Jellyfish Aquariums and Care: Ask Me Anything

[TravisTheJellyfish]

How much would you say a simple moon jelly tank is to setup and maintain?

Also, how do breed jellies? Do they split or make eggs?

That's a tough question to fully tackle. With jellyfish, the biggest expense comes upfront with the tank. But that's because jellyfish tanks are usually an all in one kit. The price would be equivalent if you set up an aquarium piece by piece. I recommend doing a 20% water change every two weeks or even weekly on the really small tanks. You feed daily. Most jellyfish tanks are super low power consumption. So depending on the type of salt or food you went with that would determine your running expense. It's not much though. With most jellyfish tanks being under 20 gallons, your only changing a max of 8 gallons a month. A $14 pack of dry jellyfish food usually lasts 3 moon jellies 3 months.

Jellyfish have a whole multistage life cycle, kind of like a frog or butterfly. Most of them are male and female and they release single cell style eggs. There are some cool videos on youtube that really go in depth.

 

[Mako61]

I currently feed my reef tank mostly frozen food. Is that ok for a jelly fish tank ( pulse 80 ) I know live is better, but that sounds like a pain.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

I currently feed my reef tank mostly frozen food. Is that ok for a jelly fish tank ( pulse 80 ) I know live is better, but that sounds like a pain.

Frozen food is fine! What kind are you feeding? Sometimes frozen foods are even better- brine shrimp lack a few of the nutrients that jellyfish need long term. I will feed our Sea Nettles and Lion's Mane Jellies PE Mysis shrimp. They love that. Sometimes I'll cut it up into smaller pieces and feed out to the Moon Jellies.

There are a couple of frozen brine shrimp products on the market. The important thing is jellies don't digest adult brine shrimp well. They're basically just a shell, very little nutrition anyways. So always use a baby brine shrimp product.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

Here are some jellyfish pictures just for fun.

Mangrove Box Jellyfish, Atlantic Sea Nettle, Fried Egg Jellyfish, Comb Jelly

 

[Mako61]

Frozen food is fine! What kind are you feeding? Sometimes frozen foods are even better- brine shrimp lack a few of the nutrients that jellyfish need long term. I will feed our Sea Nettles and Lion's Mane Jellies PE Mysis shrimp. They love that. Sometimes I'll cut it up into smaller pieces and feed out to the Moon Jellies.

There are a couple of frozen brine shrimp products on the market. The important thing is jellies don't digest adult brine shrimp well. They're basically just a shell, very little nutrition anyways. So always use a baby brine shrimp product.

I use a few things one being PE Mysis shrimp... I probably will wait for Pulse Gen 3 to come out. I like the Sea Nettles , have you been stung by one ? I been stung by a few things ( including some sort of jelly fish ) never had much reaction.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

I use a few things one being PE Mysis shrimp... I probably will wait for Pulse Gen 3 to come out. I like the Sea Nettles , have you been stung by one ? I been stung by a few things ( including some sort of jelly fish ) never had much reaction.

That brings me to another great point! Jellyfish stings. Something interesting that happens is captive bred jellyfish have much less of a sting. For example, a wild caught Atlantic Sea Nettle will definitely cause a burning itching sensation. But the captive bred nettles have next to no noticeable sting. The current thought process is that they bump into things more frequently in captivity, and their threshold for stinging is increased. They become less sensitive, and don't sting everything they touch.

I have been stung a ton. I frequently go on jellyfish expeditions to see them in the wild or to collect a few to start cultures of. It's all part of the experience really. Most of them were just itching/burning but I was stung by a lethal box jellyfish once.

 

[C-Reefer]

How hard are the comb jellies? Those are the ones I would get if I got into jellies.

What did you do for the box jelly sting?

