Nudibranch care and feed.

I just purchased a frag from a LFS and noticed that I happened to stray a hitchhiker nudibranch on the frag, apparently the guy never noticed it in there. (dont ask). I was wondering what these critters primarily feed on as I've read mixed information and am confused.

My nudi is purple with a white line on the outskirt and purple tentacles, I think it belongs to the Hypselodoris bullocki family. I have read that they are omnivore and also love to eat sponge, but.. will they feed on plankton? And what should I watch out for to keep this guy as healthy as possible.

 

I would be wary of any nudibranch that comes on a coral because chances are, it feeds on the coral that you find it on. That being said, even if it's not a coral eater, nudibranchs have very specific diest so if you've managed to positively identify yours from the bazillions of different species of nudibranch, it will only eat sponges and whatever else falls under the "omnivore" category at the site that you identified it from.

 

I will try and post a picture asap. I read up on some "dangerous" nudi's, as they release toxins. I think mine is just the ordinary nudibranch. When I got him, he was sucking on the "rock" portion.

 

Where did you i.d. your nudi if you don't mind my asking?

 

What is a good kind of nudibranch to have? I have some sponges that I wouldn't mind getting rid of. Do they all release a toxin?

Cindy

 

Hey Cindy, long time no see!

Not sure why you'd want to get rid of sponges? As far as I'm concerned, the only good nudibranchs to have are the one that eats hair algae

http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=elyscris

and the one that eats planaria

http://www.seaslugforum.net/factsheet.cfm?base=chelvar

Like most other nudibranchs, once they run out of food, they will die.

 

Hi Amcarring! It has been awhile.

Thanks for those sites. That was pretty interesting especially the algae eating one that can continue to synthesize its own food after eating the algae.

What is the advantage of having sponges? The ones I have are not pretty and seem to be covering more rock than I would like. That's why I was wondering about nubibranch.

Cindy

 

I wonder how long that slug can synthesize food though before it needs to "recharge" though.

The advantage to having sponges is that they siphon your water for phytoplankton and as a result, keep the water nice and clean. If you were to try a nudibranch to get rid of them, you'd have to get one that eats that particular kind of sponge. Like I mentioned earlier, these animals have very specific diets and if they eat sponge, it's likely that they would only eat one or two varieties of sponge and not all of them

 

As a matter of fact, I got my info from the sea slug forum. I managed to I.D. him on color and pattern.

 

Nope, it's too easy, nope not gonna write anything, nope ( slaps own face )

John