Upside Down Jellyfish species tank

Pixxl · Jul 1, 2020

Hey community! First post here, looking to document my latest venture into exotic animal care. I had seen a post on another social site weeks ago with an Upside Down Jellyfish and never thought about housing them as I am aware Jellyfish are generally very sensitive and hard to care for. This species however, might be more easy to work with as they generally keep to one spot (against the glass or on the sand bed).

In this interest, I happened to find someone who had some in inventory and I've taken up the challenge of caring for this little creature. I just set it up yesterday, I'm going to attempt to house it in a filterless pico rimless tank which means extremely frequent water changes (easy for the size of the tank).

Tank:
Aqueon Edgelit Cube Aquarium, size 1. ~1 gal.

Lighting:
Currently natural light from the window and white LEDs coming from the base to illuminate the glass. I've got a HOB spectrum LED coming in the mail sometime today/tomorrow which I'll use to suppliment.

Heating:
I have a 5w flat heater on the back of the tank which keeps the tank ~80F.

Food Supply:
I've got it near my window for some natural light to help feed the zooxanthellae living within it's tentacles, and am setting up a "sea-monkey" home to raise some live brine shrimp to feed it periodically as well.

ChgoGoodGirl · Jul 1, 2020

Wow! Please keep is posted! Never even thought of doing something like that. Amazing!

ichthyogeek · Jul 1, 2020

Agreed! But...where’s your flow?

Chefwheredyougo · Jul 1, 2020

In for updates and info!

Daniel@R2R · Jul 2, 2020

Awesome!! Following!!

Pixxl · Jul 2, 2020

Morning all! New light came in yesterday. Next looking into a controller that can monitor the heat of the tank and shut off to keep it around 77F.

Agreed! But...where’s your flow?

This tank has no flow, but I might add an airstone to help break the surface tension of the water at least. While they do require some oxygen, they have a unique body structure allowing them to require very little oxygen so they can survive in low-oxygen conditions. [source]

With my weekly water changes, or more frequent if required, this should introduce enough oxygen for it to thrive.

Wow! Please keep is posted! Never even thought of doing something like that. Amazing!

Thanks! Also great to see someone else from Illinois here! Hoping for the best, but I'm excited to take care of such a unique creature. My other favorite jellyfish is the comb.

I snagged a few pics of the light this morning, it's pretty intense but it came with two focal lenses and stands pretty high above the water which is nice.

ChgoGoodGirl · Jul 2, 2020

Pixxl said:
Morning all! New light came in yesterday. Next looking into a controller that can monitor the heat of the tank and shut off to keep it around 77F.

This tank has no flow, but I might add an airstone to help break the surface tension of the water at least. While they do require some oxygen, they have a unique body structure allowing them to require very little oxygen so they can survive in low-oxygen conditions. [source]

With my weekly water changes, or more frequent if required, this should introduce enough oxygen for it to thrive.

Thanks! Also great to see someone else from Illinois here! Hoping for the best, but I'm excited to take care of such a unique creature. My other favorite jellyfish is the comb.

I snagged a few pics of the light this morning, it's pretty intense but it came with two focal lenses and stands pretty high above the water which is nice.

Yeah I thought there would be more people from the chicagoland area. Ive only seen a few. So yeah, great to meet ya!

jay06705 · Jul 2, 2020

Following along, can't wait to see the progress.

Casket_Case · Jul 2, 2020

Do you think keeping these in a reef tank could be achieved?

Pixxl · Jul 2, 2020

Do you think keeping these in a reef tank could be achieved?

This was my original idea, though my current reef tank is still new and is only ~5gal. If I were to have it in my reef, I would definitively want to ensure it has more empty sandbed to potentially dwell.

There is of course the initial risk of having it in a tank: "jellification". That is, if it were to accidentally be pulled into the sump/filter hole and/or any water pumps. Since Jellyfish are ~95% water, they are very easily manipulated by water movement. If your sump intake is on the top, I think that should be safe. But if there are sump intakes on the bottom or middle of the tank, there could be a risk if it were to dislodge (by itself or via water movement) and get pulled into a spot.

The other issue I think there is however, is one I had no idea about and seems to only stem from Upside Down Jellyfish! Upside down Jellies actually release some sort of "stinging mucus". People were reporting the effects of being stung without actually encountering any Jellyfish, and what has been discovered now is that this species can sting without making direct contact due to their ability to "release mucus filled with clusters of stinging cells". [source]

Fascinating creatures! So when I learned this, I decided it might actually introduce another risk to my corals/inverts in my tank which I did not want to experiment with (yet). Now it is in it's own special little tank.

That said, I think I might buy an LPS and place it within the same tank of my Jellyfish just to understand how the two can cohabit in a small enclosure. I'm also curious about how well this light is and if it encourages growth on the coral than it should be sufficient to provide energy for the algae cells within the Jelly.

Casket_Case · Jul 2, 2020

Pixxl said:
This was my original idea, though my current reef tank is still new and is only ~5gal. If I were to have it in my reef, I would definitively want to ensure it has more empty sandbed to potentially dwell.

There is of course the initial risk of having it in a tank: "jellification". That is, if it were to accidentally be pulled into the sump/filter hole and/or any water pumps. Since Jellyfish are ~95% water, they are very easily manipulated by water movement. If your sump intake is on the top, I think that should be safe. But if there are sump intakes on the bottom or middle of the tank, there could be a risk if it were to dislodge (by itself or via water movement) and get pulled into a spot.

The other issue I think there is however, is one I had no idea about and seems to only stem from Upside Down Jellyfish! Upside down Jellies actually release some sort of "stinging mucus". People were reporting the effects of being stung without actually encountering any Jellyfish, and what has been discovered now is that this species can sting without making direct contact due to their ability to "release mucus filled with clusters of stinging cells". [source]

Fascinating creatures! So when I learned this, I decided it might actually introduce another risk to my corals/inverts in my tank which I did not want to experiment with (yet). Now it is in it's own special little tank.

That said, I think I might buy an LPS and place it within the same tank of my Jellyfish just to understand how the two can cohabit in a small enclosure. I'm also curious about how well this light is and if it encourages growth on the coral than it should be sufficient to provide energy for the algae cells within the Jelly.

This is so cool! I love your method and I’m most definitely following this!!!