• 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's

Joined
Jul 23, 2008
Messages
19
Hi there i am new to these forums and wondering where would i buy a nautilus? i understand all the requirements these creatures need and all i need now is someplace to purchase them from any help would be appreciated!:smile:
 
Not to sound snobby hear, but quite a few of the new people coming on to this site lately have ben asking about some rare/threatened/etc. cephs so with your first post not having much info in it, I'm going to have to rant:hmm::

Nautilus are a VERY specialized species, which means they are specialized among the specialized being cephs. The require quite a large tank that is pretty tall and has a lot of bridges, etc. in the rock work to allow them to move. From what I've experienced while working with them for a short amount of time (about a week) at the national zoo (I bet no ones heard about that yet have ya!:biggrin2: I'll be posting a thread describing what I did soon :roll:) you'll probably want a tank that's around 125-150 gallons minimum that has a foot print of around 30x30 and is at least 40 or so inches tall. They require a very cool water temperature (around 50 degrees) and on top of that are probably one of the least kept by hobbiest cephs out there, so there's not much info. They are also EXTREMELY boring. Once you get over the cool factor (took me about a minute), there's really no reason to keep them. They will use there tentacles to anchor themselves in place, and then will not move from that place but for about an hour or so a day. On top of this, there population in the wild is not well known, but it's more than likely that their population is dropping and so obviously it's a good idea to leave them in the wild.

Sorry to rant, but if you were to provide a little more info abou tyour current set up etc., it would help.

oh yeah and :welcome:
 
Welcome to TONMO!

We're all ceph-heads here, obviously, and we don't want to discourage responsible keeping, but we are a bit concerned for their well-being more so than their potential owners desire to keep them.

If you look hard enough, long enough you'll probably find what you're looking for. Just know that this is just about the most difficult creature you could attempt to keep in an aquarium, it will be expensive wherever you do find it, and something to think about is one more dead in a fish tank is one less contributing to the procreation of the already rare species.
 
:welcome:

Is there a way you could volunteer at a nearby public aquarium and get some experience with Nautilus? I have worked with them (at public aquariums) and while I think they are really cool, I would never keep one in a home aquarium. I would be devastated if one died while I was caring for it...
 
well i have a 130gal acrylic tank(are they sensitive to acrylic/plastics alike?,rocks going UP the wall on the back, the temperature is somewhere around the 40s, no light what so ever, filtration consists of a sump with a protein skimmer and its been cycling a few days.
I am aware that they are probably the most boring and none fascinating ceph and in dangered but im determined to own one to tell its difference from other ceph's and its behavior. In japan they sell these guys live for 147000 yen ea. I have no idea if it was a pet store or a food store but they were in a tiny inclosed space with a few of them in there. the tank's been cycling 2 months, i will try to get some experience at the shed aquarium though, thanks for the link Monty.
 
I have no issues with people having these as pets if you DO YOUR RESEARCH, plan on keeping and caring for them as long as they live, have as PERFECT a condition for them to live in captivity as possible, and that you don't constantly injure or kill them-basically you don't buy two, wath them die, then get another two, watch them die, etc. etc.

Now I think from your second post, if you really do want to keep them, you will do all of these things so onto the rest:

A tank for a ceph needs a very sufficient amount of live rock to help with filtration. I would say a minimum of 120-130 pounds in your tank. The rock needs to be in your tank and cycleing for 3 months especially if your going to keep something as hard to keep as nautilus. May I ask if you have experience in the hobby? If not, you need to do even MORE research. I am not sure where you live, but I greatly encourage you to join your local aquarium group, it heelped me a lot. Finally, you will need a very high quality skimmer that is rated to about twice your tanks size. You will want one rated to around 250 gallons as companies label skimmers with the absolute highest amount of gallons it can cope with, and cephs are EXTREMELY messy.

And now how do you get nautilus:
Make very good friends with the owner of a very reliable LFS near you. A great way to do this would be to talk to them and get to know them, ig they sponser your local aquarium group, that would help, and bring them nice frags and stuff for their home tanks. Remember, they own an LFS, so make it something nice. Once your tank is ready, ask them about looking for some nautilus for you. It's not amazingly difficult for good fish stores to get a hold of them.

I know of an LFS near me that can get a hold of them, so I may be able to help you out. But let me look up on it.

I'm out,
sam
 
i do have reef and saltwater experience, and with a mantis shrimp also but not any cephs. I wanted an octopus but it died on the way home after I bought it. I have a whole bunch in there I dont know how many pounds im guessing like 200lbs in there im not sure, as for the skimmer, ill need a new one then...If nautiluses really are that hard to keep I will try to obtain a squid, cuttlefish, or another octopus first to atleast have some experience with them. And I am aware that cephs have a very short life span? about 13months to about 2 years? Is that the same with nautiluses?
 
