Tame a nautilus in Minecraftand ride beneath the waves

To tame a nautilus in Minecraft, feed it Pufferfish or a Bucket of Pufferfish, then equip a Saddle to ride it through the ocean. Bring the fish and saddle before diving: the mount's Breath of the Nautilus effect only helps once you are aboard. It pauses oxygen consumption rather than filling an empty air bar.

This route covers unmodified Java and Bedrock on PC, with Mounts of Mayhem installed: Java 1.21.11 or Bedrock 1.21.130 onwards, including the later 26-series releases. Those are the versions that introduced the mob, not the latest version numbers. Older worlds must be opened in a compatible game version; a Nautilus Shell item is not a creature you can tame.

Find a nautilus without running out of air

Look underwater in an ocean biome. Mojang lists all ocean biomes as valid, so you do not need to find a coral reef specifically. Bedrock's release notes place spawning between Y 38 and Y 58; do not treat that edition-specific range as a confirmed Java restriction. Keep a route back to the surface while searching, because an untamed nautilus gives you no breathing protection.

Keep the nautilus in water: it takes suffocation damage on land. If you find a zombie nautilus carrying a trident-wielding Drowned, deal with the rider before approaching to tame the mount. Mojang describes the zombie variant as hostile while a hostile mob rides it and neutral without that rider. The ordinary nautilus avoids that extra fight.

Feed pufferfish, then fit the saddle

Hold a Pufferfish or Bucket of Pufferfish and use it on the nautilus. Do not assume the first feeding will finish taming it. GameSkinny's September guide reports that red heart particles signal success, so keep feeding until they appear. That visual check comes from its reporting; Mojang's release notes confirm the two accepted taming items.

Equip the tamed nautilus with your Saddle, then interact to mount it. Use your movement controls to steer and Jump to trigger its dash. GameSkinny documents crouching to dismount; use your configured control rather than assuming a default keyboard binding. A saddle is the practical check that you have reached the rideable stage, and it lets you control the journey instead of following a roaming animal.

Check the breathing effect before exploring

Once mounted, look for Breath of the Nautilus and check that your remaining air stops falling. It preserves the air you already have; it does not restore missing bubbles. Ride to the surface to refill before a longer dive, and plan your exit before dismounting underwater. Keep the mount afloat when you stop at shore, because the effect protects the rider's air supply, not the nautilus from being stranded.