stupid question

[cholland]

I have a friend that is nice enough to listen to all my stories about my fish tank and now he is interested in getting one himself. But he had an interesting question....
Is it possible to keep jellyfish in a SW tank?
I told him there had to be some good reason why you don't, but had never read or heard any hard evidence. Other than you probably need a very large tank, but not 100% sure of that either.
Any advice I can relay to him?

 

[wakeskater]

i bet you that they can let out some kind of ink or they arent compatable with other tank mates. but i agree that is a very good question:yes:

 

[greatfullreefer]

As far as i know the only one you could consider keeping would be the upside down jellyfish, but i do believe they require a very well established tank with perfect water conditions with little flow. It is very hard to have good water with little flow.

 

[cholland]

That is kind of what I was thinking, that they need very, very good water.
Any other takers???
Bang guy???

 

[bang guy]

In a species tank jellyfish are difficult kinda like Mandarin gobies are. Given the right environment they will do well.
If you just keep some hydroids mature in a seperate tank with copepods & brine shrimp they will mature into jellyfish. Many of these type are photosynthetic and can be kept easily.

 

[cholland]

That is very interesting Bang. I think that will give my friend something to research and hopefully enlighten the both of us on what he finds.

 

[thedraven]

I was reading online about keeping jellys... apparently (from what I read) they require very cold pristine water conditions. They also need a special tank that circulates the water very well (usually a round tank that spins like a clothes dryer). On top of that, they should be fed multiple times a day. This sounds a bit different from what Bang is describing, and I wouldnt believe this if it werent for the fact that this how theyre kept in most major aquariums (like the San Antonio zoo and SeaWorld's coral reef). Either way I dont think Id be jumping to try a jelly tank. Im barely warming up to feeding my foxface by hand (those spikes scare me silly).
:scared:

 

[cholland]

Your suggestion was more what I was thinking about too. When my friend asked that question, I tried to remeber all the aquariums that I had visited that had jellies and their setup. And I even broke out pictures that I had taken to go over to see the tank, etc.
I don't think he will really try to keep some, especially being new to the hobby, but it was an interesting question.
-C