Bathynomus giganteus

324r350

Arachnoknight
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Does anyone know if and where it is possible to purchase these and if keeping them as a pet is feasible?
 

Hedorah99

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Does anyone know if and where it is possible to purchase these and if keeping them as a pet is feasible?
If thats what I think it is they are found at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico and would require a huge amount of equipment to keep them alive, if they were in the pet trade which as far as I know, they aren't.
 

bugmankeith

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Whoah, good luck finding a tank for that monster!

Imagine one of those being a land dweller, they would be bulldozing our rock gardens digging huge holes!
 

tyrel

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Only a large public aquarium could ever hope to get a hold of one of those, and it would still be a longshot.
 

P.jasonius

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They live in the same habitat that lobsters do, so wouldn't the requirements be similar? Don't get me wrong, we're talking about a large saltwater aquarium, probably in $800-1500 range, and you probably wouldn't be able to keep much else in the tank, it would try to eat everthing! I've considered this, but don't currently have the room for a venture of that magnitude and haven't put much serious thought into it. I would imagine you would have to actually go out into the Gulf of Mexico yourself and set out lobster traps to capture one. I have read expeditions solely for this purpose, and while they aren't common, they are not extremely rare either. You could always ask the fish-heads at the harbor to save one; money talks.
 

Gigas

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By all means try it but they live very deep down, conditions may be hard to replicate, On the plus side you will hardly have to feed them.
 

Hedorah99

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By all means try it but they live very deep down, conditions may be hard to replicate, On the plus side you will hardly have to feed them.
They live at much higher pressure and much colder temps than lobsters from my understandings. A chiller unit for a 55 gallon tank to drop it to the required temp and keep it there would be close to a grand in and of itself. And the fact that they would be fairly hard to collect from the wild would raise the price of an individual to an astronomical fee. The bottom of the Gulf of Mexico isn't very deep compared to some other parts of the ocean, but you need to simulate that pressure, and that would be difficult as well.
 

324r350

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Thanks for your responses all, although none of it was what I was hoping for. I did a quick scan of the net and couldn't find any information about keeping these animals. If anyone comes across some kind of guide of a fellow who has one, please pass it on to me. They are quite the lookers I've decided, but my tastes are a little devious.

I suppose close replication of their natural conditions is necessary for them to survive?
 

Hedorah99

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T.

I suppose close replication of their natural conditions is necessary for them to survive?
Close replication of ANYTHINGS natural conditions is necessary for them to survive.
 

P.jasonius

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My suggestion is to find a species of fish or crustacean that lives in similar conditions/ habitat, which is more common of course. The requirements should be similar. I'll see if I can find the article I mentioned... ... ...
I assume you've seen these
http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/02mexico/logs/oct13/oct13.html
http://www.natuurinformatie.nl/ndb.kbin.en/natuurdatabase.nl/i000346.html
The second one mentions an isopod contained in an aquarium, perhaps you could root out the scientific paper. They usually go into much detail, as a matter of course, in the materials and methods section.
This paper may help: Aspects of the Biology of the Giant Isopod Bathynomus giganteus A. Milne Edwards, 1879 (Flabellifera: Cirolanidae), off the Yucatan Peninsula, Patricia Briones-Fourzan, Enrique Lozano-Alvarez
Journal of Crustacean Biology, Vol. 11, No. 3 (Aug., 1991), pp. 375-385
doi:10.2307/1548464
If you can't find access to it pm me and I'll send it to you.
[edit] you may not have read this one:
http://www.niwascience.co.nz/pubs/wa/09-3/isopod.pdf

Man, I hate to tell you this, and I'm going to take my own advice as well, but you are in the wrong place for information on this subject. As you may have noticed, all you are going to receive here is bitter discouraging in any venture from most if not all fronts. Contact a University Professor, or several, that have knowledge of or expertise in Crustacea; they are usually quite thrilled with questions regarding the obscure.
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[edit] there is another paper that chronicles the life cycle and maturity stages of a different spp of Bathynomous, but I won't have access until I'm at the U. tomorrow, so I don't know how they were observing them. Did mention them hatching out a brood, though.
 
