Jellyfish in an aquarium?

[Dark Orange]

This is my first post, Hi to everybody. I have extensive freshwater experience and dabbled in reef stuff and would like to get into it again.

Now to the question... Has anybody here got experience with keeping jellyfish? Particularly the critters found here:The Blue Layer

I am planning on maybe a 300 x 1000 x 600(deep) tank, with minimal water movement and a sump of living rock.

Does anybody have any suggestions on keeping them successfully?

 

[TKOS]

Welcome
They won't survive. I looked into keeping them awhile back (you may even be able to search for the thread). They need a round tank and a rather good current to keep them moving, otherwise they get stuck in corners. Also jellyfish are coldwater and need to have a chiller on the tank, they need the temp down in the 50'sF and that costs a lot. Otherwise the "melt" away. They also need very specialized food.

It can all be done but you really need to have a huge setup cost going in otherwise they just won't last more than a few weeks.

 

[Dark Orange]

But I live by the Barrier Reef in Australia and these things wash up on the beach. Are these just lost individuals blown off cource from the colder waters down south?

 

[OrionGirl]

There are some trpocial jellies, but they are seldom seen for sale, and you must check your local laws concerning local harvarst/collection. They are pretty strict in Australia about this, and fines can be heavy.

The biggest issue for jellies is the shape of the tank. A round tank is a must, otherwise they get stuck in corners and die. Trying one in any other shape tank is pretty well a death sentence for them. Mixing jellies into a community environment is a death sentence for most the other critters, since even those not on the jellies menu will be stung by the jelly accidentally.

Research each of those animals well--I'm pretty sure several of them are obligate feeders, and providing for them may be nearly impossible, if not just impractical.

 

[TKOS]

You will also notice that jellies come by (at least around here) only at certain times of the year. I don't know personally how well they tolerate certain temps year round, but most jellies live a large part of their life in colder deeper waters.

 

[Max]

Also a lot of your Aussie jellies can really pack quite a punch! Some of those guys like the box jellly can even kill so be careful!!!! Be very sure before you pick one of these critters up and make sure you ALWAYS have gloves. I'm sure there are varieties that can take warmer water temps. Lots of them have very short life spans or are just one phase in the development of another critter. There are still a lot of other issues with these guys like good water movement,"easy", a tank with no corners or anything else they can get stuck on ,"not easy at all", and some of them have very specialised diets. Also make sure you only have one sort per tank.
Good luck
let us know how it works out.

 

[wastememphis]

I've read many good threads about jelly fish here (i may have even started one) there were links to other sites too. But they are hard to take care of, no doubt... there are even some species that can't touch anything solid.... you read it right, i forgot the link but I posted it in a thread about them before... they are awesome though... if i had a round tank layn' around and alot of food/time to feed them I'd try it.

 

[Dark Orange]

Thanks for the replies. I plan on setting this tank up specially and solely for these critters and I am pretty sure I have a way of keeping them out of the corners. The temperature and feeding thing is definately something I will have to track down some of my Marine Biologist ex-university mates about.

Some of those guys like the box jellly can even kill so be careful!!!!

Yeah, we get them here, and I have my eye on them as well.

There has also a few small marine jellies that cause 'Irukandji' syndrome. They are becoming more noticable over the last few years and we had a few stings last year. The main symptom is extreme agony, real extreme. (A british girl was screaming and thrashing and trying to bite the arm of the ambulance officer trying to administer the morphine)

There is not much at all known about the jellies that cause this, so I would also like to get another tank dedicated to these. Maybe.

Here is one of those blue jellies I want, it was washed up on the beach on the weekend.

Again, thanks for the replies.