History

I began my obsessive career in aquariums when I was 15 with a 10 gallon freshwater tank. Being attracted to the strange and exotic, freshwater organisms became too dull and mundane for me quite rapidly. I soon moved on to marine (saltwater) tanks. For the next 8 years, I owned and operated many tanks ranging from 20 to 125 gallons. As well as your normal assortments of marine fish, I played with reef keeping, exotic moray eels, sharks, rays, seahorses, and jellyfish. In 1994, I was given the opportunity to house a creature considered very rare in the aquarium community at this time. It was an octopus. O. Vulgaris to be exact. Very little information was available about keeping these guys other then saying that it is not recommended and specimens will be very shy and are extremely sensitive to water quality. To my surprise, I was very successful in keeping him for 8 months in which he died of old age. From this I learned how incredibly interesting cephalopods are, making everything I've kept prior seem trivial. Thus my obsession of cephalopods began.

11 years later and having kept many octopi, I was ready for new challenges. The octopus being a household pet became more widely accepted and understood to be possible. My search for the next unusual oddity began. This search led me to covet the endlessly elusive cuttlefish. I label them as elusive because no species of cuttlefish exist naturally in local waters. They are also very sensitive creatures that do no fare well with shipping, so very few make it to the U.S. One species however has become available here, but its species is not optimal to keep in home aquariums. This species is the Sepia Officianalis which grows 17-18 inches and require cold water and a tank of at least 150 gallons for one!

As in 1994 when I first was given the opportunity in keeping an octopus, keeping cuttlefish today is still in its infancy in the home aquarium. Information that is available about raising and breeding them are being developed as we speak. I am indebted to Richard Ross (link) for having supplied my first batch of cuttlefish eggs (sepia bandensis) in July 2005. This is a small species that grow to 4 inches and live in warmer waters! These batch of eggs have grown into juveniles that have just began having sex! (Dec 2005) My aim is to raise and bread this species of cuttlefish and aid in the accumulation of knowledge on how this is done. Hopefully, I will be successful and my efforts will help bring this species of cuttlefish to the U.S.