Nautilus at Local LFS?

[ezhoops]

Was at the LFS yesterday and saw they had a nautilus for sale, it was about 8 inches at least and I must say that it pi$$ed me off to see this for sale. The cost was $150 and the Nautilus looked terrible. I wanted to say something to the owner but wanted to provide him with accurate info as to why this creature isn't a good specimen for average everyday reefers. Please help, I'm by no means an expert on cephs nor do I even keep one (because I recognize how difficult they can be to maintain and the time involved) but I know that a creature that is commonly kept at depths up to 150' is not a good canidate for home aquarium. Please help me to tell this LFS owner why he shouldn't be seller this creature in his store. BTW I plan on telling him in a polite manner.
thanks in advance

[darkwingduck]

First they live in cold water, and unless the LFS cooled down a tank especially for it, it will already be suffering from an accelerated metabolism. Additionally it's used to live in the dark, during the day it stays in the deep, and surfaces only in the night for hunting. So unless someone is willing to built a deep, cold, dark tank especially for it, he will buy only a dead animal walking.

[cirri]

And a very large one at that!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Smeagol]

I sure someone that doesn't know better will end up buying it...if it lives that long

[darkwingduck]

Well, it IS possible to keep them, the public aquarium in Stuttgart/Germany keeps some of them for decades now (there and with those very animals started my interest in marine life). But those animals are definitely specialists, and such would have to be someone to keep them in captivity. They absolutely are wrong in any standard reef or fish tank.

[km133688]

want to get more po'd? RIPTIDESREEF is selling them on EBAY. I chopped this off the ebay add:

This is a unique auction. Many of you are used to multiple coral auctions from us at a time. Right now we are only listing Einstein! This is our chambered Nautilus - N. pompilius . The nautilus is a cephalopod and related to the octopus and squid. Most octopus only live for about a year if they are healthy and that is in the wild. Even the giant octopus (the longest living) only makes it to around 3 years. The nautilus lives approximately 20 years. There are no particular lighting requirements for these animals as they are nocturnal and mainly bottom dwelling in nature. They have light sensitive eyes and do most of their hunting by smell. They are native to the indo-pacific and spend most of their time in waters up to 500 meters but rise closer to the surface at night. These animals have remained relatively unchanged for the last 550 million years and are often called "living fossils". These creatures are not recommended for reef systems for 2 reasons. They normally detect surrounding objects by bumping into them and then changing course. In other words, they're clumsy. Secondly, they eat fish as you can see from the photos. Einstein will eat out of your hand. If you're looking for something unique ask yourself, "How many people in my reef club have one of these?". ;o) Please, email me for more info, more photos or to ask questions about available corals.

gee, lives for 20 years, no light requirement, will eat out of my hand, I don't need a reef tank... sounds easy to me...

Hey maybe it is, I've only been doing marine tanks for < 1 year so what do I know.

Good luck little Nautilus called "Einstein".

[cirri]

I believe we will always be dealing with the lack of resoponibility some people have to make money. I know when I first started in the hobby it was a learning curve from what was fair to the animals to do, and what was always offered at a lfs.

[Endemion]

I was in San Francisco last week and decided to check out a LFS. It was in the japan section of town and inside I was shocked to find about 6 nautilus's in seperate tanks about 1/2' wide and 1/2' tall, and then maybe 1 1/2' long. They were going for about $60. They had a lot of interesting fish there though most were over crowded in their tanks. Very shady store if you ask me.

[Gonodactylus]

I have spoken out before in this forum and elsewhere about the sale of Nautilus. While I deplore the capture and sale of any rare species, particularly when it is simply for commercial purposes, I think there are a couple of points to be made here. The first is that just because the Nautilus is rather exotic and difficult to keep, why should we be any more outraged at its sale than for that of any number of other fish, octopus, cuttlefish or crustaceans that have little chance of survival for more than a few days, weeks or months in captivity - particularly in the hands of amateurs.

Secondly, if you want to protect Nautilus, the real danger to the various species, aside from marine pollution and habitat destruction, is the capture of specimens simply for the sale of their shells. From high end boutiques to curio and souvenir shops around the world you can find Nautilus shells used in decorative displays and for sale. Most of these shells were not found washed up on the beach where they were collected by small children for sale to help support the family. They come from trapping and other commerical fishing operations that specifically target Nautilus for capture to obtain their unblemished shells. These shell collectors have no intention of keeping Nautilus alive for sale in the aquarium trade.

If you search Ebay, you can occasionally find for sale a live Nautilus. You can find hundreds of Nautilus shells offered for sale. Rather than getting all riled up over the occasional sale of a live Nautilus, outrage would be better directed at the commercial sale of Nautilus (and other shells) that come from the collection of living mollusks. Not only is this industry targeting rare and endangered species such as some cephalopods, their collection methods are often indiscriminate killing a great diversity of organims and destroying the habitat in the process.

Sorry! I'll get off my soapbox now, but I do a slow burn every time I see a Nautilus shell for saie in an airport souvenir shop or used as an exotic prop in an luxury jewelry store window display.

Roy Caldwell

[C-Water]

Good post Gonodactylus!!

It's amazing that the Nautilus is harvested so much just for the shell.
(Sort of like the slaughter of the sea horse to the gift shop / "Chinese medicine" trade)

[Harleqin 41]

I aggree with Roy on this subjuct. They can be kept in captivatity with the right care,and live a lot of years.Truly not a creature for the novis aquarist.

[tlouie]

I was a 6th ave aquarium today (probably the same one as you saw) and i saw about 5 chambered nautilus in the front tank........the shame

Originally posted by Endemion
I was in San Francisco last week and decided to check out a LFS. It was in the japan section of town and inside I was shocked to find about 6 nautilus's in seperate tanks about 1/2' wide and 1/2' tall, and then maybe 1 1/2' long. They were going for about $60. They had a lot of interesting fish there though most were over crowded in their tanks. Very shady store if you ask me.

[criccio]

I was out at a lfs today that has one. It was about 6" and very cool looking. It is a shame that it will end up dying an early death.

[LeftCoast]

Oy. Looks like lots of people are just trying to make a quick buck off of an unsuspecting aquarist. Color me angry.

[SurfinJK92]

my LFS has been in the business gor years and years and has kept one for many months

[ezhoops]

yeah, months what does that tell you? I'm sure I could keep an elephant alive in my backyard for a couple of months. doesn't mean its right.