Jellyfish Aquariums and Care: Ask Me Anything

[A Toadstool Leather]

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.

Honestly the feeding aspect of jellies keeps me away from them. Coral are difficult but if your water,light, and flow are good you are set. Maybe one day I will take care of comb jellies since that has been a dream of mine.

 

[Sallstrom]

Hi @TravisTheJellyfish

I work at a public aquarium in Sweden and we collected some Gonionemus vertens, Clinging jellyfish, this summer. They are not very common here in Sweden but this summer they were found along our west coast.

I just wanted to check if you have any info on breeding them?

Thanks in advance!

/ David

 

[Scubafrog]

Honestly the feeding aspect of jellies keeps me away from them. Coral are difficult but if your water,light, and flow are good you are set. Maybe one day I will take care of comb jellies since that has been a dream of mine.

My daughter and I had 6 small moon jellies in a Cubic Pulse 80. I did weekly (5 gallon) water changes and fed them daily but unfortunately they shrank to nothing and eventually disappeared into the water after only a little over a month.

All water parameters were in check and flow was good. The only thing I can think of is that our food wasn't enough to make them grow. We fed Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine and frozen baby brine. Also, tried Jelly Deli once or twice but I didn't like all the waste on the bottom of the tank.

Aquarium did a full 4 week cycle and parameters were in check before adding the moon jellies. They did well for about 2-3 weeks and then just started shrinking in size.

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

My daughter and I had 6 small moon jellies in a Cubic Pulse 80. I did weekly (5 gallon) water changes and fed them daily but unfortunately they shrank to nothing and eventually disappeared into the water after only a little over a month.

All water parameters were in check and flow was good. The only thing I can think of is that our food wasn't enough to make them grow. We fed Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine and frozen baby brine. Also, tried Jelly Deli once or twice but I didn't like all the waste on the bottom of the tank.

Aquarium did a full 4 week cycle and parameters were in check before adding the moon jellies. They did well for about 2-3 weeks and then just started shrinking in size.

I always miss notifications about this thread so I apologize for replying two months late! I have used Ocean Nutrition's Instant Baby Brine Shrimp. They basically take baby brine and pressure cook/autoclave them to sterilize it. Something during that process changes the food and the jellyfish can't digest it at all. They definitely eat it, but they ultimately can't digest it. The food also goes bad really fast and you end up adding a ton of bacteria to your tank because of that.

The Jelly Deli product is total snake oil. It frustrates me to see them advertising it as a jellyfish food. I've used it personally and it done a number of different tests on it. Supposedly it helps grow copepods and microfauna in your tank but doesn't directly feed the jellyfish. In my tests, I found it caused jellyfish to shrink faster than if they weren't fed at all.

 

[Scotty Buttons]

Have you ever kept Craspedacusta sowerbii?
@TravisTheJellyfish

And just a odd ball question, have you ever eaten jellies?

 

[TravisTheJellyfish]

Have you ever kept Craspedacusta sowerbii?
@TravisTheJellyfish

And just a odd ball question, have you ever eaten jellies?

I have kept freshwater jellies. Last Autumn I collected some in a lake nearby. Here's a video I made on them:

I tried a chili jellyfish soup dish from a local asian market several years ago. Texture was super weird and they don't have much taste until spices are added. Rhopilema verrilli is frequently the species consumed in China, and probably what I had.

 

[Scubafrog]

I always miss notifications about this thread so I apologize for replying two months late! I have used Ocean Nutrition's Instant Baby Brine Shrimp. They basically take baby brine and pressure cook/autoclave them to sterilize it. Something during that process changes the food and the jellyfish can't digest it at all. They definitely eat it, but they ultimately can't digest it. The food also goes bad really fast and you end up adding a ton of bacteria to your tank because of that.

The Jelly Deli product is total snake oil. It frustrates me to see them advertising it as a jellyfish food. I've used it personally and it done a number of different tests on it. Supposedly it helps grow copepods and microfauna in your tank but doesn't directly feed the jellyfish. In my tests, I found it caused jellyfish to shrink faster than if they weren't fed at all.

Thanks for the info. Yep the food is the only thing I could think of that we did wrong as the aquarium flow and water parameters seemed spot on.

 

[El_Guapo13]

I know this is an old thread, but I figured since it dors say to ask anything about jellies, I figures I would as this seema to be the most informative thread on jellies that I have seen so far.

