Gauging interest on juvenile cuttlefish

[rlkilwil]

I am in the process of setting up a breeding system for sepia bandensis, the most aquarium-friendly cuttlefish!! They are easy to keep and max out at about 4 to 5 inches at adult size. They live about a year and would be ready for their own tanks at about 3-4 months, when they’re about two inches long. I’m trying to figure out how popular these would be if locally for sale (I work in a LFS so customers will be available)! If you saw these for sale locally would you buy one?? How much would you expect to pay?? Please let me know what you all think- also if you’re local (Florida) keep your eyes peeled because in a few months I could have some ready for new homes!

 

[BloopFish]

Definitely is an interesting venture. While cuttlefish may be niche, they are the only "practical" cephalopod one can keep. I feel as though they were more popular decades ago though. However, if you do find a devoted buyer base, they may keep buying from you every year due to their lifespan. Depending on how much you breed, you might have a decent consumer base if you offer them online... as they are quite difficult to find online. No clue what happened to octopets. I do suspect that they may not be as popular as they were decades ago due to the popularization of overhyped corals and the decline of FOWLR systems (that as in, a decline of people mostly interested in the mobile organisms like fish and an increasing popularity of corals and anemones; the focus of what people are looking for in a saltwater tank has surely changed).

 

[rlkilwil]

I thought about doing it online and I still may- however, these little guys are not known to do well with shipping. But personally, I can’t see anyone who has the tank for it refusing one of these guys- they’re amazing, and they are the perfect size for the fish only tank with decently sized fish. If you were to meet a local reefer who breeds and sells them, what would you expect to pay??

 

[Zakery Murray]

Tagging along to see what others would pay, would be interested if price is reasonable.

 

[Gp!]

they are the perfect size for the fish only tank with decently sized fish.

They've always been super appealing to me but I've always been told you have to keep them in a species tank. Are these really suitable for a tank with fish?

 

[Ramberto777]

Do they eat live or frozen?

 

[Scubadoo4u]

These are cool!

 

[Zakery Murray]

Any chance just out of interest can I see some pics?

 

[a hill]

I would be interested in a dozen or so if you are having success in your tank. Ideally priced around $10 a piece or less depending on age. I have not seen any available in many years. One used to be able to order egg sack bundles for next to nothing.

A quick search shows there's a few places selling eggs, at around $5-10 a piece. This would influence my ideal price unless yours are superior in some way.

It would be awesome if you had flamboyant cuttlefish eventually. Those are harder to care for it seems, but very very cool.

Good luck, they're such a great little creature.
-Andrew

 

[timvle3900]

I am in Naples and am interested! Always liked cuttlefish and seahorses, been able to keep seahorses for many years and now might get the chance at cuttlefish which is exciting!

 

[LifeAquaticLB]

My Local LFS in SoCal had two last week. He said they were Flamboyant Cuttlefish and the Price was $800.

 

[BloopFish]

My Local LFS in SoCal had two last week. He said they were Flamboyant Cuttlefish and the Price was $800.

Seems sort of like something that should only be special ordered?

I would be interested in a dozen or so if you are having success in your tank. Ideally priced around $10 a piece or less depending on age. I have not seen any available in many years. One used to be able to order egg sack bundles for next to nothing.

A quick search shows there's a few places selling eggs, at around $5-10 a piece. This would influence my ideal price unless yours are superior in some way.

It would be awesome if you had flamboyant cuttlefish eventually. Those are harder to care for it seems, but very very cool.

Good luck, they're such a great little creature.
-Andrew

I think supply has definitely changed a lot since then, you rarely find places selling it anymore (like you stated) and I'm pretty sure those prices that we find online are from nearly 5-10 years ago, so it may be deceiving. In addition, captive bred cuttlefishes are far more superior in many aspects. Oddly I found an article stating that LiveAquaria was selling a pair of S bandensis in 2014 for $399? I think this just shows that the price of these guys are really supply sensitive because of how few people want them, so if you end up breeding way too many your price with plummet.

