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What Can You Feed Jellyfish?

Ideal Foods for Jellyfish

We've compiled a list of various food items for jellyfish. Each Food item includes information on which species can eat it, its

Several products are discussed below. We have not received sponsorships or payments in any way to endorse these products. We want to recommend the best foods for your jellyfish with no outside influence.

Live Baby Brine Shrimp (Artemia nauplii)

Ideal for: Nearly all species of jellyfish

Nutritional content: Medium (variable)

Live brine shrimp are a time proven classic jellyfish food. Without the ready availability of these tiny crustaceans, jellyfish keeping as we know it might not exist. Brine shrimp have a super power ability of living dormant in dry, egg- like casings known as cysts. Once added to saltwater, they hatch in just under 24 hours. These tiny, freshly hatched brine shrimp make a great food for nearly all jellyfish species, of all sizes. Because of this, anyone can have a supply of brine shrimp eggs in their freezer, ready to hatch and be fed within a days time. To learn more about hatching your own brine shrimp, check out our article explaining the process and just how easy it can be (Article under construction).

Brine Shrimp do have some limitations nutritionally. Adult brine shrimp make a very poor food item for jellyfish because they have hard shells and limited nutritional value. The freshly hatched babies, known as nauplii (Naw-plee-eye), haven't formed hard shells yet and they are fairly rich in nutrition from their embryonic yolk. Once born though, they quickly grow and molt into harder shells. Their previous nutritional content quickly depletes as well. For this reason, it is best to freshly hatch the nauplii and then feed them that same day. You can get around this time limit by storing the nauplii in a fridge for 2-3 days. The cold slows down their metabolism greatly, keeping them young and nutritious.

Frozen Mysis Shrimp

Ideal for: Sea Nettles, Lion's Mane Jellyfish, Large Moon Jellies (5+")

Nutritional content: High

Mysis shrimp, are commonly sold frozen as a food for both tropical and marine aquariums. Some brand or variation can typically be found at nearly every aquarium store. We have two brands in particular that we highly recommend.

Piscine Energetics (PE Mysis)- A insane nutritional content sporting a 69.5% protein value. Larger sized mysis.

Hikari Mysis- A smaller sized mysis, ideal for smaller jellies but lower nutritional value overall.

So what exactly are mysis shrimp and how do you feed them to jellyfish? Mysis shrimp, sometimes known as possum shrimp, are a group of tiny shrimp-like crustaceans. When feeding frozen mysis, we like to mince it up into small particle sizes, making it easy for jellies to catch and digest.

Rotifers (live or preserved)

Ideal for: Jellyfish with small mouths, like Spotted Lagoon Jellies, Fried Eggs, Blubbers etc.

Nutritional content: Low-Medium (variable)

Rotifers are nearly microscopic planktonic organisms found in water all over the planet. Often known as wheeled animals, the cilia around their mouth move in such a way that resembles a wheel vacuuming up algae. The most commonly utilized species is Brachionus plicatilis. Rotifers are smaller than brine shrimp and have soft, easily digested bodies. They make an excellent food item for jellyfish ephyra or small-mouth jellyfish species. On their own, rotifers bear very little nutrition. Its what they are fed that ultimately determines how nutritious they will be. Although a bit of a production, live rotifers can be continuously cultured in something as simple as a five gallon bucket in a garage or basement. This offers a consistent, daily supply of live food for your jellyfish. And by culturing the rotifers, you can control what they are fed and how nutritious they will be.

Frozen or preserved rotifers are also an option. There are a lot of preserved rotifer products available, but many of them aren't worth their weight. If preserved wrong, rotifers fall apart and can't be consumed by jellies. Additionally, some brands have contaminated products that contain all sorts of other plankton mixed in with the rotifers. We examined multiple products microscopically to determine which ones contained whole, intact rotifers. Here are the results:

Hikari Bio-Pure Rotifers: A very clean, contaminate free product with whole rotifers present. Sold frozen, as cubes. To feed, add a cube (or part of a cube) to a cup of aquarium water and let thaw before adding to your jellyfish tank.

Reef Nutrition Roti-Feast: I was honestly amazed by how well these rotifers were preserved and intact. Had I not known better, I would have assumed they were just harvested. Sold in a liquid formula, refrigerated. To feed, add some to a cup of aquarium water to dilute and then add to your jellyfish tank.

We highly recommend both products and it is ultimately up to you and your individual preferences. Rotifeast is more expensive, but doesn't need to be kept frozen.

Pellet Foods - JellyFuel

Ideal for: Moon Jellyfish, Sea Nettles, Lion's Mane Jellyfish (1+")

Nutritional content: High

Jellyfish Foods That Suck

There are, unfortunately, some foods which (whether designed for jellyfish or not) make awful diets for jellyfish and should be avoided. Again, products/brands will be listed below.

Ocean Nutrition Instant Baby Brine Shrimp

This is a product that I really wanted to work. And truthfully, it looks great on paper. Freshly hatched baby brine shrimp are preserved in a jar using an autoclave (just like canning jellies or vegetables). By using this method, no preservatives are needed, you're getting pure brine shrimp nauplii. The issue ultimately lies with that preservation method, however. Once the jar is opened the clock starts ticking. This food goes bad incredibly fast, even being stored in the refrigerator. In our experience, it doesn't last more than a week at best. Bacteria quickly build up, which can prove to be deadly for your jellies. I'm not confident on the exact mechanics, but it seems like the bacteria produce acids as a bi-product and feeding the spoiled food burns the jellies. And sure enough, it quickly starts to smell like sour milk. Bell curling, holes and complete deterioration have all been a result of feeding spoiled instant brine shrimp.

Hypothetically, the food is fine to feed when its fresh but the very quick expiration makes it incredibly impractical and risky. Although the guaranteed analysis checks out, I'm curious what the heat and pressure from the autoclaving process does to the proteins and lipids in the brine shrimp. I'm skeptical and wouldn't be surprised if the heat cause proteins to degrade and ultimately become less nutritious. That's all conjecture on my part, though.

Non Hatching Decapsulated Brine Shrimp Eggs

Decapsulation is the process by which the hard outer shell of a brine shrimp egg is chemically removed. If timed correctly, the eggs are still viable and can be hatched. But if the process is allowed to proceed too far, the eggs are non viable and wont hatch. These non hatching shell-less eggs are sometime sold as a direct food item. The idea is that without a hard shell, they should be soft and easily digested. We gave it a try, but the results were ultimately pretty conclusive: the jellies don't like it. Non hatching decapsulated eggs are typically sold dry, whereas the hatching variety are stored in a brine solution. We allowed these non-hatching eggs to rehydrate in water for 20 minutes or so and then fed them to some Moon jellies. They reacted quite negatively, as if the food was irritating or burning their tentacles. Ultimately, it was shed away by a layer of mucous-something jellies do as defense mechanism.