Chac317
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found these guys during my water change. They were both on zoa colonies. Anybody know what they are? If they aren’t a danger to corals I’ll throw them back in the display they are very bright and pretty.
Nudibranch id
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Crabs McJones
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Zoanthid eating nudi, get them out asap and prepare to start dipping. Have you noticed any zoanthids with missing eyelashes?
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Chac317
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Oh wow never even heard of those. This is the first time I’ve seen any and I haven’t noticed any major damage, some random polyps closed here and there but nothing that jumped out at me. Shame they are very brightly colored.
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Chac317
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I flushed them already. But if you’re serious I’m sure I’ll find another few over the next few days. They are colorful enough to easily stick out
Softhammer
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100% serious. I have one single type of zoanthid in my tank that hitchhiked in and is spreading. A royal PITA, I think the nudis would be the only way to eradicate them and they would most likely all die off after the problem is solved as most Nudibranchs are obligate feeders, eating only one thing.
sfin52
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They are the color they are eating. This makes them hard to see on the zoas. Also you have to worry about the eggs and juvinalls tend to be higher in population than adults in populations. So they may do more damage than adults.
cristata.reef
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I can say with absolute certainty I have never thought or heard of that. Genius!
cristata.reef
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That is highly unlikely, since all CA native species are illegal to collect and are coldwater. In addition the "frilly sides" you are referring to are called cerata which all nudibranchs have. Lettuce "nudibranchs" which are not nudibranchs at all bt rather sacoglossans have distinct ruffles known as parapodia where they accumulate sequestered chloroplasts for kleptoplasty. All of these are aeolid nudibranchs which can be inferred to be feeding on some sort of coral in the aquarium given the accumulation of fluorescent pigments at the marginal tips of each individual cerata
Actually they are very close to Snails. They don't breed in Cold water. Around 76° degree. I looked it up in my book. I don't think it would be wrong. Hey it's nothing to make a big deal of. If your or I'm right does not matter to me. We were just trying to find out what they are. Nothin personal. Sorry if you took it like that.
cristata.reef
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Not trying to be personal. I have experience working with and breeding several species of nudibranchs both coldwater and reef-associated since I'm an assistant researcher in a marine lab. Most of the local CA nudibranchs (about 40 different species) that we have permits to work with are kept below 70 degrees which correlates to the temperature at the depths they are collected at.
And yes in a taxonomic sense, sacoglossans are not that closely related to nudibranchs but I wouldn't go as far as saying that they are more closesly related to snails.
If you don't mind I'd like to know what book you're using. I've found several of the books that are deemed to be "holy grails" of information outdated (albeit still very useful), at least in terms of the increasingly-dynamic research community I've found myself part of
cristata.reef
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Cool! Are you part of a research institution as well?
Yeap. 2012 that was it was taken from Job I loved. I had e complete knee replacement. Head Curator said I was a liability. I don't pic the animals up I do the exam. Then Reptile House again liability and maybe you figure out why my knee would be a problem. I did find out that she missed a Small part she did not see up took me 5 minutes. That's why it was never about the knee it was her making a mistake and me correcting it. I didn't want to argue so to make e is on me I resigned. They gave 2 yes severance pay and I was making 160k a yr. There was a slap in the face. For a gift and I'm being straight forward. They gave me a baby Koala Bear. All I could say was does it look like I have e Eucalyptus Tree I'm back yard. It was a slap in the face gift. Im still active, but it really is hard to go back.
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