• Ctenophores?

  • Julie

Has anyone tried keeping ctenophores? I recently brought back some small ones from the Sea of Azov, placed them in a glass cylinder with a sprayer, and used water from my marine aquarium, diluting 1/3 of the volume with 2/3 of osmosis to achieve approximately the salinity of the Azov Sea. I slightly miscalculated, resulting in about 15 parts per thousand, but they seem fine; I can add more osmosis water. I transferred the ctenophores using a fine net from the murky Azov water, and a few live streptocephalus accidentally ended up there as well. So far, everything is normal, and they look great; in the sea, they were actually phosphorescent green when I took them out at night. I'm curious about how to best organize filtration and feeding and how long they can be kept alive. Also, which of the common macroalgae in marine aquariums can adapt to Black Sea or even Azov Sea salinity? I'm currently trying to keep Caulerpa racemosa, Prolifera, Botryocladia, and Chaetomorpha at 20 parts per thousand. Prolifera died almost immediately, while the others are surviving, but their growth is clearly stunted for now.

Steven

Wouldn't it be better to translate them to a higher salinity rather than adjusting everything to fit them? And is it even worth the hassle? I'm adding links.

Leslie

Thank you for the link. What’s the point of increasing salinity? It’s their natural habitat, and they still need a separate container anyway. Besides, the less salt, the cheaper it seems. I’m interested in any fauna, so it’s worth it, and aquariums with jellyfish or ctenophores are simply mesmerizing. I would gladly set one up for myself, but I’m still gathering more information.

Alexandra

What can and will they eat in the aquarium? What should we feed them?

Kevin3114

phytoplankton and zooplankton.

Sydney

Thank you very much, we will experiment. For now, I have collected some live rock and sand from the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and I hope some jellyfish will come from them. I added part of the rock to the reef and kept part at the original salinity. I quickly set up small aquariums for the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. The comb jellies are currently eating live Artemia nauplii and dead zooplankton for the corals quite well, but the smallest ones inevitably get stuck to any pump. For now, I will try to keep them with water changes, or I need to come up with something for external filtration.

Laura7633

It is better to turn off the filters during feeding. For about 15-20 minutes, then turn them back on.

Kenneth7331

No, I meant that filters are excluded for the comb jellies themselves, at least for now, they range from 1 mm to 3 cm at the moment.

Anthony4281

And the little ones... I once encountered large ones, about 6-7 cm. In the sun, they glowed with such a fantastic iridescent light that it was impossible to look away...

Debra6575

Determine what type you have. In the Black Sea, there are two. The first feeds on zooplankton. The second exclusively on the first...

Jason9952

I have Mnemiopsis leidyi from the Azov Sea, which is zooplankton.