Please be aware that while you may have prepared as well as you can for a Nautilus, you are having a stranger collect your animal in some far off location, by unknown means (including soap, cyanide or other methods), transporting it thousands of miles to your LFS. It may be unhealthy, injured or poisoned before it even makes it into your tank. How many times are you willing to do this to a Nautilus? A lot of aquariums send their staff on collecting trips to far off locations to ensure that their specimens are as healthy as possible.

I love Nautilus, when I was 10 years old, I decided I wanted to study Nautilus. After I graduated from college, I went to graduate school in Hawaii to work with a scientist who studied Nautilus. He kept his specimens at the Waikiki Aquarium because it was the best possible environment for them (they have fresh sea water flowing through their exhibits). He also sent staff from the aquarium to collect animals in Palau.

Just some things to think about...
 
I have to say, you are probably the best person as far as preparedness to do what is necessary that has come onto these forums ready to get a ceph at a seconds notice since I joined.(that's a great thing:wink:) Most people either come on here to find out more before buying a ceph, or come bursting on here with no prior experience what so ever, and try to keep an animal in as small a tank as they can possibly come up with (usually 10-20 gallons) and then don't take advice very well AT ALL.

Ok, now that that's done, most cephs actually only live 9-12 months. But I have to say, I don't know what it is with nautilus, I believe it is similar though. As far as getting another ceph to prepare yourself for nautiluses, I don't personally think you need to. If you do have some prior expereince, you should be fine as long as, yet again, you do your research. If you can get your hands on a bimac, which seems very hard right now, I would suggest that as your "starter ceph", if you do decide to go down that path. I suggest this just because it's cold water as well, so should be easier to keep in the same environment without too many changes. I personally would prefer to heat up the water and get about 3-6 bandensis for the tank as they are more similar to nautilus along the evolutionary trail, and wont require any sort of different tank attention than nautilus apart from warmer water.

I'm sorry my posts are so long, I can't help it I guess :rolleyes:
 
Squid are not a good option from the home aquarist! Super hard to keep, 1st up the tank must be cylindrical (square tanks are killers) they eat WAY more than octopus, they need even more space than cuttles or octis etc

they're really only kept by research institutes (& even there with limited success for some species)

Don't mean to sound too discouraging, but cuttles and octopus are more "home" friendly!!

j
 
Thanks for all the replies you guys, and yes I am aware that there are irresponsible people out there that are buying nautiluses with no idea how to care for them but I am not one of them because I have deep care for marine life and with people also spilling all that crud inside the ocean just sickens me, and as for experience, I just want to make sure I can handle a ceph. Any choices for a beginner?
Also, my cousin kept some squids some years ago, he says they were easy to care for because he lived at a coastal city that had a fish bait shop near by that sold crayfish and crustaceans for fishbait very cheap. He's also had success with breeding them I think. Otherwise they were just tiny fish he put in there for them to eat, I dont remember, I was 17 at the time
 
L8 2 RISE;122042 said:
Ok, now that that's done, most cephs actually only live 9-12 months. But I have to say, I don't know what it is with nautilus, I believe it is similar though.

Actually, their life span is quite unlike other cephs. Last thing I read gave an expectation on the order of 15 years.
 
gholland;122046 said:
Actually, their life span is quite unlike other cephs. Last thing I read gave an expectation on the order of 15 years.

Yeah you're right, I just did some research on them saying their life span is unusually longer than most cephs, up to 15 years.
 
L8 2 RISE;122042 said:
I have to say, you are probably the best person as far as preparedness to do what is necessary that has come onto these forums ready to get a ceph at a seconds notice since I joined.(that's a great thing:wink:) Most people either come on here to find out more before buying a ceph, or come bursting on here with no prior experience what so ever, and try to keep an animal in as small a tank as they can possibly come up with (usually 10-20 gallons) and then don't take advice very well AT ALL.

Ok, now that that's done, most cephs actually only live 9-12 months. But I have to say, I don't know what it is with nautilus, I believe it is similar though. As far as getting another ceph to prepare yourself for nautiluses, I don't personally think you need to. If you do have some prior expereince, you should be fine as long as, yet again, you do your research. If you can get your hands on a bimac, which seems very hard right now, I would suggest that as your "starter ceph", if you do decide to go down that path. I suggest this just because it's cold water as well, so should be easier to keep in the same environment without too many changes. I personally would prefer to heat up the water and get about 3-6 bandensis for the tank as they are more similar to nautilus along the evolutionary trail, and wont require any sort of different tank attention than nautilus apart from warmer water.

I'm sorry my posts are so long, I can't help it I guess :rolleyes:

Actually it wouldnt really matter if it was tropic water or cool water because im really all about plumbing and temp when it comes to aquarium building and setups, I have no idea why.:smile:
 

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