View Single Post
Old 07-01-2001, 10:44 AM   #314
Coelacanth
Thought to be Extinct
 
Coelacanth's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2001

Location: My Watery Abode
Posts: 180
Re: Nautilus

Also, they have chambered nautiluses at Sea World. However, as far as I knew, they are NOT reef animals, so I think they'd look pretty silly in a brightly lit reef tank. Yes, I know this is an "idealized" tank, but nautiluses are nocturnal creatures that normally live anywhere from 100 to 600 meters down (usually on the deeper end of the scale rather than the shallow), and in fact Sea World's nautilus tank is always very dimly lit. They also like their water temperature no higher than about 70 degrees F, too cold for a reef tank.

I've also never seen them have juvenile nautiluses. The ones in the tank are pretty dang big. Big enough to take up most of the Sachs Aquarium's screen space.

Juvenile nautiluses DO look almost exactly like their parents, so if you can find a good photo of a juvenile, I suppose that something like that could be included in the tank. Here is a photo of a baby: www.cornell-iowa.edu/~n-b...o/Geo5.htm

I sort of question Guest's report of seeing them at a local fish store, swimming around in a reef tank. If that's true, he has a better fish store than I've got! <img src="> I can't even get mine to carry marble hatchetfish. I have NEVER seen any fish store carry nautili for sale as pets. Interesting. But since they're nocturnal, I don't think you'd normally ever see a nautilus swimming around "happily" in a brightly lit reef tank.
Coelacanth is offline   Reply With Quote