treesprite June 2, 2008 Share June 2, 2008 You have definately got a big set of tasks ahead of you. If only I was so motivated and energentic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmubeach June 2, 2008 Share June 2, 2008 What is TMS? Is it a local fish store? Sounds promising, but you know if you just dump in some harmless copes hes going to snack and eat them all and they normally cost around 20 dollars a portion. My advice would be to attach a refuguim and try and grow them yourself. Am I wrong in assuming that you can't have a clean up crew with this beastie so what eats the ditritus, wastes and eventual algee thats going to grow. Is it possible to get a cheap cleaning crew with the intent of it being eaten? Just a thought anyway someone please chime in here that has more expereince with clean up crews in an agressive tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite June 2, 2008 Share June 2, 2008 Sounds like this job calls for a very LARGE refugium. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmubeach June 2, 2008 Share June 2, 2008 If you havn't already started buying stuff to build this tank of cepholopod fun you may want to start budgeting out your funds and see if its feasible.... Once again I think your hearts in the right place, but nothing stops a project dead in the water like having to work twice as hard. Once again you can only supplimentally feed brine shrimp, they are very poor nitrutions sources... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE June 2, 2008 Author Share June 2, 2008 (edited) What is TMS? Is it a local fish store? Sounds promising, but you know if you just dump in some harmless copes hes going to snack and eat them all and they normally cost around 20 dollars a portion. My advice would be to attach a refuguim and try and grow them yourself. Am I wrong in assuming that you can't have a clean up crew with this beastie so what eats the ditritus, wastes and eventual algee thats going to grow. Is it possible to get a cheap cleaning crew with the intent of it being eaten? Just a thought anyway someone please chime in here that has more expereince with clean up crews in an agressive tank. I hope to get as large a refugium as I can fit in the tank, then I was thinking that as well as the macro algae, I would put a whole lot of sponge (dead) in the refugium for them to live and breed, is this a good idea? TMS is an LFS, The Marine Scene I was planning on still going with the normal clean up crew, from the people I have spoke to, the cuttles have a lot of trouble getting to the snails, but will occasionaly eat the hermits, and will almost always eat the other crabs, with this being the case, Ill just go for hermits as far as crabs go and just restock every month or so, I figure 10-20 hermits a month, though that seems a little high. Edited June 2, 2008 by L8 2 RISE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite June 2, 2008 Share June 2, 2008 Do you mean in the tank or in the stand, or? I don't know about dead sponge - as far as I know, dead sponge will increase ammonia and will smell bad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE June 2, 2008 Author Share June 2, 2008 Do you mean in the tank or in the stand, or? I don't know about dead sponge - as far as I know, dead sponge will increase ammonia and will smell bad. in the stand, sorry. what about the filter sponge that you can get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmubeach June 2, 2008 Share June 2, 2008 hmmmm your going to have a problem getting the pods from the refuguim to the tank... they have to be pumped up there and you can't send a Live pod through a pump.. hang on would be ok though if your rimless tank allows for a hang on.. I would use live rock in your filter I started with bioballs and sponges and it was a disaster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE June 2, 2008 Author Share June 2, 2008 hmmmm your going to have a problem getting the pods from the refuguim to the tank... they have to be pumped up there and you can't send a Live pod through a pump.. hang on would be ok though if your rimless tank allows for a hang on.. I would use live rock in your filter I started with bioballs and sponges and it was a disaster! i didn't mean sponge in the filter, but sponge in the refugium, so that presumably the isopods would colonize the sponges. I would have the cuttles in a net breeder if I were going to raise them from babies, so all I would have to do is shake the sponge in the net breeder a little and all the isopods would fall out, then it's feedign time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite June 2, 2008 Share June 2, 2008 i didn't mean sponge in the filter, but sponge in the refugium, so that presumably the isopods would colonize the sponges. I would have the cuttles in a net breeder if I were going to raise them from babies, so all I would have to do is shake the sponge in the net breeder a little and all the isopods would fall out, then it's feedign time Sponge would possibly be a nitrate source, but using it to get pods to live in it for easy picking is an interesting idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE June 2, 2008 Author Share