EMeyer

Looking for bristleworm predators for my cuttlefish tank, which rules out the easy ones. Anyone know a source for cone snails, the mildly venomous worm eating kind? Only online sources I can find have fairly high shipping. How about a large arrow crab? Ive seen a few small one in local stores but nothing big enough yet. (Disclaimer -- I cant make any guarantees for the crabs long term safety)

"inverts cuttlefish will tolerate" .... turns out thats right up there with "hold my beer and watch this". That crab was about 4x the size of the cuttlefish but that just means he took longer to eat. Heres an updated video of some color changing and staring down the camera.

Finally got around to taking some video of my dwarf cuttlefish and thought I'd share. I've had the tank running about 6 months, the cuttlefish themselves are about 3 months old now. The display tank is a 29 gal with macroalgae and soft corals. It drains to a 20 long sump + macroalgal refugium, and the return pump also feeds a 20 long shrimp refugium. I have very light skimming (a skimmer from an old biocube) but all this live rock and macroalgae keeps the nutrients in check so far. /crosses fingers Here are pictures of the cuttlefish a few days after hatching. (eggs from bluezooaquatics) Currently I have 4 of these, plan to thin down to 3 as they grow. Here they are now, at about 3 months old They share the tank with macro algae, soft corals, and the few inverts they wont eat A video of the cuttlefish from a week or so ago A video of the cuttlefish feeding, today Here are the display tank, shrimp refugium, and sump/macro refugium. Return pump in sump feeds both the DT and shrimp tanks, and these both drain back to macro refrugium/sump.

Freshwater minnows, fed one at a time to maximize attention per minnow. They dont live long in saltwater so I want to make sure they get eaten first. I agree, I've been thinking about acclimating some mollies and breeding those for food. Wonder how well they reproduce in full strength seawater...

Yeah, I have a dedicated system for them. Macro algae, soft corals, and a few inverts theyll tolerate. Theyre eating live feeder minnows and shrimp, and occasionally frozen.

Here are some recent pics from feeding time

I still have one of these dwarf cuttlefish for trade or sale. Theyre big now and eating shrimp so I value this at $50. I'd be open to trading for various reef related items a low end skimmer multiple coral frags multiple cleaner shrimp open to discussing other trades, if you have something to trade and want a cuttlefish, get in touch. Seriously the coolest animal I've ever kept in an aquarium, but with 4 currently theyre eating me out of house and home

I had drilled lots of smaller tanks for research aquariums and literally never encountered or heard of tempered glass. Then I tried to drill my first 55G. Tempered glass on all sides, as described above. That was an entertaining failure. Unanimous opinions are boring so I'll throw out an unconventional viewpoint here. I've had two aquariums in my living room with PVC overflows (no-drill) for almost two years now, without a single flood. There are advantages to drilling, but the often stated viewpoint that its the only way to go is probably overstated. You can totally get away with over the side overflows. If your tank is tempered thats basically the only option. Having said this in public I fully expect that when I go home tonight I'll find a puddle on my floor, Murphy's Law being one of the most reliable principles in the universe

Thanks. Did you find them in piles of macroalgae high on the beach? Or the still-wet macro in tidepools? I've read recommendations to do a long freshwater rinse before feeding them. I'm skeptical it matters (our tanks are already full of bacterial communities, it seems unlikely adding one more bug from cold waters would make any difference) but seems like a wise precaution just in case.

Amphipods -- my cuttlefish love them. And while theyre both cheaper and easier to maintain than mysis, I also know there is a limitless supply of them only an hour away at the coast. I've read on other boards about people collecting amphipods for aquarium food. It sounds like an experiment worth trying. Funny thing is, despite having seen thousands of these things on other trips when I'm not looking for them, I wasnt able to find any last weekend when I went to the beach with the family. So my question for the local reef tank community -- have any of you collected amphipods on the Oregon coast? Any sites you can recommend?

I do, good to know youre still interested. I'm seeing feeding behavior in most or perhaps all of them now so I'm ready to get rid of several of them. This was a lucky batch of eggs, wish I had set up a big tank!

