Squids in captivity.

[tyler1503]

Why don't we ever hear of people keeping squids? There are some beautiful looking ones out there that rival a lot of cuttlefish!
We always hear of octopus and cuttles successfully being kept, but I've never heard of a squid in captivity.
The only reason I've heard of is because they ink. But so do other cephalopods so it doesn't make sense to me.
Can anyone shed some light on this for me please?

 

[saltyphish]

It must have something to do with the care of them or you would hear of them being kept. Maybe they need a lot of space I don't know interesting question. Hopefully someone else can chime in.

 

[tyler1503]

It must have something to do with the care of them or you would hear of them being kept. Maybe they need a lot of space I don't know interesting question. Hopefully someone else can chime in.

Care is a good point. I don't know much about cephalopods but I always thought squids would be very close to cuttlefish in biology and care so husbandry would be pretty much the same. I'm purely speculating though.
Space may be the issue or at least one of the issues. Some can get quite big.
I catch them at all different sizes around my way. From less than an inch by net up to a foot or more on hook. I think the larger ones stay in the more open water as opposed to rocky reef faces.

 

[ebushrow]

Space and Feeding requirements are big factors, as well as shipping stress. Most Cephalopods need to eat meaty foods several times a day (octopus excluded), which is an issue for most people with jobs. The ink they expel when they get startled is also toxic to other animals as it is ammonia based...in our tanks, it is hard to remove fast enough.

Myself and others have successfully kept octopus in "species only" tanks (important point), however, the shipping stress kills 99.5% of them (I collected mine), so not a good pet for stores to get in and sell.

Squid also travel an insurmountable distance in a day and our tanks just aren't great fits either.

Cuttlefish have been captive bred as of late and are less illusive in a tank than octopus, but again, the feeding regimes are very difficult for people to maintain.

 

[bettababy]

Myself and others have successfully kept octopus in "species only" tanks (important point), however, the shipping stress kills 99.5% of them (I collected mine), so not a good pet for stores to get in and sell.

We used to get octopus in at the store all the time and always had great success, both with their arrival after shipping and keeping them as store pets for their full life expectancy... various species. The ones we sold also did well in our quarantine and then in our customer's tanks. Based on what we ordered and had success with over the years I'd say your % is way off, though your personal experiences may be more indicative of the wholesaler and their shipping methods/packing practices, which would reflect such a high DOA rate. Our DOA rate was maybe 20% over the course of 7 yrs.