How to Keep Freshwater Jellyfish? A Detailed Guide to Care Methods and Precautions
Freshwater jellyfish are a type of jellyfish that mainly lives in freshwater, so how do you keep freshwater jellyfish? And what kinds are there?
1. Living habits of freshwater jellyfish
Freshwater jellyfish are distributed all over the world, and in our country the main distribution areas are Sichuan, Zhejiang, Hubei, Henan, Shandong, and others.
Freshwater jellyfish alternate between asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction generations. The polyp (the “childhood” of the jellyfish) has extremely low requirements for the environment, but once the jellyfish separates out, it has very high requirements for the environment and water quality. When the environment is suitable, the polyp naturally separates out jellyfish; when the environment is unfavorable, the polyp stays attached for a long time underwater or in rock crevices and continues to survive generation after generation.
Mature jellyfish bodies are divided into male and female. Those with slender tentacles extending upward are all female, and those with short, thick tentacles hanging downward are male. The male and female release eggs and sperm into the water, and the fertilized egg develops into a tiny ciliated planktonic larva. Afterward, one end of the larva touches external objects such as stone and soil, and it gradually develops into an extremely small tree-branch-shaped polyp. The polyp can survive the scorching summer and the severe winter, and in the following spring it produces jellyfish bodies through budding reproduction. After the jellyfish bodies mature, they then carry out sexual reproduction.
2. How do you keep freshwater jellyfish?
Choose jellyfish varieties with relatively low toxicity for keeping, prepare an aquarium, and control the water temperature well. Jellyfish like to eat plankton, so you can prepare some brine shrimp and Artemia to feed them. During the keeping period, you also need to provide enough light.
A water temperature of around 25°C is relatively suitable for the growth of freshwater jellyfish. If the temperature is too high or too low, it may cause the jellyfish to die.
When feeding, if you find that the digestive organs and mouth in the jellyfish bell turn orange, it means the jellyfish is already full. The frequency and amount of feeding should be controlled well, and it is not suitable to feed too much, because it will easily cause the water quality to deteriorate.
Light is an important factor for jellyfish to supplement energy. Most professional jellyfish aquariums contain coral blue lights, which can provide photosynthesis for single-celled zooxanthellae. The lighting time does not need special strengthening.
3. What kinds of freshwater jellyfish are there?
At present, 11 species of peach blossom jellyfish have been discovered in the world. Apart from two species, the British Craspedacusta sowerbii and the Japanese Craspedacusta iseana (1922), the remaining 9 species are all produced in China, namely Craspedacusta yichangensis, Craspedacusta leshanensis, Craspedacusta sinensis, Craspedacusta xinyangensis, Craspedacusta hangzhouensis, Craspedacusta sichuanensis, Craspedacusta brevipes, Craspedacusta chuxiongensis, Craspedacusta ziguiensis, and others.