Really weird creature

[jjn42b]

HI All,

after the bright lights went out we leave some lights on to make sure the tanks is not shocked and we can see some of the night action in our tank. The tank is only a couple of months old and has 6 red leg hermit crabs, two cleaner shrimps and a snail...or so we thought

tonight with the night lights we spotted two creatures and have no idea what they are, now i know the best thing would be a picture but just cannot get any thing with clarity.

They are about 2cm long and about 1/2cm wide grey and looks like a hairy slug with two antenni

any ideas?

and more importantly are they good for the tank?

thanks

Jase

 

[bct15]

Sounds like some sort of nudibranch which can be good or bad. Whatever you are seeing them near is probably their food source, do a google search for some nudis and see what you come up with...chucks addiction is a food start.

 

[FishLipz]

Maybe a stomatella snail? The shells are flat and they look like slugs. If it is, they are good to have

 

[SmokeyCFH]

sounds like a nudibranch to me too. I saw a purple one at a fish store once and they had no idea what it was! So i went and looked it up and was able to find out what it was. Cool little guys!

See if it's in here: Nudibranch gallery

 

[jjn42b]

going through looking at pictures of nudibranch but not spotted it yet, potential to be the stomatella snail but colouring looks wrong. I have taken the following pictures but not great and have found at least 3 of the little blighters.

 

[SmokeyCFH]

ahhh pictures always help. That looks like a stomatella. I have tons of those in my tank, they're a harmless hitchhiker, you'll find them with metallic red and pink on their shells and other colors.

 

[jjn42b]

just a few more pics

 

[jbannick22586]

+1 stomatella snails, best hitchhiker they will breed and propagate in your tank free CuC!

 

[jjn42b]

thanks all for your input, it would have taken days if not weeks of searching to find this out. Great to be part of a helpful and knowledgable community

 

[Alistar]

Stomatella for sure, I have a black one and a red/white striped one in my tank. They only come out to graze at night, and are harmless.