Captive Bred Flamboyant Cuttlefish Available for the First Time

One of the big first day surprises for MACNA is the announcement of the first ever availability of captive bred flamboyant cuttlefish for the marine aquarium hobby. Bred and raised by Joe Yaiullo and Laura Birenbaum at ReefGen, these cuttlefish are available through LiveAquaria, though they will set you back back a pretty penny, or a few. There are currently three on display here at MACNA, and they are gobbling up live mysis shrimp like crazy (see picture below).

We got the privilege to chat with Laura, who said they are cranking out baby cuttles about 20 at a time. Because of these relatively low numbers, the fact that these are the first ever to be commercially available, and that they are just so darn cute, they will have a retail price of $1000 per. We’ll continue to follow this amazing story, and if you’re at MACNA, definitely stop by to check them out.