Zilch - Nautilus Pompilius

[DWhatley]

Natutilus Poop
Initially, Zilch seemed to be a bottomless pit and would take and eat pieces of anything offered. It appeared that if the piece was too larger he would eat through the section in his mouth and drop the rest. Then I started seeing chunks of food on the aquarium floor and thought he was not eating all that he took. Ultimately I discovered that what goes in looks a lot like what comes out and I think everything on the tank floor was eaten. Now he comes to the front of the tank at "supper" time and if I am late with my offering he will turn and attach to the front of the tank so I get full view of mouth and siphon. He also has a bobbing motion he uses in the corner of the tank about supper time. I don't think he is trying to move out of the corner because he can do this easily but I am not sure if he is trying to get the food slave's attention or is something else is going on.

Shrimp (in the tank the pieces were slightly connected in a long tube)


Salmon

 

[DWhatley]

I have turned on the more powerful lower power heads and noticed that Zilch will make his way lower in the aquarium by "walking" down the walls or cords using his siphon and holding on with his cirri. He does not go below the water line with the pump off, does not seem to hunt at all on his own and has not yet explored the floor of the tank. His breathing does not indicate that he is stressed and the pump helps clean up the bottom of the tank so I leave it on for several hours during the evening.

 

[ngdo]

Hah - was waiting for the "nautilus poop is gross@#!" post from you.

 

[DWhatley]

Humm, I know you have a daughter and it has not been long (or still a high possibility) since you have had to change diapers. Not sure how you can say nautilus poop is gross

"What does octopus poop look like?" is a fairly frequent question shortly after someone starts keeping an octopus. I photographed octo poop early on and discovering that naut poop looked so much like what went in, I figured showing might be helpful to know they are actually eating

 

[robyn]

He looks good! Every one of mine chewed through its shipping bag - they usually double or triple bag them for that reason. The floating will probably correct on its own, but even if not he could live a long and happy life.. it sounds like he is eating plenty. Great to see you have a nautilus at last!

 

[DWhatley]

Thanks for the check in Robyn. This is really a happy experience for me. Zilch gave me a scare today. I looked in his tank and he was nowhere to be found. This is quite impossible of course but had me going for a few minutes until I realized there is one upper portion of the pentagon wall that is not visible even when standing directly in front of the tank.

Zilch is still not neutrally buoyant but when I turn on the bottom power heads he swims lower in the tank (I think to avoid the surface current) and stays a 6" -12" below the water line by holding on to the sides. I have put it on a timer to run for an hour twice a day. It does not seem to stress him but I don't think I should run it constantly. He has not shown interest in exploring the rock work.

 

[ngdo]

@robyn - I've been meaning to ask you what sort of lifespans you have seen out of your captive nautiluses? Most of what I read is very negative yet I have spoken with several people outside of TONMO that have kept theirs successfully for many years.

 

[DWhatley]

Zilch did not want to eat last night (first time since he arrived) even though I offered several options (shrimp, crab and salmon). @ngdo @gjbarord and @robyn have mentioned that daily feeding is not normal (@ngdo mentioned that Doggy ate daily for a short time) so I am trying not to worry.

Interesting observations
I feed Zilch by placing his food on the cirri that extend from his tentacles. A slight touch of the food is all that is needed and he brings it to his beak. Last night (I woke him up and brought him to the front, he did not come on his own) the food attached as normal but he did not want it and blew continuously at it with his siphon until it released. This leads me to believe that they cannot control what does or does not stick to the cirri directly and must either withdraw it (which I did not do) or blow it off.

He stayed in his sleeping corner much of last night and did not come to the front and rock as he normally does at feeding time. When I looked for his abalone tank mate in the dark (the only surviving member of three I tried from our local Asian market last week), I discovered it had made its way up to Zilch's sleeping corner (roughly 3' from the bottom of the tank) and Zilch was attaching to it with his cirri. The abalone only comes out on the wall at night and has been much lower on the opposite wall. This is the first time I have seen the two together. I could not tell if Zilch was trying to eat it, chew on the shell/shell growths or just attaching to it (I lean toward the first two suggestions). He may be interested in eating the abalone but seems to reject tough food. Later the abalone was crawling on the rock work below the same area (possibly fell with some "assistance") and Zilch made his way across the tank with no further apparent interest. I have yet to see Zilch investigate the rock work even though I know he can lower himself to its depth.

 

[DWhatley]

I feel a little more comfortable now. Zilch still did not come to his feeding corner tonight but I waggled a piece of Shiitake's shrimp in the front corner about 11:30 PM and he left his back sleeping corner to come over and get it (travel distance of about 2' after the necessary turns to the movement was obviously intentional and his cirri were extended). I also offered a second piece a littler just now (~12:01 AM) but he had no interest and stayed in his sleeping corner. As long as he takes food, I decided not to bother him in his "safe" spot (it is also the darkest area of the tank).

I took a flashlight to the rock work and the abalone seems to be alive and well on the wall behind the rocks. If it continues to survive I suppose I will have to name it

 

[ngdo]

I've noticed the same behavior with unwanted food but also have seen them drop it without blowing it away with their siphons. I'm not sure if it is because I am raising a two year old girl but I always think of it as a tantrum of sorts!

I wouldn't worry if he isn't eating daily. I feed 1 or 2 times a week, mixing it up a bit. I also tend to agree that when they are more active and flairing their tentacles around hat they are hungry and searching for food.

 

[DWhatley]

Has anyone ever been bitten by a nautilus? Seeing the plastic shipping bags it might pinch a bit . Also, do they have a venom like octos? Zilch will sometimes attach to my fingers when I feed him (likely because I have been holding his food so my fingers taste like supper). It is not difficult to remove my fingers but it did make me pose the question.

 

[ngdo]

Reminds me of getting nipped by a puppy, if the puppy had dull teeth. No venom that I noticed but didn't get my skin broken...

 

[DWhatley]

I put three abalone in the tank purchased from an H-Mart (Asian market). Two did not survive a week but the third seems to be doing well. It moves all around the tank looking for algae on the walls at night but is completely hidden in the rocks during the day.

I have the power heads on a timer to come on twice a day to help move waste up into the water column. Zilch continues to move lower in the tank when they are on but holds on to the sides and is still not neutrally buoyant. I did see him all the way down to the very top of the LR yesterday (about 1.5 feet) with the pumps on but when he notice me (or perhaps when the pump turned off) he surfaced.

 

[ngdo]

I think the fact that he is submerging more and more is very positive. I believe it was one of Greg's papers that suggested they lose fluid to stress (shipping, digesting plastic bags and he is probably on his way to recovery! All four in my tank are almost completely neutrally buoyant so I expect Zilch will catch up soon.

 

[DWhatley]

Feeding video
I have found that it is best to give Zilch tender pea sized pieces or the clean up crew will have the toughest part of the shrimp to consume until I find it and take it out.

So far he rejects lobster shed, crab shed, and small live crab (he will take it with his cirri but as soon as it moves he releases it)but will accept raw blue crab arm meat. Getting him to take shrimp shell is difficult but he accepted a shell on tail tonight. I will look tomorrow to see if he ate the shell along with the tail.