Giant Isopod???

[derpychicken777]

I've been curious if one could keep a giant isopod. They can be found at depths as shallow as 72 feet, so I don't think pressure would be an issue. They do seem to prefer colder water though, below 68F at least, but that seems pretty easily achievable with a chiller. I'd imagine any sort of lights would probably make their dark adapted eyes rather uncomfortable, so probably weak ones or a wavelength that doesn't bother them. I hear you can buy them live at certain docks too???? I'm thinking some sort of shallow 4' x 6' tank (or smaller seeing how public aquariums house them) because they enter a state of dormancy to preserve energy when food is scarce, and go years without eating, so I'd imagine they wouldn't need huge roaming spaces for other pelagic species. Maybe even tankmates if possible? I suspect they might just eat anemones, but I am curious if coldwater saltwater fish could live with them. Anyone with any experience with these things in the wild or aquarium know about their feeding behaviors and any other parts of their care?

 

[WheatToast]

Though I have never kept giant isopods (which would be awesome) I have seen them for sale on a Japanese website. The care requirements listed on the site match those you mentioned above (subdued lighting and lowered temperatures) and it says that these are hardy invertebrates:
https://store.shopping.yahoo.co.jp/uonomichi/oogusokumushi.html#
Chrome allows you to automatically translate websites like these, though I am not sure if other browsers can.

 

[Chrisv.]

I would be very interested to know how this goes if you do it! I suggest searching YouTube to see where fishermen are finding them in random crab traps, etc.

 

[Steve and his Animals]

A few aquariums in Japan keep them. Look into it on youtube. Very cold, dark tanks. There was even one that didn't eat for a year, it just kept refusing food. It eventually died, but it became famous before it did.

 

[derpychicken777]

B. miyarei seems to be the shallowest, occasionally found at 70 or so feet deep, but also smallest of its family. I would go for those, but with the supply of these creatures around, I'm not sure I could exactly choose the species I want. I am worried about the more common "giant" and "supergiant" species, B. giganteus, seems to be found much deeper and colder. The one for sale on that yahoo website, Bathynomus doederle, seems to be a decently shallow species at about ~330ft at the shallowest depths. A lot of these guys have different temperature requirements and often stop eating at certain temperature thresholds. If I had all the resources available, I'd probably want to get a B. miyarei with a tank at about 60F. They really do thrive in huge numbers into the 40F range, but that would be rather impractical with a chiller. It seems the higher end of temperature most of them prefer is 55F, but they are also seen in 68F water. So I am a bit conflicted on the power usage of a chiller at temps below 55F. Other than that, no idea about feeding behaviors or anything like that. I would be worried they might not eat at all, like the example of the specimen starving to death in an aquarium.

 

[Sthomp01]

We were just down in Marathon key at the Aquarium Adventures attraction. They are keeping giant isopods. They definitely have a chiller on the system but there was about 6 in a 75 gallon tank if I recall correctly.

 

[Smokey_reefer]

Key west aquarium had a huge iso tank last time I was there. Very dim redish purple lighting, and the water was so cold the glass was sweating and needed to be squeegeed to see inside. Depending on humidity and temp in your house it could possibly make a mess.

 

[derpychicken777]

We were just down in Marathon key at the Aquarium Adventures attraction. They are keeping giant isopods. They definitely have a chiller on the system but there was about 6 in a 75 gallon tank if I recall correctly.

If that's true, I might just get an old 75 or 50 and just keep one or two. Do you know what species they were or if they ate at all? I'm almost suspecting that the aquariums just take advantage of their ability to go years without food and just replace ones that starved like goldfish. Does anyone have footage or documentation of them eating in captivity? That would be fascinating to watch.

 

[derpychicken777]

Key west aquarium had a huge iso tank last time I was there. Very dim redish purple lighting, and the water was so cold the glass was sweating and needed to be squeegeed to see inside. Depending on humidity and temp in your house it could possibly make a mess.

I think that's a pretty common coldwater problem. I was planning on a corner in the basement anyways, so light wouldn't be an issue, and even if it does sweat, the concrete floor shouldn't really be all that bad. Might have to be careful leveling the tank though. Besides that, this was just a bit of information gathering for a future project. I'd probably start this in a few years or so after I'm out of college with a stable enough life to start something like this. If any of you are still on then, I'd be happy to update you all lol

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

As far as the feeding goes, from what I’ve heard (and this may vary from species to species, I haven’t done enough research on these to know yet) these guys seem be facultative carnivores/scavengers, so I’d guess it’s probably just a matter of trying different foods until you find whatever would entice it to eat, but I’ve heard they eat whale, cephalopod (squid, octopus, etc.), and fish for certain, and that they may eat things like Sea Cucumbers, sponges, worms, and microfauna.

You might be able to get some information directly from some of the Aquariums that keep these guys. At least a few of these places would probably be willing to share some information about the species they keep and how they keep them with you if you reached out to them and let them know that you’re passionate about the animal. It might take a few days/weeks for them to get back to you, but I think it’d be worth a shot. Plus, if they’re willing to share their info with you, they’d be great places to ask about how to source these guys.

 

[Tired]

They are absolutely keepable! Monterey Bay has them. When I went there in, I think ~2019, I got to touch one during a backstage tour. I think they have a limited touch tank open now.

Monterey Bay wouldn't be keeping an animal that they can't actually feed, they're too reputable of a place to treat animals like expendable things. Besides, I can't imagine the animal that lives in a place where it has to eat any scrap of food it can find, whenever it gets it, is going to be a very fussy eater. Just drop a chunk of fish in there and wait until it's ripe.

 

[derpychicken777]

They are absolutely keepable! Monterey Bay has them. When I went there in, I think ~2019, I got to touch one during a backstage tour. I think they have a limited touch tank open now.

Monterey Bay wouldn't be keeping an animal that they can't actually feed, they're too reputable of a place to treat animals like expendable things. Besides, I can't imagine the animal that lives in a place where it has to eat any scrap of food it can find, whenever it gets it, is going to be a very fussy eater. Just drop a chunk of fish in there and wait until it's ripe.

That's what I thought too, but then there's the case of the one in japan starving for a year and dying, so you never really know. This is a pretty mysterious deep sea organism to which we don't know all too much about, so you never know if it's sensitive to one specific random perimeter that makes it lose all appetite.

 

[Tired]

Maybe that one was sick. Plus, the fact that "animal doesn't eat for a long time and then dies" made news suggests to me that this isn't the expected behavior from those, and "animal stops eating" implies that it was eating in the first place.

 

[hart24601]

These would be really cool to keep! Until we actually hear from or speak with a keeper from one of the aquariums it seems that we’re just speculating on if they are viable for a home system. I sure hope they are and we see them as common someday.