. Someday I will try it again. If anyone has any advice I would love to hear it.
Thanks.
