Upside Down Jellyfish species tank

[Pixel]

Hey community! First post here, looking to document my latest venture into exotic animal care. I had seen a post on another social site weeks ago with an Upside Down Jellyfish and never thought about housing them as I am aware Jellyfish are generally very sensitive and hard to care for. This species however, might be more easy to work with as they generally keep to one spot (against the glass or on the sand bed).

 

In this interest, I happened to find someone who had some in inventory and I've taken up the challenge of caring for this little creature. I just set it up yesterday, I'm going to attempt to house it in a filterless pico rimless tank which means extremely frequent water changes (easy for the size of the tank).

 

Tank:

Aqueon Edgelit Cube Aquarium, size 1. ~1 gal.

 

Lighting:

Currently natural light from the window and white LEDs coming from the base to illuminate the glass. I've got a HOB spectrum LED coming in the mail sometime today/tomorrow which I'll use to suppliment.

 

Heating:

I have a 5w flat heater on the back of the tank which keeps the tank ~80F.

 

 

Food Supply:

I've got it near my window for some natural light to help feed the zooxanthellae living within it's tentacles, and am setting up a "sea-monkey" home to raise some live brine shrimp to feed it periodically as well.

[Break]

I would run the tank closer to 75-77° for this species, definitely no higher than 78° - tiny tanks are prone to overheating, so better to be on the lower side.

 

Also, being near a window will probably feed algae growth on the glass more than the jelly's zooxanthellae. What type of LED did you get? While this jelly can technically survive without lighting, I wouldn't recommend it. Regardless, you'll need frequent feedings (~daily), which means more frequent water changes - a zooplankton or rotifers product would be good to have on hand as a back-up, just in case your supply of baby brine runs out or crashes.

 

Be cautious of salinity and pH swings - jellies generally don't like those.

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

[Pixel]

Thanks for your suggestion Break! Yeah I have the heater on as needed as it's such a low water volume with no top movement to "cool" the water with air. It is ~76F right now.

 

The light I'm getting is a "Lominie LED S20 Saltwater" I agree that the natural light may feed more algae growth on the glass than for the Jelly, but with blinds and indirect lighting it might be minimal. Will have to just play that by ear.

 

Would you recommend just letting brine shrimp eggs hatch in the tank itself, or have them separate to just disperse into the water with a dropper?

[Break]

14 minutes ago, Pixel said:

Thanks for your suggestion Break! Yeah I have the heater on as needed as it's such a low water volume with no top movement to "cool" the water with air. It is ~76F right now.

 

The light I'm getting is a "Lominie LED S20 Saltwater" I agree that the natural light may feed more algae growth on the glass than for the Jelly, but with blinds and indirect lighting it might be minimal. Will have to just play that by ear.

 

Would you recommend just letting brine shrimp eggs hatch in the tank itself, or have them separate to just disperse into the water with a dropper?

I would keep the brine separately - you'll be doing large and frequent water changes in the jelly tank.

 

You might want to consider a clip-on fan of some kind for cooling; the light is a good idea, but may also add a bit of heat. You could combine that with an Inkbird controller for really affordable temperature control. Not sure what the temperature control within your house is like (if it's good, this is a moot point), but in my experience, without it, one really hot day can wreak havoc on little tanks.

 

Given my experience with picos and salinity swings I wouldn't attempt an Upsidedown Jelly in such a tiny tank (I'd do a shallow 10g with 2-4 jellies and a filter behind a divider of some kind), but I wish you luck! Might be a good idea to mix a lot of saltwater at once and keep it on hand.

[Pixel]

Morning everyone! New HOB light has been set up! It seems pretty intense and came with a 180deg and 90deg focal lens I can swap out. I decided to use the 90deg to help narrow the light direction since it's such a small tank. It has 4 Blue LED, 4 White LED, 4 Royal Blue LED, and independent Red, Green, Blue, UV LEDs. They're all on separate channels so I can change the intensity of each one which is pretty nifty.

 

[Pixel]

Day 1 Brine Babies, they're so tiny! Used a special lens to take a macro shot.

 

 

[Tired]

Why such an incredibly tiny tank? Those are tricky for anyone to handle. Why not at least 5 gallons, for a bit more stability? 

 

You should probably try a proper brine shrimp culture, not a tiny little seamonkey thing. Or see if it will eat a processed coral food like reef roids.