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Nemo - Nautilus Pompilius

DWhatley

Kraken
Staff member
Moderator (Staff)
Joined
Sep 4, 2006
Messages
21,018
Location
Cape Coral, FL
Since the death of Zilch in March of 2015, I have wanted to keep another Nautilus but did not want to have it fly (again) to get it here. There have been two opportunities that did not pan out. Friday @forever27 (discovering that we live in a similar neck of the woods) notified me that an LSF (Atlanta Aquarium) an hour away has had a naut for over a month that appeared to be in good health. He has been eating regularly (fed daily) on squid and shrimp with an occasional fish. We were able to go see it today (Monday) and decided to add him/her to the family.

Nemo is quite a bit smaller than Zilch and is fully striped so I believe he (unsure of sex) is a juvenile. He took (but only ate 1/3) a large shrimp offered on a bamboo stick several hours after being introduced to the tank and has explored the tank boundaries so I am encouraged that he will acclimate well.

DSCN3819.JPG DSCN3812.JPG DSCN3814.JPG
 
When I checked in on Nemo at midnight with a flashlight and found him almost in the center (height and width) of the aquarium. The 2/3 piece of uneaten shrimp was now half gone and I suspect Nemo ate more of it as the two live shrimp, hermits and conch were not attacking it (they have fully consumed the 3-4 other shrimp that expired over the last year - I have left the dead in the tank since I feed the tank shrimp regularly to keep the few critters and bacteria alive). An abalone (not sure if there are one or two alive in the tank) was out grazing the live rock, not something I often see (when I do see one, it is usually on the tank wall).

As a silly side note, before finding out about Nemo, I ordered earrings, a pinky and anniversary ring with a nautilus design this year as my anniversary present (the ring is a 44-year tradition -- didn't start until year 2 ). I am wearing the pinky but will have to wait 'til next week for the earrings and 6 weeks for the anniversary ring.
 
Nice shop. Clean and appears to be very well maintained. Rit was far more pleasant in person. I spent the full amount but got a pack of squid in the deal. When I saw Nemo there was no turning back or serious negotiating :heart:.
 
Nice shop. Clean and appears to be very well maintained. Rit was far more pleasant in person but I spent the full amount but got a pack of squid in the deal. When I saw Nemo there was no turning back or serious negotiating :heart:.

Yeah, I love that shop and honestly he takes care of repeat customers pretty well. He also sells instant ocean reef crystals 160gal buckets for $45. Moreover, he's ordered me an octopus in the past and only charged me $30!

Getting back on topic, very much looking forward to this journal!
 
Nemo found yesterday's shrimp this AM and munched a bit more (about 3/4 total). I will offer half a shrimp next time. Tonight I gave him a small squid. I don't think he was hungry but I want to attempt to get him accustomed to a feeding time. He woke up and started partially up the water column when I held the squid (thawed) in the water but never came up to it so I used a plastic grabbing tool and had to place it across his mantle before he decided he was interested. I don't see any remains so I believe he ate it all.

It is interesting that neither of the shrimp, the conch or hermits ate the last of the shrimp offering (tail section but still with meat). It makes me wonder if Nauts secrete something when they gnaw at their food that is unpleasant for other scavengers. @gjbarord ?

I played with the lighting timer today to minimize the white lights. Greg mentioned the he worried my lights were too bright and on too long with Zilch so I am going for ambient most of the day and 1/2 brightness for a few hours in the evening.

I tried the red lights last night and Nemo left the deepest bottom sandy section (the lights are pointed at this part) and rose to the dark back corner above the rocks. This suggests he sees the red lights. Since their eyes are totally different from other cephs I know this is possible. I will try turning them on again tonight to see if he reacts and won't use them if he escapes them again.

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After rewatching one of @gjbarord 's videos, I bought a piece of tuna and offered a slice tonight. He still did not locate the food quickly (he did wake up when he detected it) but took the offering enthusiastically then swam all over the tank with it (happy dance?). After about an hour, I found a large piece of it on the tank floor. Once again, it was about 1/3 eaten. Tomorrow, I will reoffer a smaller piece of the section he did not eat.

I've noticed that his hood seems to have a notch near the shell. I am guessing fish attack. It does not appear to be a new lesion or infected so I am hoping it is an old injury. I suspect the mantle will not grow back like octopus arms. Fortunately, I have not noticed any tentacle damage as I am not sure if the tentacles are self-repairing ( I suspect not).
 
@gjbarord I noticed you offering food kabob style in your lab. Since Nemo seems to eat only part of his offering but then hunts later, I will try a similar style to see if he finds it and if he eats more during a 24 hour period. What I don't want to do is overfeed and have him outgrow his shell. Recommendations would be helpful.
 
I have put the red lights on at night for 2 nights now and Nemo has not moved from the bottom front of the tank after they were turned on so I am hoping he will either accept the lighting or does not see it and his repositioning to the darker top side on the first try was not related to the lighting.
 
Hey D,

Go ahead and feed once a week, nothing more than half a shrimp. That should be good. You might also try the kabob style method and weigh a shrimp, then put it on there and weigh it again once it is finished eating, assuming it doesn't eat it all... Would be cool to see how much it eats.

Greg
 
@gjbarord I tried the feeding stick but he ignored it. I will try it again using a scale when I see him hunting but I am not sure if the shrimp will take on water weight.

He is eating about 1 eye sized piece of food (shrimp, salmon, and squid arms. He won't eat squid body but neither will his tankmates) about 6 times a week (he was fed daily at the store). I was offering larger food but he was not eating most of it so I experimented with size. One day (and one day only) he was still hungry after a small piece of fish (he continued to search the aquarium with tentacles extended) and accepted another small piece. I feed the tank (a small amount of ground shrimp in saltwater for the one live shrimp, conchs and hermit) about 5 minutes before I attempt to feed him. If the smell activates his feeding instinct I feed but if he does not start swimming with his tentacles extended, I don't offer. I have not seen him eat any of the really small pieces of shrimp in my slurry but he does blow the sand around hunting so he may be picking up some of it if the others don't find it first.

I took your prior advice and lowered the lighting. The lighting is ambient most of the day and night but I bring the lights up over 1/2 hour to half brightness during feeding time and then back down to off (again over a 1/2 hour period). This combination seems to work as a dinner time signal and he has started coming up high enough to take the food from my fingers. Sometimes he detects where my hand is but more often I have to place the food on a tentacle (if my hands tolerated the cold better he might have eventually located the food). Until this last week, he would stay closer to the bottom when I approached the tank and I would have to use a feeding stick (tank is 3' tall so my arms are not long enough) but all of this week he has risen to the occasion.

Interestingly, last night there was a plant light on in the room (it has a goofy timer) and he was positioned to hide his eyes from the light. I turned off the light and he moved out from behind the rock but was not otherwise active. It was like he was trying to sleep and the light bothered him.

So far, so good.
 
Memo appears to understand that when the lights start ramping up, it is supper time. For the last two days he has come up to the surface to be fed even before I have approached the tank or added the shrimp slurry that his tank mates eat. I have hesitated to report as after my last note, he stopped coming up for food and I went back to using a feeding stick:oops:
 

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