Nautilus

Cool Animal where is it at?

Used to be in my tank...

do you have to pressurize your tank?

I thought Nautilises (nautilie?) had to be under pressure.

No, you don't need to pressurize your tank. They migrate every night to the surface from a depth of 500 -2000 feet to feed. They are very sensitive to high water temperature, so when the first rays of sun come out, they sink to the deep, cool waters again, where they rest for the rest of the day. How can they do it so fast, without imploding their shell it is still a mystery to science. I had two Chamber nautilus for two years. I think they are one of the coolest animals to observe. I want to keep them again.

looks evil. i like it!

Looks are deceiving - this animals are very docile scavengers, their food consisting of dead or dying animals, and the discarded exoskeletons of other crustaceans.

very cool

very cool. If i had enough space and money for a species specific tank I'd love to get one.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you pay for him? A local reef shop here had some once and I believe a university bought them.

They are expensive - $$$

There is an LFS here that gets them once in a while. They sell there for around $100. I looked into keeping one but read that they need to be kept in the dark and even the dimmest of our tank lighting would blind it permanently. Very cool though.

- Mike

$100 is cheap, i was expecting $1000. I've spent twice that on a fairy wrasse.

The ones I saw were kept at very low light and I believe the temp of the tank was only 17 degrees (celcius)

At least in a low light tank you wouldn't have any algae!

thats cool man i would love to have them too or the cuttle fish

good job man

it looks like the devourer in starcraft!!!!!!

i love seeing those animals in the aquarium, nice nautilus

lol good old starcraft, used to play that lots.

i always thought these were supposed to be endangered and only kept in the biggest (or well known) Aquariums :S

The aquarium was specifically designed for their needs: large volume, tall, cylindrical tank (no corners) with a gentle water current return via two pvc pipes that went from top to bottom, and had dens slits. The lightning was provided by two actinic fluorescent bulbs, and the water temperature was kept at about 68-72 ºF with an digitally controlled water chiller. The tank had a deep sand bed, live rock and about 50 Catalina gobies, for extra display. The Chamber nautilus never preyed on those fish.

they do not implde/explode because they release pressure in balalsts like a modern submarine. This also lets them go up and down.

No, they don't work like that. Each individual chamber is completely sealed.

I think simbio is right...

I think I've heard once that they're highly intelligent creatures like octupi. Is this true? Are there ever concerns of them escaping like an octupus would? Also, what is their lifespan?

Wow that is an amazing animal and a great photo!

Thanks for shareing.

- Chad

wow great when i was at beach i bought one of the shells , how big was he , size of a fist ?