Friday 2 November 2012

Sepia officinalis Common cuttlefish in Native marine aquarium


I was given two small Sepia officinalis by Dr. Nick Jones (http://www.bangor.ac.uk/oceansciences/staff/php/staffdetails1.php?person=0064) at the School of Ocean Sciences which were left over after experiments they were conducting on egg hatching. I made sure I had some fine shell gravel in my aquarium before adding them into the tank. They like to burrow so normal pea gravel would likely be too coarse to allow this. I have had them almost two months now and both are growing well and seem to be well adjusted to living in my aquarium. I have no chiller, the seawater is dependent on the room temperature. I have been feeding them on Crangon crangon brown shrimp, common prawn P. serratus and the occasional small sand goby. They need a good source of live food and are really amazing to watch as they stalk and attack their prey. This hunting is often accompanied by vivid pulses of colour across the mantle of the cuttlefish. They have been great inhabitants of my aquarium but as they grow larger I will probably need to find a new home for them. Here are some pictures and video. 

 Sepia officinalis Common cuttlefish

 Sepia officinalis Common cuttlefish feeding on a prawn

My British native marine aquarium