Baby jellyfish?

[Kehy]

Cute lil buggers, and IGNORE THE MESS ON THE GLASS. THIS IS SCIENCE.

Are these actually jellyfish? If they are, how do I care for them?
Tank is a 2 gallon, 8" cube
No protein skimmer, and I am admittedly a little (4 days to be precise) behind on a water change and cleaning. I probably have higher nitrates because of the very quick algae growth, but the coral seem to love it.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Cute lil buggers, and IGNORE THE MESS ON THE GLASS. THIS IS SCIENCE.

Are these actually jellyfish? If they are, how do I care for them?
Tank is a 2 gallon, 8" cube
No protein skimmer, and I am admittedly a little (4 days to be precise) behind on a water change and cleaning. I probably have higher nitrates because of the very quick algae growth, but the coral seem to love it.

Look like ephyra stage of a Jellyfish.

Can't say 100% what jelly fish, but they look similar to the in shape to the ones I used to see all the time, and those were Upside Down Jellyfish ephyra.

Basically, until they are 1 inch in diameter, it will be the hardest part of raising them. At 1 inch, if they are Upside Down Jellyfish, they will be able to photosynthesize and eat small bita of mysis. Prior to that, you need brine shrimp eggs. But in the ephyra stage, due to how small they are, it can be difficult for them to get food if they are in a large body of water.

So it is best to raise them in something like a small glass bowl or petri dish or small glass jar. Just manually change some of the water out every day to keep the waste from feeding the ephyra from building up.

I managed to keep one alive for almost 2 months. If I ever see ant ephyra swimming in my tank again, I will have t try and raise one again.

 

[Kehy]

Huh, if they need food like that, would it make sense to keep them in the tank, especially since it's so small? There's an extremely healthy population of micro critters (fishless tank). There's a distinct size variation, so it's possible they're feeding on something? The filter and flow is what concerns me.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Huh, if they need food like that, would it make sense to keep them in the tank, especially since it's so small? There's an extremely healthy population of micro critters (fishless tank). There's a distinct size variation, so it's possible they're feeding on something? The filter and flow is what concerns me.

That is another reason why keeping them in tanks is usually not recommended. Due to their size it is very easy for them to get caught in the flow and then sucked into the filter, bashed against the rockwork, land on a coral, etc. All of which would be 100% fatal to the ephyra.

As to the size variation in the ephyra. It is not necessarily due to the ephyra having survived the dangers of the tank to have grown larger than its brethren, although it is a possibility, albeit an extremely unlikely one. More than likely, and this is something I have personally observed in my tank, it is due to when the ephyra was released from the polyp. Polyps that fed more and were able to "grow to full size" so to speak, will realesse larger ephyra. Likewise, smaller ephyra can get released when a polyp decides to release one anyway, usually caused by a sudden shift in the environment, which in the case of home aquariums would be a water change. I always noticed mass strobilation events resulting in ephyras swimming around the tank immediately after a water change. In such instances the ephyra would have variations in size with some larger than others.

With respects to what I saw in your video, the sizes there indicate a recent strobilation event. If any of them had been active in the tank for a few weeks, it would be much more noticeable,as they would begin to start forming more Jellyfish traits scuch as tentacles starting to form.

If you could get a better video of one, we could figure out more. Like catch one in a small jar or something.

 

[Kehy]

I've isolated all that I could find. Ended up with 5 of them, and one noticable larger than the rest. It looks like the larger one has more tentacles, but it's hard to see, and I don't know it's in the pic.

Gonna need a little more info on keeping them though. Decap-ed brine shrimp eggs or regular? I have regular, but I've never tried them (or any brine shrimp applications). What size container? They're in a squirt of water in a half- cup cup, is something of that size ok, or larger? Is water flow needed?

I'm not ready to be a parent.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Kinda hard to identify it, but to me, looking at the interwebs, it seems like a larval stage of a Bell Jelly.

I have no information on how to raise one, if it is a bell jelly. Nor can I find information on doing so or if anyone even keeps them. I am sure some zoo or laboratory does for science and research, but I can't find any step by step care instructions lol

 

[El_Guapo13]

Also could be the free swimming stage of hydroids, although I can't seem to find a reliable photo of one to be able to say for certain.

 

[Kehy]

Welp. If they make it past a week, I'll start looking for a tank to make into a jelly tank. No idea about the growth rate l rates, but at least i can get the cycle going on the tank. I know jellies can't do corners and need gentle flow, and no substrate. Any other thoughts on what they might want/ need?

As far as food goes, I'm going to try roitiers and decap-ed brine shrimp eggs. Still trying to figure out how and how often to feed.

 

[El_Guapo13]

Welp. If they make it past a week, I'll start looking for a tank to make into a jelly tank. No idea about the growth rate l rates, but at least i can get the cycle going on the tank. I know jellies can't do corners and need gentle flow, and no substrate. Any other thoughts on what they might want/ need?

As far as food goes, I'm going to try roitiers and decap-ed brine shrimp eggs. Still trying to figure out how and how often to feed.

If they were Upside Down Jellyfish, then even a standard 10 gallon would be a good home, even with corners. Plus unlike other Jellyfish, Upside Down Jellyfish don't need the circular flow, juat need super low flow. So like a filter for a 2 gallon tank lol. They also, unlike other Jellyfish, generally do require a soft substrate as they will usually be at the bottom of the tank, just pulsing.

But yeah, every other type of jelly can't do corners, needs steady and slow circular flow, and basically a completely empty tank other than themselves.

 

[Kehy]

Lol I barely have room for my 8" cube where I found them, a 10 gallon is out of the question for now. I'm looking at a couple tanks in the 2-3.5 gallon range I might be able to retrofit. Until the ID can be confirmed, I'm going to treat them like they're a regular jelly with circular flow and no substrate.

 

[sixty_reefer]

They are medusa hydroids

 

[El_Guapo13]

They are medusa hydroids

Yeah I am leaning towards this too, but I can't find any pictures of medusa stage hydriods and have never seen any myself, so I merely gave options.

 

[Kehy]

Either way I'm still hearing that it's a fascinating creature that I'm going to enjoy observing. So yeah, don't mind either way

 

[jeffchapok]

They are probably Medusa hydroids, and I'm sorry to tell you they'll be gone in a day or two.

 

[ca1ore]

They are medusa hydroids

Yup .... a lot less ‘cool’ than baby jellies but much more likely.