Any Real Interest in Chambered Nautiluses?

Joined
Oct 13, 2005
Messages
511
I recently started a business with a fellow reeferselling fish, corals, and invertebrates. I was looking through the livestock list under invertebrates, and they have a good amount of chambered nautiluses. They are fairly cheap, and small. I'm not really sure how to care for them, but if someone wanted to buy one, let me know, and I can get it for you and ship it to you right away. Sorry if this sort of post isn't allowed. I am not really trying to advertise that I am selling them, just wondering if they are in good demand.


Brock Fluharty
 
Most of them don't survive, even when kept under the "right" conditions. They're fragile creatures and typically don't respond well to the collection and shipping; saying nothing about the captive environment. Its the TONMO general consensus that you shouldn't buy one, for no other reason than it encourages the distributors to keep collecting them.

Dan
 
They have some quite specialised requirements - they need a chiller and a very large tank to start with. Also small Nautalis tend to get problems during development - popping out of their shell ect, that will eventually kill them.
Definately only for those who are VERY well researched. As Dan says most tonmo-ers dont support Nautalis capture because their populations in the wild are declining, and any that actually survive the trip over to the US are destined to a slow and painful death in the hands of someone who knows little about them.
For instance a guy was selling them on ebay and said its perfectly acceptable to keep them in reef tank temperatures - it very clearly isnt!

From what I have been able to find, hobby level Naut keeping is fraught with problems, probably due to the tank being way to small to support the animals daily vertical migrational habits.

And add to that they are apparently quite boring pets. :biggrin2:
 
Well, personally I love the idea that they are living fossils - but all they seem to do is hover around. I think many people who see them in aquariums ect dont spend a very long watching them. They will take food from the hand - but I dont think they are very interactive.
 

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