Best online place to order a Cuttle fish?

[plankton]

West coast folks:

Where would be the best west coast online supplier for Cuttle fish? I've always loved Cuttle fish and am thinking about setting up a species-only tank for a small pod (word-choice?) of cuttles. I've been told there are some species that grow no more than 3-4 inches and can live for a couple of years or so.

Thanks.

PS Once, on a trip to Taiwan we stopped by a local 'live/fresh' restaurant and a saw a large shallow vat full of 6" Cuttles wildly changing their color as well as their skin texture and I had to leave. If it were an option, I would have purchased them all and brought them home for my tank. Instead, I had to watch folks eat them. I have no problems eating fish, but draw the line with Cuttle fish. They're just too cute and curious to eat. VBG

Scott

[cephalopoder]

Hi Scott
Most cuttles live under 24 months,with 12 to 18 being the norm. There are as of yet, no places you can order cuttles from in the usa on a regular basis.If you want to spend about 500 dollars you can order a batch of Sepia.o from europe once you have the proper permits. They grow to about 18".If you have never kept cephs before I would recommend a octo for starters. If you read some of the back posts out here you will see how hard it is to get a cuttle in the US. They are very poor shippers and we have no native species along the coasts of North or South America. Most of the species that do make it into the trade are from bali and are a small species like Sepia.bandensis. Even then, only 1 out of 12 will survive the shipping to make it alive into the wholesalers tank. Then they need to get it to your tank. Ordering Sepia.o hatchlings or eggs from europe is the best bet.
chris

[plankton]

Chris,

Thanks for the prompt reply.

Did you ever get those Octopus bimarculoides 'Californa mudflat octopus' eggs from MarieK hatched out? If so, do they ship well and would you be willing to ship some to California. I guess only fitting since they're named after such. 8^) I assume that they'll require temperatures like those found along the coast: 45 to 65 deg F.

Scott

[cephalopoder]

Scott, the bimac eggs fell through, they were never shipped. I do have some o.mercatoris eggs however I got from pat. I would recommend to you fishsupply.com for a place to get a O.bimaculoides. Just tell Jack I sent you and tell him you only want a small bimaculoides. This will be the best ceph you will ever own. Make sure he gets you a bimac and it has the false eye spots on it. Some times he gets other species and may ship them if you don't specify you only want a bimac. Bimacs are 99% of his stock however. They can handle a temp up to 75f.
chris

[plankton]

Chris,

Went to 'www.fishsupply.com' and it read that o.bimarculoides could exist in a temp range between 60 to 79 def F. Is this true? Would then a steady temperature of 70 deg F be the ideal then? Another question. Which would ship/acclimate better: a 'small' or 'medium' sized octopus? Usually smaller inverts acclimate better than large ones but I'm new to o.

Thanks.

Scott

[cephalopoder]

Scott
I actually write the care sheet for fishuply.
It needs to be updated. Some changes were made to it after I sumitted it with out my consent. For one thing I do not use the word octupi LOL.
Any how I will be updating it soon for the new web site Jack is putting up. They can go up to 79 but it will shorten the life span. 70f is great.
I always recommend getting a small octopus. Size is related to age for the most par, unless its a pygmy species. So the smaller the octo the the longer it will live. I would only order a large specimin during the breeding season in hopes of getting a fertile female. All other times I get small ones. Bimacs are very hardy and great shippers. Hatchlings have been known to ship in a teaspoon of water.

[plankton]

Chris,

Hmm. Doing a little more research now and Drs Forsythe and Foot state:

"Octopus bimaculoides from Calif, can live a little over a year, maybe 18months or so if kept at low temperatures, say 50-55F. Their lifecycle can be 10 months at 78F. So even within a species lifespan varies based on temperature"

Yike! And, if feeding conditions are correct can grow to three feet. Double yikes.

However, they also state that o.bimaculoides is the perfect starter octopi because:

"O. bimaculoides is the perfect starter octo, thus the reason I chose it as our first cultured species a CS. I could have chosen maybe 3 other species, but this one has all the best attributes, tolerates shipping well, adapts to captivity, not overly prone to crawling out of tanks, broad diet, grows to a moderate but not huge size,nice coloration and patterning"

OK. So, if o.bimaculoides is the perfect starter octopi then what is the perfect tank to rear such a beast? Would a shallow, square 2' by 2' tank with subdued lighting and gentle water motion be the best? I guess with a DSB, live rock and protein skimmer to help aerate the water and keep the water clean. Anything else before I jump in?

http://www.fishroom.com/library/jwf.html

Thanks for the info.

Scott