Kat's Tea Party Under the Tree - Retired

[jbb]

http://www.giantcockroach.com

[metrokat]

[jbb]

 

[hypostatic]

For reference, the bryopsis frag May 12th and today

 

Little miracle workers

[tibbsy07]

Little miracle workers

This. My goodness.

[metrokat]

Little miracle workers

 

This. My goodness.

They're exceedingly slow but thorough. I'm not sure they can keep one step ahead of the bryopsis however. I would need a lot more of them for that to happen.

[metrokat]

Lettuce nudibranchs hanging out at the surface. They are here throughout the day. My guess is that the light in the pico is very low at the bottom of the tank where their food is. They need light for photosynthesis.

[metrokat]

Exhibit B

That's 2 days worth of work by the slugs.

[tibbsy07]

Cool!!

[hypostatic]

I am in love with them

Any idea if they also eat red/blue algae? Would their color change if they did??

[metrokat]

Blue Zoo says on their website that they only eat bryopsis. 2 of them were shipped to me with ulva in a bag so I'm not sure if they also eat other algae. I had a couple of them in my fuge a while back and they even spawned in there. They must have been eating something because I did not have bryopsis back then.

[hypostatic]

Were they just green or did they steal some other colors too?

[metrokat]

the ones in the fuge? hard to tell with my red light.

[hypostatic]

so is this gonna be a nudi tank??

 

LIVE NUDIS!!

[metrokat]

[jedimasterben]

Blue Zoo says on their website that they only eat bryopsis. 2 of them were shipped to me with ulva in a bag so I'm not sure if they also eat other algae. I had a couple of them in my fuge a while back and they even spawned in there. They must have been eating something because I did not have bryopsis back then.

They really only 'spawn' in captivity when dying, basically they just make their egg trail and croak. :/

[metrokat]

Nudis in general or the lettuce nudis? Because blue velvets can also spawn.

 

And the picture above from the fuge is the baby.

[jedimasterben]

Both probably, but I was talking specifically about the lettuce (which aren't actually nudis ).

[hypostatic]

Eh, I think they reproduce when they're really happy or unhappy (orchids can do this too).

 

Berghia nudis often spawn after being transported (from stress I suppose), but they'll also spawn and reproduce normally in a tank with food.

 

Nudis aren't terribly difficult in and of themselves. They just need the right food source. OH, and they're squishy.

 

[andi.rahl]

it's so freaking cute! I want one The tank, I meant....I haven't read the other pages yet

[metrokat]

 

 

Both probably, but I was talking specifically about the lettuce (which aren't actually nudis ).

 

 

 

 

Eh, I think they reproduce when they're really happy or unhappy (orchids can do this too).

 

Berghia nudis often spawn after being transported (from stress I suppose), but they'll also spawn and reproduce normally in a tank with food.

 

Nudis aren't terribly difficult in and of themselves. They just need the right food source. OH, and they're squishy.

Found some interesting facts on the sea slug forum. On food, reproduction and color.

http://www.seaslugforum.net/elyscris.htm

 

I have observed the adults eat Bryopsis in large quantities. This seems to be the preferred food. But they also eat Chaetomorpha as well as Caulerpa racemosa, Caulerpa taxifolia, Caulerpa serrulata, and several other varieties of Caulerpa (I don't know the scientific names off-hand).Caulerpa is only eaten as a last resort if the preferred food is not found. Juvenile slugs however only ate Bryopsis or Chaetomorpha. They could be raised to maturity on either exclusively.

 

I am also surprised that the experiments did not carry through to multiple generations because myElysia crispata were adult size two months after hatching if given access to either Bryopsis orChaetomorpha and good lighting. The fastest growing slugs were kept in a vertical refugium full of Chaetomorpha with a 28 W compact fluorescent hanging on the side. They would voluntarily remain directly beside the light so that they were only a few cm from the bulb for weeks at a time while growing. Once they reached about 4 cm in length they began to move about much more actively.

http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/13702

but in any case, we found no molecular evidence or microscopic evidence that either the Keys slugs, nor E. crispata from the Virgin Islands eat any species of Caulerpa - either as juveniles or adults. Possibly they eat it and do not sequester the plastids from it-it turns out that they can squester plastids from several algae which we've identified in the mansucript.

http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/5328

Sorry for butting in. I have a couple of adult Elysia crispata who presented me with several babies some weeks back. I had purchased the adults to help with an outbreak of Bryopsis. Unfortunately I would have needed an army to rid the tank of the plague. It disappeared as suddenly as it appeared, perhaps because I hiked my alkalinity. For some weeks the slugs seemed to be finding enough left over on the rocks. Then they munched on the cyanobacteria which followed the death of massive amounts of Bryopsis. I know they were feeding on the cyano because their color changed to include some purple. They are obviously starving slowly and I feel very badly.

So BlueZoo was absolutely correct. These guys eat bryopsis.

[jbb]

mornin' miss kat

 

[metrokat]

[aviator300]

In reference to your Lettuce Nudibranches from Blue Zoo. Are they the Atlantic or Pacific varieties? I also have a bryopsis issue and I think i'll order one or two

[metrokat]

They have both varieties and they both eat bryopsis. Also, live-plants has the nudis for a lot less.