So first, in my reef tank, I have a lot of Upside Down Jellyfish polyps hitchiking on my rocks, in my return chamber, on my heater (I still can't figure out how they haven't fried to death), and in my return chamber. So I get several strobiliation events every week, resulting in several ephyra floating around my tank, and eventually dieing to either getting sucked into the return, or killed/eaten by a coral...usually my aussie lords (vicious little b@$#ards, had one eat an interstellar mushroom coral recently). So, I figured I would try to save a few from the reef's wrath. So now my questions:

1) How long does the ephyra stage last?
2) During the ephyra stage, how much light do they need, how much do they need to be fed, and what can they be fed?
3) What would be the preferred housing requirements once it reaches adulthood? I don't mean in terms of tank size, more in terms of what kind of filter would you recommend, how strong of water flow (I've heard the Upside Down Jellyfish do not need as strong a flow as other jellyfish, nor do they need the circular flow), temperature, sandy bottom or bare bottom? Yes I realize that filter size would be determined by tank size, but I mean more the type like, overflow plus return pump, basic overhanging filter, canister filter plus spitter return (like the 20 gallon filters that are sold for turtle tanks)?

 

[ReefBeta]

@TravisTheJellyfish What's your thought about adding a refugium or chaeto reactor for nutrient export? Will it be a good improvement or overkill?

 

[duganderson]

I'm restarting my Jellyfishart 2 gallon tank since it's currently dry. Can I "seed" my sponge and media in my reef tank to get it cycle faster or are there creatures or things from my reef tank that may be dangerous to my jellies that my hitchhike into my jelly tank in the foam or media?

THanks, Doug

 

[amandaf18]

But again, I don't want to come off as biased or trying to self promote. There are around 3 companies that ship jellyfish in the US, and one that breeds multiple species of jellyfish.

You can hypothetically run a jellyfish tank on the same system as a reef. But reef tanks tend to have a ton of unwanted pests. Red slime, vermetid snails, worms etc. Our jellyfish come from a biosecure system, so it's nice to keep them clean. Cuts down on headaches down the road. They don't need any special salt. In my facility, we use Fritz RPM. We've made thousands of gallons and it's never let us down. Any salt that mixes clear, quickly is good for jellies. If the water is still cloudy, they're not going to like it.

Are you still growing jellies? What is your website?

I am looking to start a jelly tank. Most of the websites that I have found are out of the Cubic 80 like you have recommended. Have you seen then Omni 9 and 15? If so, what do you think of those?

 

[ZoWhat]

What's the difference btwn Jelly and Jam?

 

[Sushiboy225]

I have worked for other jellyfish companies in the past, and for the last several years I have owned a jellyfish aquaculture company. I'm not a sponsor here so I know there is some sensitivity to that. I will try my best to provide a fair review from my personal thoughts and experiences as a hobbyist.



Jellyfish Art - 5g cylinder
These were designed around Moon Jellies but I have had some clients keep different species in them with some success. Anything with short tentacles is a good bet. I really wish they had more capable filtration. I think it's a great buy for those wanting to stick to moons or don't want to add anything on.

Jellytank - 5g
This was done by some entrepreneur brothers in florida who don't keep jellyfish. I haven't tested it myself but that fact alone scares me. Additionally, I have had countless people come to me and say their JellyTank is leaking. The design seems sound, but like I said, I'd like to get ahold of one and try it for myself.

Orbit 20 - 6g
The Orbit has been around for a while, I've had several to play with and test. I've been able to keep a bunch of different species in these tanks. I also really love the fittings on the side so you can add a mini chiller or canister filter if you want. Basically, its good for any species of smaller jellyfish. The filtration is hidden in an outer ring on the tank, and it can be very difficult to get to. It's really nice to add a small canister filter like the TurtleClean 15 (it works great on saltwater tanks), then everything is easy to manage.

I would like to mention that the Pulse 80 is my favorite jelly tank on the market. They're expensive, but its worth it if you really want to get into jellyfish keeping. 23 gallons gives plenty of room for a variety of jellies and plenty of stability. You can hook them up to a sump adding an infinite set of possibilities.

Have you ever known someone to keep comb jellies?

 

[aquaristB]

Have you ever had an issue with a large population of moon jellies beginning to turn a pinkish/orange around their oral arms and it just ended up "sliming" off? They also developed holes in the bell margin. Checked all water parameters. The pH was the only thing slightly off. Are they just that delicate or is a disease of some sort?

 

[aquaristB]

Hi everyone!

My name is Travis, I have been keeping and culturing jellyfish for over 8 years. Over those years I've managed to keep around 40 different species from bioluminescent ctenophores to box jellyfish. They're beautiful creatures, and always a huge hit at public aquariums. Popular at the beach as well, but for all the wrong reasons. I've had an everlasting fascination with these enigmatic creatures. They don't have a brain or a heart or any major organ for that matter. Yet they are animals and have been around since before dinosaurs.