 

[hart24601]

Awesome info! I had a cubic aquarium jelly tank, it worked well, however I found that for the jellies to do well I had to give them baby brine, the commercial foods didn't seem to get them to stay the same size or grow and made a ton of waste. After a few months all that hatching just wasn't worth it and someone got a really great deal. I did hookup a eheim canister to the fittings and ditched the internal biomedia on the cubic 20. It seemed like a solid system.

 

[AnakinReefWalker]

Hey Travis, thanks for doing this!
I do have some questions though. If I were to keep Jellyfish, I'd wanna keep the Pacific Sea Nettle, have you had experience with these? If so are they difficult?
Also, is it okay to mix different types of jellies in the same system?
Thanks

 

[Scubafrog]

Also, is it okay to mix different types of jellies in the same system?
Thanks

@AnakinReefWalker see quote below on Travis' answer to my similar question.

Some jellyfish can be kept with others, and then some should be left alone. Heres a quick list of groups of jellies that can be kept together:

Fried Egg Jellyfish, Lagoon Jellyfish, Upside Down Jellyfish, Blubber Jellyfish- These are all great together.

Ice Jellyfish, Flame Jellyfish, Mushroom Jellyfish - These guys are all related and do well.

Black Sea Nettle, Purple Striped Nettle- This one is more for public aquariums but they're an iconic duo.

Moon Jellyfish, Lion's Manes, Sea Nettles- Those guys should all be kept only with their same species.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

How hard are the comb jellies? Those are the ones I would get if I got into jellies.

What did you do for the box jelly sting?

Comb Jellies used to be considered expert only. But I've found they just have some special requirements. I came up with a sort of recipe for keeping Comb Jellies. Its worth noting that most jellyfish are around 95% water. Comb Jellies are probably 97% water. So they extra precaution when handling them or doing things in their tank. That being said, they can regrow any part of their body in a matter of days or weeks. So here are some things to consider:

Keep them cold if you can: Comb Jellies and bacteria don't get along. Conveniently the comb jellies sold online exist all season in water ranging from 40 F to 82 F. If you keep them cooler, say 60-65 F, this lowers bacteria growth and also slows down the metabolism of the jellies. They'll live longer and be safer. You could also implement a UV sterilizer, but that wont have the added benefit of extending their life span.

Feed Live Brine: They really will only accept live brine and live or frozen rotifers. Those are both great options for them. I know in the wild they are voracious fish eat eaters. I've been meaning to try feeding them LRS fish eggs, as that may be an even better option.

Keep their tank clean and make sure its cycled: Most jellies aren't all that sensitive to ammonia. Comb Jellies are sensitive however, so its good to make sure their tank is well established before adding them. And just keep the surfaces of the tank wiped down and clean.


As for that Box Jellyfish sting, I just waited it out. It was a very small sting. Was still very painful and caused some chest tightening (Could have been anxiety).

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

Hey Travis, thanks for doing this!
I do have some questions though. If I were to keep Jellyfish, I'd wanna keep the Pacific Sea Nettle, have you had experience with these? If so are they difficult?
Also, is it okay to mix different types of jellies in the same system?
Thanks

I'm actually growing out a batch of babies now. They're tougher than Atlantic Sea Nettles and they like it cold (55-60 F). Sea Nettles are pretty resilient all around, though. So If you can provide the temperature, I say go for it.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

Awesome info! I had a cubic aquarium jelly tank, it worked well, however I found that for the jellies to do well I had to give them baby brine, the commercial foods didn't seem to get them to stay the same size or grow and made a ton of waste. After a few months all that hatching just wasn't worth it and someone got a really great deal. I did hookup a eheim canister to the fittings and ditched the internal biomedia on the cubic 20. It seemed like a solid system.

The big reasons I see jellyfish not growing or even shrinking are:

1) High nitrates or organic waste. 2 ppm NO3 and below is safest, above 40 and they'll stop growing and start to shrink.
2) Poor diet. Some foods aren't suitable for jellies

A lot of the time people blame the food as the cause for shrinking but its usually water quality. Dry foods are insanely nutrient dense compared to brine shrimp. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. It takes very little dry food to keep jellies healthy, whereas they need to fill their stomach with brine shrimp. Like you said, they dry food ends up on the bottom, and just creates waste which can ultimately lead to jellies not growing.