June 2, 2008 Sponge would possibly be a nitrate source, but using it to get pods to live in it for easy picking is an interesting idea. If it were the synthetic sponge used in filters and things would it still produce nitrates? What if I just used like two pieces of it and emptied all the isopods into the breeder at on time, then rinsed the sponge, that would mean rinsing it once every one to two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davelin315 June 3, 2008 Share June 3, 2008 Sam, I think that some of your thinking here is flawed. You can't just shake a sponge and get isopods to fall out, they keep a firm grip and burrow down into the sponge. If you want to get them out, typically you will have to rinse them out with fresh water, which you don't want to do over your cuttle fish. Also, pod populations need time to grow and you need to have plenty of rock in there to help house them. You will also need to be aware that mysids and pods are very small in size and will only feed a baby cuttle fish for a short period of time before they outgrow them. I have a suggestion, since you're in Herndon, find a time to swing by my house and I'll show you how complicated my "simple" system is and give you some ideas on what you can do and you can judge for yourself whether this is something you can handle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
treesprite June 3, 2008 Share June 3, 2008 You should take Dave up on his offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE June 3, 2008 Author Share June 3, 2008 I would really like to, thanks for the offer, PM sent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Lazar June 3, 2008 Share June 3, 2008 I don't know anything about the feeding requirements for cuttlefish, but live adult brine shrimp are nutritious if you "gut load" them with nannochloropsis (high in EPA) or other phytoplanktons, Selcon, spirulina, or other high-quality foods. You may not be able to meet all your cuttlefishes' dietary requirement this way, but you can certainly use brine shrimp to organically package the specific supplements you want or need the cuttles to eat. Think of the brine shrimp as living "gel-caps" where you get to pick the contents. Brine shrimp are easy and cheap to culture. Just don't expect them to be nutritious without feeding them something nutritious. I would also consider growing a macroalgae like chaetomophea in an attached refugium. Chaeto grows quickly, helps remove nutrients from your water, and provides a home for your tank's microfauna like copepods. A 55g tank devoted to chaeto would be almost free, requires no special lighting, and could drain back into your sump. This also increses your total water volume, increasing stability. I find refugiums like this fascinating to watch all on their own. Jon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE June 3, 2008 Author Share June 3, 2008 I wasn't sure what to put in my refugium so that was going to be my next question, thanks . I will never end up feeding brine shrimp to the cuttles, I will feed live mysis, but never brine . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveoutlaw June 5, 2008 Share June 5, 2008 I saw your post selling your eclipse tank. If you can't spend the time on a nano like that, how are you going to manage this cuttlefish tank? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L8 2 RISE June 5, 2008 Author Share June 5, 2008 (edited) It's not that I don't have the "time" per say, but I don't see the use of continually pumping time and money into the tank as I'm not going to get back what I paid for it, and it's not going to be my final product, if I'm going to pump a continuous amount of time and money into a tank, I want it to be my cuttlefish tank, because I intend for that to be the last tank I get in a LONG time, and the 12 gallon will just end up history at one point or another. Edited June 5, 2008 by L8 2 RISE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry Grenier June 6, 2008 Share June 6, 2008 (edited) For some of you us old-timers. Remember like 20 years ago when we only had FW tanks and they all kept saying that keeping salt water and especially reef was almost impossible and shouldn't even be tried... funny Edited June 6, 2008 by Larry Grenier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coral Hind June 7, 2008 Share June 7, 2008 For some of you us old-timers. Remember like 20 years ago when we only had FW tanks and they all kept saying that keeping salt water and especially reef was almost impossible and shouldn't even be tried... funny Larry, I absolutely do remember, and because everyone told me it shouldn't be done is why I did it. It was the challenge! I remember when I got my first tank, a 135gal O'Dell, that set empty for months while I read every book I could find. I didn't have internet then. Sam, My best advice to you is to keep gathering the info as you have been doing and make sure you have the resources of time and money before you start this adventure. I also applaud you for seeking tank raised specimens! "The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually fear you will make one." - E. Hubbard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now