I have a lettuce sea slug (improperly labeled as a nudibranch) and really love how these look. Im interested in keeping some nudibranchs but heard that they are very hard to keep do to their strick diet. Are there any easier type of nudibranchs that will do well in an aquarium?
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which nudibranch's?
- Thread starter reefNewbie
- Start date
Not likely. Sea hares and nudibranches are all specialized feeders. Without the target food, they will starve and die. Furthermore, not all sea hares eat same type of algae.
Unless you see a paticular sea slug feed in the LFS, and you have plenty of that in your tank (or you can provide them), otherwise, don't buy them. It's a waste of your money and it's sad to see them die in your tank.
Unless you see a paticular sea slug feed in the LFS, and you have plenty of that in your tank (or you can provide them), otherwise, don't buy them. It's a waste of your money and it's sad to see them die in your tank.
Marine Reef and Fish magazine just had a great article on seaslugs and 'branchs written by J. Sprung. Basically I glean from that article just what danmhippo said, nudibranchs are usually short lived in our aquariums due to the specialized feedings they require.
Of about ten species he covered in the writeup, only one, the lettuce nudibranch, seemed even worth trying to keep. He listed some forms of algae it feeds on steadily and then dies off just as quick as that certain type of algae is exhausted. Then you have to deal with the very short lifespan of a well-fed animal anyway, maybe a year or two tops, and on that note I just dont think Id ever buy one for the tank.
Not that I wasnt tempted...my LFS has a lettuce on sale for 5 dollars and it is just striking, slowly crawling on the glass and looking harmless---
not for a nano though...IF I were to try it Id use it in a conventional-sized setup where you at least have some hope of finding a regular food supply.
Brandon
Of about ten species he covered in the writeup, only one, the lettuce nudibranch, seemed even worth trying to keep. He listed some forms of algae it feeds on steadily and then dies off just as quick as that certain type of algae is exhausted. Then you have to deal with the very short lifespan of a well-fed animal anyway, maybe a year or two tops, and on that note I just dont think Id ever buy one for the tank.
Not that I wasnt tempted...my LFS has a lettuce on sale for 5 dollars and it is just striking, slowly crawling on the glass and looking harmless---
not for a nano though...IF I were to try it Id use it in a conventional-sized setup where you at least have some hope of finding a regular food supply.
Brandon
Yeah man, but some variety of Nudibranch are absolutley beautiful. Its too bad that we can find a way to keep them. I had a greenish slug that looked like a Nudibranch for about 8 months till he got sucked up. Man he was too cool to watch. He grew 3 inches in about 8 months or so.
I kept two lettuce nudi's in my tank for awhile (10 months?) and I believe the only reason they died is they kept finding their way into my overflow and getting dumped into the sump. I think eventually I wasn't able to retrieve them before they got pulled into the return pump's intake. But they were SUPER cool looking and seemed to have a decent food source in my well lit 55 (they both grew to about 150% the size I purchased them).
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