Over the years the have gotten a bad reputation in the saltwater and reef hobby. It started with big, elaborate and insanely overpriced jellyfish aquariums being offered to the public. It all seemed out of reach. And then came a new era of affordable jellyfish aquariums but with it came hoards of hype and misinformation. That's why I'm here today. I want to answer any question anyone has on jellyfish keeping and help clear out the old, bad information. I know this isn't Reddit but: Ask Me Anything!

These creatures aren't difficult to keep. They need specialized aquariums, and its important to invest in a good jellyfish aquarium. It's their life support system. Past that, I would rate jellyfish as being about as difficult as a soft coral. To kick this off, I'm going to pick three of the biggest jellyfish myths and clear them out right here:

1) Jellyfish only live a few months to a year: Nope! This depends a lot on the species but jellies can live many years in captivity. In the wild, they are definitely seasonal. Poor knowledge and care has led to this belief they don't live very long. Most Moon Jellyfish will live 2-4 years in captivity if cared for properly. The record was 13 years in a public aquarium!

2) Jellyfish are cold water and require a chiller : In the early days of jellyfish keeping, you could only find wild caught jellyfish from California. In reality, there are thousands of species of jellyfish and they live in every marine climate on the planet. Captive bred warm water jellies are readily available now. There are even jellies that prefer room temperature water.

3) Jellyfish are difficult to keep: Jellyfish just need a good quality home. Their aquarium keeps them suspended, as they aren't great swimmers. That being said, you can keep jellyfish in just about anything as long as the flow is right and they don't get sucked into the filtration. They're much more forgiving of poor water quality than that SPS you just bought. My first saltwater aquarium was a jellyfish tank and it wasn't until a few years ago that I started keeping corals. I was afraid corals would be too difficult! I'm still better at keeping jellyfish.

Can you identify this one?

 

[OfficeReefer]

@TravisTheJellyfish do you think one could keep some ricordea and flower anemones or similar in the bottom of a jellyfish tank or do you think they would get eaten?

I'm looking for something to add to the bottom of a jelly tank that likes leftovers and is not a crab.

 

[marierose]

Hi everyone!

My name is Travis, I have been keeping and culturing jellyfish for over 8 years. Over those years I've managed to keep around 40 different species from bioluminescent ctenophores to box jellyfish. They're beautiful creatures, and always a huge hit at public aquariums. Popular at the beach as well, but for all the wrong reasons. I've had an everlasting fascination with these enigmatic creatures. They don't have a brain or a heart or any major organ for that matter. Yet they are animals and have been around since before dinosaurs.

Over the years the have gotten a bad reputation in the saltwater and reef hobby. It started with big, elaborate and insanely overpriced jellyfish aquariums being offered to the public. It all seemed out of reach. And then came a new era of affordable jellyfish aquariums but with it came hoards of hype and misinformation. That's why I'm here today. I want to answer any question anyone has on jellyfish keeping and help clear out the old, bad information. I know this isn't Reddit but: Ask Me Anything!

These creatures aren't difficult to keep. They need specialized aquariums, and its important to invest in a good jellyfish aquarium. It's their life support system. Past that, I would rate jellyfish as being about as difficult as a soft coral. To kick this off, I'm going to pick three of the biggest jellyfish myths and clear them out right here:

1) Jellyfish only live a few months to a year: Nope! This depends a lot on the species but jellies can live many years in captivity. In the wild, they are definitely seasonal. Poor knowledge and care has led to this belief they don't live very long. Most Moon Jellyfish will live 2-4 years in captivity if cared for properly. The record was 13 years in a public aquarium!

2) Jellyfish are cold water and require a chiller : In the early days of jellyfish keeping, you could only find wild caught jellyfish from California. In reality, there are thousands of species of jellyfish and they live in every marine climate on the planet. Captive bred warm water jellies are readily available now. There are even jellies that prefer room temperature water.

3) Jellyfish are difficult to keep: Jellyfish just need a good quality home. Their aquarium keeps them suspended, as they aren't great swimmers. That being said, you can keep jellyfish in just about anything as long as the flow is right and they don't get sucked into the filtration. They're much more forgiving of poor water quality than that SPS you just bought. My first saltwater aquarium was a jellyfish tank and it wasn't until a few years ago that I started keeping corals. I was afraid corals would be too difficult! I'm still better at keeping jellyfish.

Hi everyone!