Decided to make a new thread rather than hijack my old WTB thread. After an unexpectedly successful batch of eggs, I have 2-3 baby dwarf cuttlefish (sold as Sepia bandensis) available for trade. I am looking for live mysis in exchange. We could probably work out a deal for other livestock or equipment too (e.g. specific coral frags or a low end skimmer), so get in touch if youre interested and dont have live mysis. I could meet you in Corvallis to Eugene area (work in Corvallis, live in Monroe) Any interest? Theyre adorable little killing machines if you have the tank set up for them... I'd also be interested in just buying live mysis if anyone has some for sale.

Sold (BlueZoo) as "Sepia spp./Sepia bandensis" They look like every video I've seen that was labeled Sepia bandensis, but thats a youtube ID by a complete novice so take it for what its worth.

... and now I have an update. (Can I convert this from WTB to WTT?) Thanks for all the contacts -- I did contact a few people but in the end, my impatience got the best of me and I found some online. I've had an unexpectedly good hatch rate (6 / 6) and now a few of them have started feeding. Amazing little things. If I get lucky and they all start feeding and survive well, I'll have more than I need. If that happens (sometime in the next week), anyone want to adopt a couple baby cuttlefish? Perhaps someone with an excess of mysis to trade?

Wouldnt ya know it -- after months of prepping a system for cuttlefish, the month I decide its time to buy them, theyre out of stock at online suppliers. Does anyone know a local source for Sepia bandensis?

I used to laugh when I heard claims that peppermints ate corals. I'd bought multiple batches of peppermints, added them to my mixed reef, and had great success with Aiptasia (a real miracle cure) and never had any problems. Then one night, I walked by the tank and for shits and giggles turned on a flashlight. There were my five peppermint shrimp just going to town on my Pocillopora. Only the green one mind you -- no interest in the pink one. They ate that thing from a lush green furball down to a bare skeleton overnight. If I hadnt witnessed it with my own eyes I'd have sworn it was RTN. I still keep peppermints in the tank. In my experience theyre 100% effective against aiptasia. But I no longer laugh at people who claim they eat their corals, and I give the shrimp a stern look any time I see them getting too close to corals I care about. One more step, shrimp, and its down to the sump for you!

Thanks for the fast response. I cant make the meeting but would love to come by and see your collection again. Those zoas you sold me have certainly taken off. Maybe sometime next week? I'll email to arrange. Thanks!

I've finally got dosing under control for stable Ca and Alk, and some of my SPS are taking off. I'd like to add a few fast growing, hardy SPS. Anyone have a few frags of fast-growing sps youd like to part with? I'd like to pay in the neighborhood of ~$10 per frag for maybe 3-4 frags. I understand thatd be a crazy price for some high end SPS so we can rule those out Ideally here is what I'd like: Any acropora (except rainbow in spain, already have a nice colony of this growing) Any seriatopora (except not pink; thats already exploding in my tank) Any stylophora Corvallis to Eugene area only please. Thanks!

FWIW I have a Favia that looks just like this. The species ID is unclear (Favia classification is a mess) but my moneys on Favia too.

Still looking for any tanks 24-30" long in the 15-20 gallon range. (Thanks for the offer LadySaber, but I think I'll limit my range to Salem-Eugene, otherwise the time vs money decision makes petco look more appealing ) Sadly Petco $1/gal didnt apply to 15 gal. In hindsight I wish I'd bought a couple 20 longs while the sale was on, though, those would work.

Looking for a couple 15g glass aquariums for a new setup. Anyone have old tanks youd like to get rid of? Thanks!

Anyone have old shells sitting around that you'd like to get rid of? I'm looking for a matched pair or two of old, dead, Tridacna shells. I'll use these as part of the aquascape for a new tank I'm setting up. No special need for pristine condition or bleached white color, they'll rapidly become part of the live rock. My priorities are big and cheap. I can pay $10-20 per pair, or trade various zoas, palys, or other weedy soft corals. Thanks!