ReefGen’s captive bred cuttlefish are ready for prime time | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

No one can ever accuse ReefGen of sitting on their laurels as they blaze a new trail of captive propagated marine life, this time in the direction of our Ceph Overlords. Sepia bandensis is one of the…

reefbuilders.com

I thought about doing it online and I still may- however, these little guys are not known to do well with shipping. But personally, I can’t see anyone who has the tank for it refusing one of these guys- they’re amazing, and they are the perfect size for the fish only tank with decently sized fish. If you were to meet a local reefer who breeds and sells them, what would you expect to pay??

I'd feel like at the very least it should cost a little more than the eggs themselves (which I think usually go for around $15-$25), just for convenience. Maybe around $30-$50 for a live food eating one, and more for a frozen food eating one? You could even charge extra for mated pairs. I think maybe you could also offer to sell some live foods, maybe captive breed some saltwater mollies, nothing too huge because I imagine most people would go to the pet store for live foods after they buy from you. I do think if you shouldn't offer them for too low, or else you'll shoot yourself in the foot with price expectation in the future.

 

[rlkilwil]

They've always been super appealing to me but I've always been told you have to keep them in a species tank. Are these really suitable for a tank with fish?

Yeah, they can be? They aren’t for a reef tank obviously because they would go after inverts, but in a large fish only system where the fish are all decently sized, they do just fine! You just can’t have any tiny fish because they will be snacks haha

 

[rlkilwil]

Do they eat live or frozen?

They start with live, then you slowly wean them onto frozen food- they’re usually eating frozen by the time they’re ready to go to new homes!

 

[rlkilwil]

I would be interested in a dozen or so if you are having success in your tank. Ideally priced around $10 a piece or less depending on age. I have not seen any available in many years. One used to be able to order egg sack bundles for next to nothing.

A quick search shows there's a few places selling eggs, at around $5-10 a piece. This would influence my ideal price unless yours are superior in some way.

It would be awesome if you had flamboyant cuttlefish eventually. Those are harder to care for it seems, but very very cool.

Good luck, they're such a great little creature.
-Andrew

Thank you! Yeah a flamboyant would be great, the only thing with them is that they get too big for really any reef tank. It’s interesting that you would buy more than just one— why is that??

 

[rlkilwil]

Seems sort of like something that should only be special ordered?

I think supply has definitely changed a lot since then, you rarely find places selling it anymore (like you stated) and I'm pretty sure those prices that we find online are from nearly 5-10 years ago, so it may be deceiving. In addition, captive bred cuttlefishes are far more superior in many aspects. Oddly I found an article stating that LiveAquaria was selling a pair of S bandensis in 2014 for $399? I think this just shows that the price of these guys are really supply sensitive because of how few people want them, so if you end up breeding way too many your price with plummet.

ReefGen’s captive bred cuttlefish are ready for prime time | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog

No one can ever accuse ReefGen of sitting on their laurels as they blaze a new trail of captive propagated marine life, this time in the direction of our Ceph Overlords. Sepia bandensis is one of the…

reefbuilders.com

I'd feel like at the very least it should cost a little more than the eggs themselves (which I think usually go for around $15-$25), just for convenience. Maybe around $30-$50 for a live food eating one, and more for a frozen food eating one? You could even charge extra for mated pairs. I think maybe you could also offer to sell some live foods, maybe captive breed some saltwater mollies, nothing too huge because I imagine most people would go to the pet store for live foods after they buy from you. I do think if you shouldn't offer them for too low, or else you'll shoot yourself in the foot with price expectation in the future.

Great ideas all around here! Live food would be great to be able to offer especially because they like certain live foods that aren’t usually available in stores. When you say don’t offer them too cheap, what is a reasonable price in your mind?? Let’s say for a young healthy cuttlefish, eating frozen, about 2 inches long, how much would you expect to pay?

 

[Hogan]

Our LFS sells them for $100.

 

[vlad2spinn]

I may be way off, but I would think reasonable price would be around $50 considering short life span. I think making money on extras, like food, etc is a good idea and could greatly increase your profitability.

 

[Zakery Murray]

Yea I would suggest 50-75 for 1 of them personally I would go for 75 considering most places sell them for more.

 

[BloopFish]

You could start at $100-$80, and work your way down from there. Clearly there are people out there willing to buy them for $100. It is much easier to lower prices than to raise them.