My name is Travis, I have been keeping and culturing jellyfish for over 8 years. Over those years I've managed to keep around 40 different species from bioluminescent ctenophores to box jellyfish. They're beautiful creatures, and always a huge hit at public aquariums. Popular at the beach as well, but for all the wrong reasons. I've had an everlasting fascination with these enigmatic creatures. They don't have a brain or a heart or any major organ for that matter. Yet they are animals and have been around since before dinosaurs.

Over the years the have gotten a bad reputation in the saltwater and reef hobby. It started with big, elaborate and insanely overpriced jellyfish aquariums being offered to the public. It all seemed out of reach. And then came a new era of affordable jellyfish aquariums but with it came hoards of hype and misinformation. That's why I'm here today. I want to answer any question anyone has on jellyfish keeping and help clear out the old, bad information. I know this isn't Reddit but: Ask Me Anything!

These creatures aren't difficult to keep. They need specialized aquariums, and its important to invest in a good jellyfish aquarium. It's their life support system. Past that, I would rate jellyfish as being about as difficult as a soft coral. To kick this off, I'm going to pick three of the biggest jellyfish myths and clear them out right here:

1) Jellyfish only live a few months to a year: Nope! This depends a lot on the species but jellies can live many years in captivity. In the wild, they are definitely seasonal. Poor knowledge and care has led to this belief they don't live very long. Most Moon Jellyfish will live 2-4 years in captivity if cared for properly. The record was 13 years in a public aquarium!

2) Jellyfish are cold water and require a chiller : In the early days of jellyfish keeping, you could only find wild caught jellyfish from California. In reality, there are thousands of species of jellyfish and they live in every marine climate on the planet. Captive bred warm water jellies are readily available now. There are even jellies that prefer room temperature water.

3) Jellyfish are difficult to keep: Jellyfish just need a good quality home. Their aquarium keeps them suspended, as they aren't great swimmers. That being said, you can keep jellyfish in just about anything as long as the flow is right and they don't get sucked into the filtration. They're much more forgiving of poor water quality than that SPS you just bought. My first saltwater aquarium was a jellyfish tank and it wasn't until a few years ago that I started keeping corals. I was afraid corals would be too difficult! I'm still better at keeping jellyfish.

Hello Travis,
I am currently working with moon jellies in an aquarium. I am just starting with them and have not yet built the proper experience. One of the main issue that I have is that the juvenile do pretty fine for the first 2-3 weeks (5-6cm bell) but then their oral arms start to lose shape. They turn thin, straight and long , eventually breaking off. The bell's edges then gradually turn inside.
The water is kept at approximately 19°C with a salinity of 31-32 and a pH of 8. The level of NH3, NO2 and NO3 are low.
I don't seem to be able to get the jellies past the juvenile stage.
I don't know what could be wrong with the system or with my method. If you could help me I would be really grateful.

Thanks!

 

[Subsea]

Hello Travis,
I am currently working with moon jellies in an aquarium. I am just starting with them and have not yet built the proper experience. One of the main issue that I have is that the juvenile do pretty fine for the first 2-3 weeks (5-6cm bell) but then their oral arms start to lose shape. They turn thin, straight and long , eventually breaking off. The bell's edges then gradually turn inside.
The water is kept at approximately 19°C with a salinity of 31-32 and a pH of 8. The level of NH3, NO2 and NO3 are low.
I don't seem to be able to get the jellies past the juvenile stage.
I don't know what could be wrong with the system or with my method. If you could help me I would be really grateful.

Thanks!

@marierose
Looks like you live somewhere between Shangri La & Nirvana.

Mauritius

maps.app.goo.gl

!ets see where the OP is:

@TravisTheJellyfish
Kudos to your vision. When I first saw jelly fish tank at Monterey Bay Aquarium, I was in awe. Bring it on!
Patrick

 

[Subsea]

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.

Kudos to such an interesting area of marine biology.

As a Subsea Engineer in Deepwater Drilling, I worked on and in the Deep Blue for 30 years. It was a marvelous adventure, while dodging bullets twice, in the eye of the storm. Mother Nature conducts a marvelous symphony. I so much enjoyed watching Portuguese Men of War float aimlessly-by with their sails amiss, until it seemed to be synchronized and sails were adjusted to group back together. At that moment, Intuitively, I knew they communicated.

The source of the Gulf Stream, the Caribbean moves the heat of the tropics to the west cost of Norway where a CORAL REEF of NPS exist at 200 meters. Parts of the Gulf Stream come into the Gulf of Mexico where Offshore Drillers & Scientist call it “Loop Current”.

Its a marvelous day in the neighbor hood!!!

 

[Subsea]

Because you said, ask me anything: Do you have knowledge of tidepool ecosystems?

Do you do sponges? I have a fetish for SpongeBob!