jelly fish a good idea or not

[Anonymous]

i was in san diego this christmas to visit my parents and like i always do i ventured out to the local "and some not so local" aquarium shops to see what there was to see. i like to check out what fish and inverts are for sale and sometimes you get a chance to check out somthing that might not be available in your area, or just rare specimins. i was in escondido ca in a place called fish haven and i saw a pair of purple jellys about 3" in dia and wondered if any has kept them and if there well suited for a reef. just thought they looked so cool but before i get somthing like that i need to know what they require and if there a good idea or not.

 

[Deo]

Am not sure but logically because they dont have mouths, they are filter feeders...they eat tiny organisms. In the Philippines (my place), they lurk top of the water where millions of tiny things float...rarely did I see them in the reef. Some are as big as 14" in diameter and as small as coins. The red ones sting...the transparent ones are OK but they turn blue, green, yellow, etc. depending on where they are. So its possible that the purple jellys you saw will not stay purple. Any comments from other members?
Deo

 

[Mike612]

I've never taken care of jellies or have researched them all that much but one thing I do know for sure is that they are made up of 95% water. With this at mind, I would assume that they are extremely sensitive to even the most minor of changes in water parameters. This fact alone turns me off from them because this means that even one small mistake made can kill them. There's also the fact that jellies need very strong lighting to survive, lighting beyond that of metal halides I believe. The cost of lighting for such a delicate creature turns me off just the same as the water issue. In my opinion, they're not worth it and should be left in the ocean.

 

[Anonymous]

They require (do best) in special round tanks. Otherwise they get pushed into LR or corners an die.

 

[mr_X]

being made up of 95% water would make them as sensitive as anemone maybe?

 

[Anonymous]

They require (do best) in special round tanks. Otherwise they get pushed into LR or corners an die.

Special round, very expensive tanks. As you say, ones without rock or anything else, based on what I've seen.

The ones I've seen in public aquaria are fed on a more or less constant diet of zooplankton, which in itself need to be cultured in very large amounts more or less constantly.

The lighting at these aquaria, btw, was nominal (I think entirely actinics in some cases, just to make them look pretty). It may be different for other jellies, but my impression was that all those kept fed on plankton. Not seen anything about anything keepable needing special lighting. Maybe the surface drifters would be different.

 

[blackcloudmedia]

Well we have to be careful not to group all of the thousands of species and subspecies of Cnideria into one group based off of what weve hear. After all one crab looks like another but are they all the same in the tank? Try putting a fist sized stone crab into your reef tank!! Dont be afraid to say "I dont know" guys lol. My honest advice to you dude is call that place up and ask the official species name (they should have it on books considering jellyfish are expensive....assuming they actually keep books) and contact your local marine biologists or any marine biologist, most of them from experience are dorky and actually love talking about..." The mating habits of Holothuria floridana and its effect upon T Maxima populations. TEN POINT BONUS TO WHO CAN TELL ME WHATS WRONG WITH MY PREVIOUS STATEMENT. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

The mating habits of Holothuria floridana and its effect upon T Maxima populations. TEN POINT BONUS TO WHO CAN TELL ME WHATS WRONG WITH MY PREVIOUS STATEMENT. :lol:

T. Maximas are from the Pacific, Holothuria floridana are from the Atlantic. Thus the former's mating habits would have very little effect on the latter.

Also, I'd be curious to know how your "Fist-sized stone crab" analogy relates to the discussion of the captive needs of jellyfish. Maybe I'll cash in my TEN　POINTS for an explanation of that... :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Special round, very expensive tanks. As you say, ones without rock or anything else, based on what I've seen.

It's do-able. I'd go so far as to say that a modest pseudo-kreisel tank could be done for about the same price as a similiar reef tank. At least a handful of dealers already make such set ups, and there's a few custom acrylic workers out there who can turn out nice ones.

I actually gave a lot of thought to setting up a jelly tank instead of a reef when I finally got in the position to set up a tank again. The main thing that turned me off in the end is the short lifespan of moon jellies; I don't like replacing livestock that often.

 

[Anonymous]

For reference, see http://www.jellyfishtanks.com/

 

[atnixon]

My personal take on Jellyfish would be that i dont see why not..As long as the person is willing to spend major bucks, tons of research and put in the constant effort for prestine water quality, i would go for it..

I would imagine a tank that has Jellies in it would look outstanding with all the different colours that they can produce, even in a species tank...

As with the lighting, they mostly seem to just need 20,000k lighting from mh sets..which of course is also very east to achieve..

Niko

 

[Anonymous]

The ones I have seen are rather boring after a few minutes.

 

[Anonymous]

I looked into it once. I was told it was a step up in PITA from reefreeping. Not impsible, but more work.