Hi, my name is Rich Ross and I am way into cephalopods. Keeping them, breeding them, eating them. Mostly the first two. One of the holy grails of ceph keeping are the two Metasepia species, the flamboyant cuttlefish. I have a standing order with an importer for these awesome animals because they are rarely seen in the USA, but one came in last week which was a nice surprise for the new year. 6 specimens would have been better so I could start a breeding effort, but at this point I am not sure if that will ever happen.
The shipment was delayed and the water temp when it arrived was 60 F. Cold. Very bad cold. When I looked in the bag I was not encouraged as the 2 inch cuttlefish was floating at the top of the water motionless and colorless so I was sure it was dead. I decided to do a medium slow acclimation anyway, and to my surprise it started slowly moving. It was touch and go for a while, but what turned out to be a male Metasepia tullbergi colored up and started eating that very evening. Now, its about a week later and and he is doing all the cool stuff these animals do – spectacular color shows on the skin, stalking prey with feeding tentacles and ‘walking’ across the sand and generally being amazing.
These animals aren’t for everyone. They only live about 12 months, need to be kept in species only tanks, generally need live food, ship terribly and can be very expensive. To add insult to injury, the size of wild populations is unknown, and may be shrinking. If you are interested in ceph keeping, there are several easier to keep and acquire species that are much less expensive then these show offs. For more information check out www.metasepia.org or www.tonmo.com.
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