How to Tame and Ride a Nautilus in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

What you need

• Pufferfish or buckets of pufferfish (several, 1/3 tame chance each)
• Saddle (craft it: 3 leather + 1 iron ingot)
• Optional: nautilus armor (loot from shipwrecks, ocean ruins or buried treasure)
• Optional: any fish for healing and breeding

Step by step

1. Find a nautilus: they swim in every ocean biome (any temperature) between Y-levels 38 and 58, in groups of 1-3. In Bedrock 10% spawn as babies, which are already passive.
2. Tame it: feed pufferfish or buckets of pufferfish. Each one has a 1 in 3 chance of taming, and holding one also tempts the nautilus to follow you.
3. Interact once and it becomes persistent - it stops counting toward the water creature cap and never despawns.
4. Saddle it: use a saddle on the tamed nautilus (craftable since 1.21.6 with 3 leather and 1 iron ingot). Remove it later with shears.
5. Ride it: standard movement controls. The nautilus gains speed in a straight line up to 6.5 m/s, and pressing jump triggers a dash - hold jump to charge a longer one. Your XP bar becomes the dash meter while riding.
6. Armor it with nautilus armor (copper through diamond as chest loot, netherite via smithing), and heal or breed adults by feeding any fish or bucket of fish - pufferfish heals 2 HP, raw cod heals 4.
7. Alternative: the zombie nautilus is tamed the same way, is faster (7.15 m/s) and never despawns even on Peaceful - but it is undead, so Instant Health potions hurt it and you cannot breed it.

Java vs Bedrock

Added in Java 1.21.11 and Bedrock 1.21.130. In Bedrock you cannot go through Nether or End portals while riding a nautilus, and babies spawn naturally 10% of the time.

Versions: Nautilus: Java 1.21.11 / Bedrock 1.21.130. Saddles craftable since Java 1.21.6 / Bedrock 1.21.90.

Frequently asked questions

Related:How to Get a Saddle in MinecraftHow to Tame a Horse in MinecraftNautilusZombie NautilusSaddle