Jelly Tank?

[kjmsmith]

Its been a while since Ive been on here as I got out of the reef hobby for a while but I still have the jelly. At the start of the new year it was at least 14 months old and now in April it is 18 months and looking as healthy as ever. Everything I have read has indicated a 12 month lifespan max. It seems mine is doing just fine in a non-traditional jelly set-up. I think the key for my success is the constant supply of live BBS. For those who want to try keeping jelly’s my advice is not to be intimidated and while environment is important, don’t over complicate it either.

 

[hart24601]

Its been a while since Ive been on here as I got out of the reef hobby for a while but I still have the jelly. At the start of the new year it was at least 14 months old and now in April it is 18 months and looking as healthy as ever. Everything I have read has indicated a 12 month lifespan max. It seems mine is doing just fine in a non-traditional jelly set-up. I think the key for my success is the constant supply of live BBS. For those who want to try keeping jelly’s my advice is not to be intimidated and while environment is important, don’t over complicate it either.

Wow awesome to hear! The auto hatcher that BRS sells really is nice for BBS.

 

[kjmsmith]

Well, 23 months later and our jelly has started shrinking. I miss my 90g reef since I got out of the hobby a year ago and keeping the jelly thinking it would shortly be gone too, I never thought it would last this long. It defies anything I’ve read about them and their life expectancy. I hope it makes it to October to officially mark it as 2 years old. This type of success in a non-conventional jelly set up teaches us that while many factors are strict prerequisites, anything is possible in this hobby.

 

[ichthyogeek]

Shrinking? Hmmm...I can't remember if that implies a lack of food or if it's something that just happens. Also, there's this book that I read last summer. The author worked at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which has an (I think) entire permanent display of jellies and ctenophores. I got to visit some of the behind the scenes stuff when my coworker had to pick up some extra microalgae (perks of being next to a public aquarium if your lab's phyto crashes). Noisy, but pretty nice.

 

[kjmsmith]

My experience with the first blue blubber that expired was that it slowly shrank over the course of apx 8 or so weeks until it was the size of a small thumb tack head and then one day was gone. This is how I understand they die - its not like they stop moving and lay on the sand bed or float around lifeless like we see with our fish - they just shrink to nothing. It may be due to not eating or just a part of their life process. Either way, happy to see this one doubled its life expectancy.
Very cool experience you had getting to see behind the scenes at MB! Thanks for sharing.