Jellyfish Aquariums and Care: Ask Me Anything

[Jedi_Master]

Had a line on a used Orbit 80 at a steal of a deal but the person wasn’t willing to ship it. Too bad! I’m so disappointed!

 

[Jedi_Master]

Had a line on a used Orbit 80 at a steal of a deal but the person wasn’t willing to ship it. Too bad! I’m so disappointed!

I meant Pulse 80. Stupid spellcheck!

 

[Scubafrog]

@TravisTheJellyfish

So my daughter popped a question on me the other day and asked me if one could make a jellyfish aquarium out of a normal aquarium. I instinctively replied "No" without giving it proper thought. While setting at work today and viewing reef aquarium builds the Maxspect Gyre showed up on a build thread and I instantly thought, "why wouldn't this work for jellies?".

Do you think a Maxspect Gyre placed properly in an aquarium would provide the proper flow and constant movement needed for jellies?

 

[Maritimer]

I'm not Travis, but you might want to place a curved section of mesh, wall-to-wall, and curving from bottom to top, between the jellies and the powerhead. Jellies would get sucked into a Gyre pump, guaranteed - but it could create the flow you want. (You'll want to keep it set very low - it's a gentle flow you need, not the turbulent roiling of a coral reef crest.) You'll also likely want something for filtration, and that could go behind the mesh as well.

~Bruce, who's seen the technique used at the local Public Aquarium

 

[Scubafrog]

Bruce,

Yeah, I figured you would have to enclose the gyre somehow and dial down the flow to protect the jellies. I also thought filtration could come with an all-in-one style aquarium or even utilize a sump.

I wish I had the means and/or tools to create something with glass and/or acrylic. Seems like a fun project as there isn't a lot of options for jelly aquariums on the consumer level.

Thanks!

 

[Scubafrog]

What if I have a moon jelly that doesn't pulse? I have one that was barely pulsing and has now stopped. Is it dead?

It appears to have food in it so I assume it has eaten in the past hour.

 

[Maritimer]

I'd suggest to check your water's parameters, but other than that . . . I can't say for sure. Being mostly water, if they are dead, they should start to disintegrate fairly quickly.

~Bruce

 

[Scubafrog]

I'd suggest to check your water's parameters, but other than that . . . I can't say for sure. Being mostly water, if they are dead, they should start to disintegrate fairly quickly.

~Bruce

It is staying together and round. Also appears to be eating a little. Just not pulsing.

I checked the water and all seems fine. Nitrate was a little high so I did a water change. Ammonia and Nitrite at zero. pH is at 7.8 or a little lower. May need to raise pH a little.

Sunset Marine Labs does say they can take personal days. Or could just be the weakest of the bunch.

Thanks!

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

@TravisTheJellyfish

So my daughter popped a question on me the other day and asked me if one could make a jellyfish aquarium out of a normal aquarium. I instinctively replied "No" without giving it proper thought. While setting at work today and viewing reef aquarium builds the Maxspect Gyre showed up on a build thread and I instantly thought, "why wouldn't this work for jellies?".

Do you think a Maxspect Gyre placed properly in an aquarium would provide the proper flow and constant movement needed for jellies?

When I first saw the Gyre pump come out I wondered the same thing. I have one on my reef tank right now. It definitely could create the right flow pattern. It's a pretty strong pump, though. You could definitely have to create some sort of mesh divider and separate the intake of the pump from the jellies. The farther away the better, as that will diffuse the suction on the pump. The benefit of using a pump and a spraybar is that the pump can be kept as far away as you want, while the source of flow is pushing water over the screen, keeping the jellyfish away. Here's a design of a general jellyfish aquarium. If you can get some acrylic cut, it's very easy to build one from a Deep Blue 30 extra high aquarium.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

It is staying together and round. Also appears to be eating a little. Just not pulsing.

I checked the water and all seems fine. Nitrate was a little high so I did a water change. Ammonia and Nitrite at zero. pH is at 7.8 or a little lower. May need to raise pH a little.

Sunset Marine Labs does say they can take personal days. Or could just be the weakest of the bunch.

Thanks!

I second water quality. Some possible reasons why jellyfish stop pulsing:

1) Water quality- this is a little vague various parameters that are off, especially high organic waste can cause jellies to stop moving. It can also be caused by bacteria or ciliates. I don't like tanks that use only air as the method of circulation, because they seem to breed unwanted microorganisms which wouldn't thrive in other tanks.

