Nudibranches

[ScottR]

I know that nudibranches are hard to care for. But I’m at month 3 with mine. I was told it wouldn’t last 2 days. But it’s aggressive in the tank (leaves corals alone). It’s fast and really gets from one side to the other. Anyone else have luck with these? I’m considering adding another to my tank. This pic was just taken of it feeding on my turbo which it does from time to time.

 

[Dsnakes]

What type of nudi is that one? They are usually considered difficult due to each having a very specific diet of a single item.

 

[ScottR]

What type of nudi is that one? They are usually considered difficult due to each having a very specific diet of a single item.

It’s a Hypselodoris violacea by scientific name. Not much info on it. But honestly it seems to filter feed. It’ll stand on its foot and wave its mouth in the air. Then roam around my LR picking at stuff. It just seems so healthy and I’m at odds. I don’t target feed. Thing is a survivor. I understand their lifespan is quite short.

 

[Dsnakes]

It’s a Hypselodoris violacea by scientific name. Not much info on it. But honestly it seems to filter feed. It’ll stand on its foot and wave its mouth in the air. Then roam around my LR picking at stuff. It just seems so healthy and I’m at odds. I don’t target feed. Thing is a survivor. I understand their lifespan is quite short.

That’s great. I hope it keeps doing well for you. You’re right on there not being much info on it, I've been looking for diet info and coming up short. Where did you purchase it from?

The only nudis I’ve had are Berghia to wipe out Aiptasia and Vayssierea Felis which ate spirorbid worms.

 

[ScottR]

That’s great. I hope it keeps doing well for you. You’re right on there not being much info on it, I've been looking for diet info and coming up short. Where did you purchase it from?

The only nudis I’ve had are Berghia to wipe out Aiptasia and Vayssierea Felis which ate spirorbid worms.

I live in Hong Kong at the moment. Oddly they have some interesting stuff here. Most is from Indonesia. This is a newly discovered species. So I’m winging it.

 

[Kamden Uelton]

They only eat a certain species of sponge you might have that sponge.

 

[ScottR]

I’ve got a small yellow sponge and it never touches it even when in that area. So far so good.

 

[ScottR]

I decided to feed my nudibranch by hand. I took a few small pellets of my fish food and soaked them in water for a few minutes to soften them. As my nudi likes to hang around the top of the tank sometimes, I took some of the pellets with water and put in a pipette. I fed directly into its mouth. It ate 3 pellets easily. It kind of sucked on the end of the pipette. Easy feeding.

 

[Kamden Uelton]

Each Nudibranch only eat one Specific Species of sponge there's no way you got it to eat pellets, I call BS till I see a video

 

[ScottR]

Each Nudibranch only eat one Specific Species of sponge there's no way you got it to eat pellets, I call crap till I see a video

I’m going to prove you wrong on this Like a baby hitting a baby bottle. It’s mouth opened up in complete circle and searched for it. Ate it up immediately. I’ll take video later. Nudi is crawling on LR now. It’s an odd feeder. Perhaps I’ll take vid soon after the kids sleep.

 

[cristata.reef]

It will eat the pellets, but it will not be able to incorporate the nutrients into it's metabolism. Chromodoris nudibranchs like Hypselodoris are obigate feeders of sponges and ascidians. They also starve to death at a notoriously slow rate. If you can keep it alive for more than 6 months with what you're doing, I'll be convinced.

But until then, these are strictly spongivores in my book

 

[Steven91]

That’s great. I hope it keeps doing well for you. You’re right on there not being much info on it, I've been looking for diet info and coming up short. Where did you purchase it from?

The only nudis I’ve had are Berghia to wipe out Aiptasia and Vayssierea Felis which ate spirorbid worms.

where can you even get Vayssierea Felis?

 

[Triggreef]

Vayssierea Felis which ate spirorbid worms.

That sounds like something I'd love to find

 

[cristata.reef]

where can you even get Vayssierea Felis?

That sounds like something I'd love to find

Is a fairly common nudibranch native to the tropical Southern Pacific. It's not collected for importation to do it's small size and regional regulations regarding collection. However some inherently wind up on live rock. You just have to get lucky

 

[ScottR]

It will eat the pellets, but it will not be able to incorporate the nutrients into it's metabolism. Chromodoris nudibranchs like Hypselodoris are obigate feeders of sponges and ascidians. They also starve to death at a notoriously slow rate. If you can keep it alive for more than 6 months with what you're doing, I'll be convinced.

But until then, these are strictly spongivores in my book

Thanks for the info. There’s just not a plethora of info on them like most of the other things we keep in our tank. I have a yellow sponge but it just can’t find it - even when right next to it.

But supposedly these only live up to one year in the wild. I’m just going to say even if it dies today, it was successful based on how long I’ve already kept it.

 

[Dsnakes]

where can you even get Vayssierea Felis?

That sounds like something I'd love to find

Is a fairly common nudibranch native to the tropical Southern Pacific. It's not collected for importation to do it's small size and regional regulations regarding collection. However some inherently wind up on live rock. You just have to get lucky

Luck of the draw I suppose. Mine came in on a couple frags from the LFS. Lucky they weren’t bad guys.

 

[ScottR]

Luck of the draw I suppose. Mine came in on a couple frags from the LFS. Lucky they weren’t bad guys.

At my LFS, they have a tiny tub hanging on the inside of the tank full of nudis, with nothing to eat (I guess). Half of them are floating in the tub but are still alive. They’ve had them forever. I just assumed they plucked out dead ones and replenished as needed. Not sure