Im working on a new jellyfish food which will be refrigerated, less harsh than dry food, but way more convenient than hatching live brine. I hope to have it ready sometime later this year.

 

[Mako61]

I can safely say I dont want to mess with live brine shrimp. Im betting most dont.
Frozen food is no problem I do that now every day. I use LRS reef frenzy and PE Mysis.

 

[Scubafrog]

I can safely say I dont want to mess with live brine shrimp. Im betting most dont.
Frozen food is no problem I do that now every day. I use LRS reef frenzy and PE Mysis.

Totally agree. I would much rather feed frozen baby brine shrimp over powder.

 

[Mako61]

I have another question. How many hours a day can you run the lights on a jellyfish tank. My wife would like to have the lights on at night.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

I have another question. How many hours a day can you run the lights on a jellyfish tank. My wife would like to have the lights on at night.

Depends on the tank and the lights that come with it. Most tanks have the RGB LEDs and they give off very little PAR, so you could run them all the time. I've even ran reef capable lighting over jellies for 24/7 with no issues. The big thing is algae. More light will definitely result in more algae. As long as you keep the tank wiped down it won't be an issue.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

Totally agree. I would much rather feed frozen baby brine shrimp over powder.

Excellent feedback. That's why I'm trying to come up with a frozen or refrigerated food. Ideally it would be based on brine shrimp and some other planktonic items. Thanks!

 

[hart24601]

The big reasons I see jellyfish not growing or even shrinking are:

1) High nitrates or organic waste. 2 ppm NO3 and below is safest, above 40 and they'll stop growing and start to shrink.
2) Poor diet. Some foods aren't suitable for jellies

A lot of the time people blame the food as the cause for shrinking but its usually water quality. Dry foods are insanely nutrient dense compared to brine shrimp. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. It takes very little dry food to keep jellies healthy, whereas they need to fill their stomach with brine shrimp. Like you said, they dry food ends up on the bottom, and just creates waste which can ultimately lead to jellies not growing.

Im working on a new jellyfish food which will be refrigerated, less harsh than dry food, but way more convenient than hatching live brine. I hope to have it ready sometime later this year.

I did also buy some expensive frozen enriched bbs for jellyfish that seemed to work better, as I tried a few commercial feeds without much luck, but it was hard to get the same amount of food inside the jellies (since you can see it when they consume the food). Again it ended up on the bottom but I even tried to resuspend the food by gently basting the bottom however the jellies didn’t capture much more. A good easy food would sure help now that we, the hobby, has seen they are not hard to keep, just time consuming.

Full disclosure I did lose a couple getting the hang of nutrient management, but after that I had the same ones for around 6 months until I got tired of the work with bbs since I was unable to find suitable replacement food that worked for me and sold them with the system. However they were in good shape.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

I did also buy some expensive frozen enriched bbs for jellyfish that seemed to work better, as I tried a few commercial feeds without much luck, but it was hard to get the same amount of food inside the jellies (since you can see it when they consume the food). Again it ended up on the bottom but I even tried to resuspend the food by gently basting the bottom however the jellies didn’t capture much more. A good easy food would sure help now that we, the hobby, has seen they are not hard to keep, just time consuming.

Full disclosure I did lose a couple getting the hang of nutrient management, but after that I had the same ones for around 6 months until I got tired of the work with bbs since I was unable to find suitable replacement food that worked for me and sold them with the system. However they were in good shape.

A lot of the times, if they start to shrink they will stop eating much. One thing I would also like to mention is never target feed jellyfish. It will end up desensitizing the jellies to the point where they wont eat.

That's excellent feedback though. I'd like to create the exact product you hope for. Something that's easy, and produces the same results as live brine shrimp.