2) Not enough exercise- this one sounds funny, and it is. Particularly with Moon Jellyfish, if the flow is too high, they may get lazy and stop pulsing. With Sea Nettles it's the opposite, flow encourages them to swim.

3) Diet- this isn't as much of an issue as it used to be but diet can definitely play a role. Malnutrition or poor food items can cause jellies to stop moving. This reserves energy for them.

Typically if you figure out the problem and correct it, they'll start pulsing again and turn around. I would do a few regular water changes, like 10% twice weekly for a week or two and see if they start doing better. If your tank has flow control, you can experiment with that and see if it helps.

 

[Scubafrog]

Yeah, I have seen this kind of design before. Similar to the Medusa. Probably the best idea but I would like a cleaner looking set-up. Something that hides all the inner workings (screen, curved inserts, etc..) I guess one could always manufacture a housing/frame that would hide all except the jelly viewing area.

Thanks.

 

[Scubafrog]

Any pictures or videos of your jellies at Aquashella?

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

It was an absolutely amazing show! We setup two displays:

1) I took my personal Pulse 80 tank and custom wrapped it in vinyl with our company colors. I think it added a cool touch and definitely opens up options for others out there. You can buy virtually any color of vinyl online. This tank had Moon Jellies in it.

2) We set up a holding tank with Comb Jellies in the awesome UV room. It was hard to get pictures in here because the only lighting was black light or ultra blue. But it was definitely awesome seeing those Comb Jellies glow a rainbow of colors.

It was awesome to meet everyone there! I listened to some awesome talks by Paul Poeschl, Raj Shingadia, Mark Vera etc. Was also awesome to meet my friends at Alyssa’s Seahorse Savvy. David Hammontree himself was there as well.

Any pictures or videos of your jellies at Aquashella?

 

[SciGuy2]

Very cool!

 

[SnakeCharmer]

Where can I get some dried jellyfish food, similar to what came with my Orbit jellyfish tank?

I can't seem to find anything online and I'd like to avoid using live foods or foods that have to be refrigerated.

Thanks!

 

[A Toadstool Leather]

Have you taken care of comb jellies, and if so how hard are they to keep? I have always loved comb jellies and seeing them at public aquariums is a treat.

 

[Muttley000]

Thanks for the informative thread. My wife really wants a tank of these!

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

Where can I get some dried jellyfish food, similar to what came with my Orbit jellyfish tank?

I can't seem to find anything online and I'd like to avoid using live foods or foods that have to be refrigerated.

Thanks!

I would recommend our food: https://jellyfishwarehouse.com/collections/jellyfish-food/products/jellyfuel-dry-jellyfish-food
It's pretty similar to Cubic's dry food, but the grain size is a little larger. I find that makes it easier for the jellies to catch it. It's stable at room temperature.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

Have you taken care of comb jellies, and if so how hard are they to keep? I have always loved comb jellies and seeing them at public aquariums is a treat.

I've kept a few different species of Comb Jellies. They're very delicate and picky jellies- they either do really well or go downhill very fast. Over the years I found a couple of tricks that make keeping them easier and successful.

Almost everyone sells Mnemiopsis leidyi Comb Jellies. These are by far the hardiest. I've worked with other species that are very very sensitive. So if you by Comb Jellies they're most likely Mnemiopsis but just check to make sure. Here are some key tricks I found to have success with them:

1) Colder is better. Mnemiopsis are an all-seasons type jellyfish. I've found them in 40 F water all the way to 83 F. Colder is better because it slows down their metabolism while also limiting the growth of bacteria. If you can, I like to keep them at around 60 F, but even 68 is better than tropical. They life cycle stretches substantially longer with cooler water.

2) They need quality foods. Dry foods really don't work with Comb jellies. They need live or preserved baby brine shrimp. Rotifers are great for diversifying their diet as well. Hikari frozen rotifers and Rotifeast are two excellent products.

3) Make sure your tank is clean and cycled. Most jellies are actually not super sensitive to ammonia. Comb Jellies on the other hand really don't like ammonia or pH swings. This isn't any more difficult than with fish or corals, just make sure their tank is nice and cycled before you add jellies.

I wouldn't rate Comb Jellies as being very difficult but rather they have a specialized set of care requirements. If you're dedicated to keeping them, it can be done with great success.

 

[SnakeCharmer]

I would recommend our food: https://jellyfishwarehouse.com/collections/jellyfish-food/products/jellyfuel-dry-jellyfish-food
It's pretty similar to Cubic's dry food, but the grain size is a little larger. I find that makes it easier for the jellies to catch it. It's stable at room temperature.

Thanks!!!!