Aisptasia eating Nudibranchs?

Wow, that's aweful. I've owned a lot of shrimp, peppermints and otherwise and have never seen one go after a healthy coral. Certainly steal food from them though. Also, certainly do go after pods worms etc... Kind of a PITA like that. I guess it's an opportunistic wild animal though. I know there are reports of *evil* ones from time to time. I like the mantis idea though, I may have to get one just in case this ever occurs

 

Hmmm, any chance the berghias will also eat hydroids? Not sure what the species is, but they are the very tiny white ones that look almost like translucent dandelion seeds at the tips.

 

Nope....most nudibranchs and slugs are obligate feeders. (That's the scientific term for "they only eat one thing").

 

Never know, but probably not, nudies are very specific predators. From what I understand, you may even need to know the specific species of hydroid in order to determine what nudi will eat it.

 

And there's the answer I was expecting...

Still worth asking though. Thanks.

 

I was told by one online mail-order nudi supplier that the berghia will only eat smaller aiptasia, and not larger ones... and that they have a hard time dealing with flow in a tank.

Has anyone who has kept berghia experienced these problems getting them to eat the larger ones?

I was also told by this supplier that you must keep around 10-15 in a tank my size (120g).

Also, what about flow? I was told they are swept away easily.

Any thoughts? I'd love to hear from those with experience with these, as I have a few aiptasia that I'd like to rid of once and for all before they become prolific.

Thanks!

 

The Sea Slug Forum - Pteraeolidia ianthina

I don't recall ever seeing this on any of the wholesaler's stock lists before though

 

Eh, wrong hydroid however.

But thanks for the info/effort Curt.

Not my picture, but this is the closet picture I could find:


Each one looks like an individual dandelion seed, but much smaller. That's the best way I can describe them. They're nearly invisible and don't like the spots on the rocks in full view of the light. I'm sure I've had them for 6+ months; I didn't even notice them until I stared super hard at the rock, super close to the tank. They're not killing anything, just have irritated a few things for a long time now. I could never figure it out.

Sorry for the divergence in the thread...

 

Its kinda hit and miss. In almost 10 years I've had dozens of peppermint shrimp and only TWO that ate a coral. I've never had any aiptasia in my tanks though either. I figure if its going to eat coral it will, and the vast majority won't. But i like my corals more so they had to go!

 

Went and picked up 2 peppermint and 1 cleaner shrimp today...let's see what those peppermints do!