Baby lettuce nudibranch? How?!

[olonmv]

I believe my lettuce nudi had a baby in my tank? Is this common?

 

[olonmv]

here’s the lil one on my nano flipper.

 

[olonmv]

In my excitement I forgot to mention that I only have one nudi in the tank that was bought in the beginning of November.

 

[Jmp998]

I don't know if this is common in lettuce nudis. However if the baby is big enough for you to see, it is probably from eggs laid right after you bought the parent. Likely the nudi mated shortly before you received it and then laid the eggs in your tank. Maybe you will get lucky and see more pop up.

 

[olonmv]

I don't know if this is common in lettuce nudis. However if the baby is big enough for you to see, it is probably from eggs laid right after you bought the parent. Likely the nudi mated shortly before you received it and then laid the eggs in your tank. Maybe you will get lucky and see more pop up.

This was the line of thinking I had. It was the last of several when I bough it. I was under the assumption that they didnt reproduce in captivity. Exciting non the less!

 

[olonmv]

As of today…..I’ve counted 5 babies.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

In some cases, with at least some species of nudibranch, the larvae will actually hatch as crawling, juvenile larvae rather than free-swimming veligers (this is briefly discussed in the study linked below). I have no idea how common it is, but this could explain why you had survivors when there usually aren't any.

Chloroplast incorporation and long-term photosynthetic performance through the life cycle in laboratory cultures of Elysia timida (Sacoglossa, Heterobranchia) - PMC

The Mediterranean sacoglossan Elysia timida is one of the few sea slug species with the ability to sequester chloroplasts from its food algae and to subsequently store them in a functional state in the digestive gland cells for more than a month, ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Piscans]

if i were you, id place them in an algae rich tank with little/no flow, mabye you can raise them and start selling them

 

[olonmv]

In some cases, with at least some species of nudibranch, the larvae will actually hatch as crawling, juvenile larvae rather than free-swimming veligers (this is briefly discussed in the study linked below). I have no idea how common it is, but this could explain why you had survivors when there usually aren't any.

Chloroplast incorporation and long-term photosynthetic performance through the life cycle in laboratory cultures of Elysia timida (Sacoglossa, Heterobranchia) - PMC

The Mediterranean sacoglossan Elysia timida is one of the few sea slug species with the ability to sequester chloroplasts from its food algae and to subsequently store them in a functional state in the digestive gland cells for more than a month, ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Makes complete sense. It just took me by surprise because it seemed so long ago that I bought the single one. Although, For little guys they’re pretty strong swimmers. I witnessed one drop from the top of my tank down to the rock work with ease.

 

[olonmv]

if i were you, id place them in an algae rich tank with little/no flow, mabye you can raise them and start selling them

They’re happy in my tank. They happily graze all day. I’m gonna let them do their thang in my tank. They’ve been doing good so far. I’ll make the decision later what to do if I get an abundance of them….for now, I’m just tickled that I have little lettuce nudis.