Cuttlefish

Cuttlefish dont try to escape from tanks. Your suppose to be capable of even having them without a lid. 37 gallon tanks are tall and I will have a huge pod population because it will be full of different macro algae plus I am going to add more pods. The refugium by the books should work for either of them.

 

The Cuttlefish can be surprisingly strong, so in the home aquarium, it is best to anchor the rocks, or even glue them together to keep the Cuttlefish from toppling the rocks into the glass or onto itself. Cover all tank openings very well or it will try to escape

Saltwater Aquarium Inverts for Marine Reef Aquariums: Cuttlefish - Aquacultured


Plus:
Always approach the Cuttlefish slowly to avoid causing it to release its ink cloud in defense. In the aquarium, this release of ink will necessitate a large water change to avoid its death.

 

On some of the websites for information it said that cuttlefish species will not try to escape. it does say to anchor the rocks down though and it also says to have the rocks arched so they have large caves that they can fit under.

 

I will put a net over the refugium if I got the cuttlefish but I doubt I will get them.

 

Since dwarf cuttlefish species are small they also dont ink a crazy lot so protein skimmers catch a lot of it plus a hefty water change.

 

Cuttlefish Army - Reefkeeping.com

Feature Article: Keeping and Breeding the dwarf cuttlefish Sepia bandensis — Advanced Aquarist | Aquarist Magazine and Blog

i did most of my research on these plus various other sites

 

Here's my .02...again. If I were going to attempt anything I would attempt seahorses. They do need taller tanks but captive bred seahorses are surprisingly hardy and many of them move over to frozen food pretty easily. With this being said, I don't know if I would attempt anything like that in a fuge unless it was a taller one. I'm trying to thinkg of a really cool critter you could keep in there.

 

Read thru the thread.

Kudos for wanting a Cuddlefish.
I've seen them in the wild diving several times- sometimes on night dives- they CAN BE REALLY EERRY/SCARY!

Now back to your thread.

I dopn't know much about keeping captive cuddlefish- not for me.

But when I heard 37g and Cuddlefish- I was thinking WOW, these things get HUGE! Too big for a 37 for sure.

Then I see you talked about dwarf cuddle fish- and you have done your research.
Sounds like an uphill battle to me to keep one happy though

 

Dwarf Cuttlefish

Yesterday I posted a thread on cuttlefish and was completely shut down. Over the past 24 hours I have done research like crazy. There is no reason why I could not be able to host this species of cuttlefish.
I would begin by raising them in a nursery tank in my 37 gallon refugium. I would begin by feeding them live mysid shrimp. Plus Im sure they will bite at all of the pods in the refugium. I will then release them into the refugium and grow them up to about an 1" or 2". After they are 3" or 4" I could release them into my 75 gallon reef or even keep them in the refugium. As long as I dont have any LPS stinging corals they should be fine. Luckily this species of cuttlefish are not that expensive either. Id be able to order them from NY aquatics and get 3 eggs for 19.95.
Since they only get up to 4" I think they should be able to live with my livestock now other then the cardinal fish. It might be iffy with the lionfish though. They arent said to be able to live with most fish but I cant see them being capable of catching a tang. I also cant see the tang biting at them as long as the tangs are well fed (which they are)
They are said to be fairly easy animals to keep even and oftenly breed in captivity so after their one year life I would even have babies to help me get over their deaths. I would like help along the way. So my 75 gallon will now not only be a dialed reef but a cuttlefish nursery I did not include all of my notes in here but if anyone on here has any knowledge or good links or old threads can you post the links on here. I will most likely be ordering the eggs in January or February.

 

I have heard that they are relatively simple to keep but I have also heard that you don't want to keep them with other fish due to stress. It's not about the tang picking at the cuttle, it's about the erratic movement in the tank stressing the cuttle out. Honestly, your 37 would be perfect for 1 and I don't see what that would hurt. You don't want a lot of flow and you don't want to keep more than one cuttle in the same tank. Why not just leave them in your fuge?