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Looking to buy a cephalopod? Check out Tomh's Cephs Forum, and this post in particular shares important info about our policies as it relates to responsible ceph-keeping.
Nautilus
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dude;102173 said:I was wodering how to take care of a Nautilus and I know that it has nothing about cuttl but there is no box about Nautilus and am willing to learn
Hello,
If you can find the June issue of Tropical Fish Hobbiest there is an article that Greg and I wrote that describes the basics of keeping Nautilus
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we recommend that nautilus only be kept by professional aquarists. They really offer very little as a hobby or ornamental animal, and it's not really clear that the wild populations should be collected. They are discussed in the "exotics" section, but primarily by researchers.
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I believe another reason for mostly researchers having info on them is because they are typically not readily available to hobbiests, and I don't think there are many that really look into keeping them as a pet.
ther is one at my LFS for 75$ but I don't won't to buy it before I know more. and I don't want to buy tfh. so far I know That they like it dark and lots of room. but I want to know 1. how big do small ones get 2.what min. tank for a baby and for a full grown 3. what do they eat last what they how long they live
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dude;102191 said:ther is one at my LFS for 75$ but I don't won't to buy it before I know more. and I don't want to buy tfh. so far I know That they like it dark and lots of room. but I want to know 1. how big do small ones get 2.what min. tank for a baby and for a full grown 3. what do they eat last what they how long they live
Most of the discussion on nautilus is over here: http://www.tonmo.com/community/index.php?threads/1774/
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Interesting thread, Monty. Thanks for the link.
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Dude.
Please please please do not purchase that animal. I work with Nautiluses at a university, where we have a 280 gallon tank and all the resources of an institutional aquarium to keep them. Even here, they are very difficult to keep, and definitely not for beginners. Forgive me for sounding rather harsh, but if you are thinking of getting a nautilus the same way you thought about getting your octopus (as per the discussion in the 'Introduce Yourself' forum), that animal will die within days, even with water changes. Do you have space for a 100 gallon tank?
If you took your vulgaris back to the store (as many seemed to have advised) and are looking for something to use the store credit on, buy some live rock to get your existing tank circulating. A nautilus in a LFS is pretty much doomed to death anyway, please don't take it home just so it can die after even more stress. If the store can't sell it, maybe they won't get another one. Nautilus are vulnerable to over-collection, and the pet trade is not where they should be ending up.
I'm sorry if I've read your intentions incorrectly, but you seem very inexperienced at keeping cephalopods, and not particularly willing to take advice from the large number of real experts on this forum who've offered it with regard to your recent octopus purchase. I hope you stick around and learn from the information available here. I'm not trying to attack you for wanting to learn - I am happy to chat to you more in a PM about nautiluses if you really want to set up a tank to keep them.
Please please please do not purchase that animal. I work with Nautiluses at a university, where we have a 280 gallon tank and all the resources of an institutional aquarium to keep them. Even here, they are very difficult to keep, and definitely not for beginners. Forgive me for sounding rather harsh, but if you are thinking of getting a nautilus the same way you thought about getting your octopus (as per the discussion in the 'Introduce Yourself' forum), that animal will die within days, even with water changes. Do you have space for a 100 gallon tank?
If you took your vulgaris back to the store (as many seemed to have advised) and are looking for something to use the store credit on, buy some live rock to get your existing tank circulating. A nautilus in a LFS is pretty much doomed to death anyway, please don't take it home just so it can die after even more stress. If the store can't sell it, maybe they won't get another one. Nautilus are vulnerable to over-collection, and the pet trade is not where they should be ending up.
I'm sorry if I've read your intentions incorrectly, but you seem very inexperienced at keeping cephalopods, and not particularly willing to take advice from the large number of real experts on this forum who've offered it with regard to your recent octopus purchase. I hope you stick around and learn from the information available here. I'm not trying to attack you for wanting to learn - I am happy to chat to you more in a PM about nautiluses if you really want to set up a tank to keep them.
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Why don't you want to buy Tropical Fish Hobbiest? There is some really good information on keeping cuttlefish, octopus and Nautilus in that issue.
Also, in order to keep a Nautilus (regardless of what the LFS says...) you will need a chiller to keep the water cold. A chiller is at least $800.
Also, in order to keep a Nautilus (regardless of what the LFS says...) you will need a chiller to keep the water cold. A chiller is at least $800.
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You can get chillers in the 300-500 dollar range, I don't think they would be able to cool the tank to low sixties/upper fifties though. I think you definitely need experience with cephs (preferably octos AND cuttles) before you try a Nautilus. No reason to buy an expensive animal that not much is known about just have it die because you don't know how to take care of it.
Also, Tropical Fish Hobbiest is like $3.99. The June issue has tons of good stuff for keeping all cephs (Octos, cuttles, and nautilus; squid aren't in there because they are really difficult to keep and require a lot of devotion.) and should help out with most beginner questions along with some advanced ones (such as raising young).
Also, Tropical Fish Hobbiest is like $3.99. The June issue has tons of good stuff for keeping all cephs (Octos, cuttles, and nautilus; squid aren't in there because they are really difficult to keep and require a lot of devotion.) and should help out with most beginner questions along with some advanced ones (such as raising young).
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Dude, you said 3 days ago that there was one in your LFS.
I don't think there are any reputable suppliers that sell nautilus to the general public, but they do seem to show up in LFSes occasionally. Even if there were, TONMO members, including professional researchers and public aquarists who have worked with them, pretty much are unanimous in thinking this is not an appropriate animal for private keeping except possibly with the exception of the most advanced private aquarists there are. It's also not clear if nautilus is at high risk for overcollection in the wild, although if it's survived the high demand for its shells, I doubt the private aquarium demand would make it significantly worse.
Anyway, if there is no longer a nautilus in your local fish store, there is really no standard place to seek one out, and I don't think anyone would encourage you to do so anyway. From your report in another thread, you say you are willing to keep an octopus in an uncycled tank despite assurances from a number of people here that this is likely to kill it. Robyn, who is a professional marine biologist studying nautilus as a career, has said:
which is, well, really not very vague at all.
Although I assume marinebio_guy and gjbarord are not completely opposed to private keeping of this animal, because they wrote an article in TFH magazine about it, if you didn't refuse to buy the article, you'd find that they recommend a huge tank (3' x 1.5' x 2' for a single
I don't think there are any reputable suppliers that sell nautilus to the general public, but they do seem to show up in LFSes occasionally. Even if there were, TONMO members, including professional researchers and public aquarists who have worked with them, pretty much are unanimous in thinking this is not an appropriate animal for private keeping except possibly with the exception of the most advanced private aquarists there are. It's also not clear if nautilus is at high risk for overcollection in the wild, although if it's survived the high demand for its shells, I doubt the private aquarium demand would make it significantly worse.
Anyway, if there is no longer a nautilus in your local fish store, there is really no standard place to seek one out, and I don't think anyone would encourage you to do so anyway. From your report in another thread, you say you are willing to keep an octopus in an uncycled tank despite assurances from a number of people here that this is likely to kill it. Robyn, who is a professional marine biologist studying nautilus as a career, has said:
which is, well, really not very vague at all.
Although I assume marinebio_guy and gjbarord are not completely opposed to private keeping of this animal, because they wrote an article in TFH magazine about it, if you didn't refuse to buy the article, you'd find that they recommend a huge tank (3' x 1.5' x 2' for a single
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