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P.jasonius

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Samplings conducted shallower than 350 m did not yield any B. giganteus. Bottom water temperature, as recorded with an STD at depths of 440–600 m, fluctuated between 7.35°C and 5.80°C during winter, and between 8.90°C and 6.75°C in the summer.
another article states that live specimens were transported on in bags on ice in a cooler. They like it cold. You'd need a refrigerator unit on your tank, in other words.
 

P.jasonius

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"Samplings conducted shallower than 350 m did not yield any B. giganteus. Bottom water temperature, as recorded with an STD at depths of 440–600 m, fluctuated between 7.35°C and 5.80°C during winter, and between 8.90°C and 6.75°C in the summer. " from article, will cite later, have to get to lecture.
another article states that live specimens were transported on in bags on ice in a cooler. They like it cold. You'd need a refrigerator unit on your tank, in other words.
 

Hedorah99

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"Man, I hate to tell you this, and I'm going to take my own advice as well, but you are in the wrong place for information on this subject. As you may have noticed, all you are going to receive here is bitter discouraging in any venture from most if not all fronts. Contact a University Professor, or several, that have knowledge of or expertise in Crustacea; they are usually quite thrilled with questions regarding the obscure."

This is not bitter discouraging but rather advice that this particular animal is not in private collections and most likely for the reason that it would cost an astronomical fee to set them up and would require more care than the casual hobbyist can manage. Besides keeping the temps down, which would require a chiller unit which is far form cheap, constant twilight conditions would need to be met as well as consumate filtration. this is also no guarantee that an animal suitedot live at 2000 ft would do well in a 55 gallon aquarium in someones bed room. If the kid still wants to try and accomplish this feet, then go for it.I hope my disapproval becomes the force that drives him, wouldn't be the first time I played that role. But if I am gonna say to the casual hobbyist on an arachnid chat room that any of this sounds practical or evebn like a good idea, then I am gonna say no. Besides, his initial question was if it was feasible. And I think I answered it.
 

P.jasonius

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Well, I can't argue with that. Even if simulating pressure weren't an issue, the chiller unit would definitely make it 'unfeasible'. To be honest, my statements were probably more discouraging than yours, now that I look at them.
Do you suppose one could rig up some kind of chiller unit from an old fridge, or maybe one of those mini-fridge units?
 

324r350

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They're at the Fort Worth zoo??!!?? I'm going there this weekend.
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I'll talk to someone there and see how they're being kept and get back to you. That should put an end to this debate.
Im eagerly awaiting what they have to say. Im prepared to make the investment if it can be done. I remember seeing quality aquarium water chillers on ebay for half of what you all were suggesting, but I dont have a clue how to deal with pressure requirements (and dont think I want to.)
 

Galapoheros

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Interesting thread! At the site S55 pointed out, it said some have colonized freshwater in some places. I wonder if that means around river runoff areas or something like that. I had no idea those exist. I wouldn't attempt to house something like that but an interesting read.
 

P.jasonius

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Im eagerly awaiting what they have to say. Im prepared to make the investment if it can be done. I remember seeing quality aquarium water chillers on ebay for half of what you all were suggesting, but I dont have a clue how to deal with pressure requirements (and dont think I want to.)
Still no reply. I didn't get a chance to go by there this weekend, but will make the trip this week, probably wednesday afternoon.
This is purely speculation, but I would think that somthing would have been said on the website if there were pressure out on the tank. There are other fish that live at that depth (min 350m) which can be housed in large aquaria with pressure inducing apparatus (for lack of a better term), and as it mentioned their temperature requirements, I would think they would have mentioned pressure if it were a factor in play.
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Do you think the investment would be worth it, 324? If I had the funds, I would. You mentioned finding chiller units elsewhere for cheap, details, please?
 

Galapoheros

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It does sound like pressure may not be an issue. If a zoo can do it, if you have the money and you're interested, why not give it a try! Good to get more info though, like what mistakes they made with some that possibly died when they first tried it, the pressure thing, tank size and all the other stuff y'all have already thought about:) . Cool. I'd like to see if this goes anywhere.
 
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