Sea rabbit?

[RAV-65]

hi all,

went to my friend's hse today to look at his tank and saw a few colourful slug-like creastures that has some "hair" at one end....

According to him, they are sea rabbits... can anyone confirm?

Questions is:

1) Are these "sea rabbits" safe?

2) Would they damage corals?

3) wat do they eat?

Thanxs!

Vincent Ho

[Benz...]

Rabbits...... Wats up doc...

Seriously... Any pics?? Would be very interesting...

[RAV-65]

Nope, no pics... but seriously, those slugs are damn cute!! he has 2 yellow ones and one white with black dots.... defitnitely interesting!!

Vincent Ho

[ben]

saw some slugs and with hairs in the www. they are colorful. nice, beauty. sea slugs are ok according to these sites but I never really go into detail so cant advise.

[Benz...]

Cool... can you get your fren to take a pic to post here??

[freSS|ne]

rabbits?!? does it hop? it must be very cute.

[Tanzy]

http://www.ipsf.com/#anchor51705

[RAV-65]

Hi all,

thanxs tanzy!! will be reading up... i tried to do a search on the rabbit, but only one thread came up...

fressine,

they dun hop, when they move, they stretch themselves and curl up again... damn cute, and colourful too... I tink i will be getting some myself....

Vincent Ho

[osmosis]

some ppl will call them rabbit or piggy. they are comsuming the sponges coral if i am not wrong.

they are safe if u have not much sponges. basically they are feeding in algae, they are quite hard to keep, i shud say. acclimatation is very important...

[Terryz_]

Or is it sea-hare...

[Achilles Tang]

Sounds like nudibranchs.

Can we have a photo ID just to be certain?

[RAV-65]

Hmm...

i try to get a pic, but that would mean i need to go his place again, anyway, the creature is pretty colourful, one is yellow with spots and the other is white with black spots... are nudibraches like dat?

Vincent Ho

[Achilles Tang]

Absolutely.

And many of them feast on coral polyps & sponges exclusively. Only a few are known to eat algae and the most common is the lettuce nudibranch which is a uniform green or brown.

[hammerhd]

is it this???

[lvcap]

i saw some very nice slugs at CF yesterday....very tempted to buy..

heard that they feed on sponges...

any disaster looming ahead if they die in my sump or ref??

dun wish to get a time bomb..like a black sea cucumber...

[dradttg]

They have very short lifespan. I kept 6 of them before and they only last for 1 - 2 months.

[Achilles Tang]

Nudibranchs are toxic creatures.

That is why they have no predators. Thank goodness for their very short livespans... nature has intended it to be so.

[reeff]

From what I've known so far, the more showy and colourfull nudibranchs are, the more specialized their feeding will be (eg sponges, polyps, flatworms or other stinging organisms) Those that feed on algae usually are less striking (with exception of the lettuce nudibranch ?) The sea hares are one example of algae eating nudibranchs like the speckled sea hare below which will squirt out violet ink when stressed or disturbed.

Imagine your tank being filled with potassium permanganate solution.....

[reeff]

Another ink squirting sea hare.... this time white and speckled green..

[reeff]

In my opinion, the safest nudis u can get for your tank is the lettuce nudis. But be prepared that they will go MIA and die off after a short while...

[FuEl]

They have very short lifespan. I kept 6 of them before and they only last for 1 - 2 months.

Me n metals99 kept ours for about 5 months.

[freSS|ne]

is it this???

it is very cute. look like a tiny rabbit to me.. but isn't it a slug?

RAV-65, are you talking about this?

[RAV-65]

Hey, hammerhd,

dat's the fella i was tokking about... so apparently they feed on blue sponge.... my friend has got one dat's yellow in colour too, dunno if its the same breed...

Vincent Ho

[arcanehacker]

i saw some very nice slugs at CF yesterday....very tempted to buy..

heard that they feed on sponges...

any disaster looming ahead if they die in my sump or ref??

dun wish to get a time bomb..like a black sea cucumber...

I saw quite a few at a LFS in Yishun.. tempted to buy it.. one example of LFS owners not knowing their stuff? one of them told me they eat coral food... duhz... when I heard that I can't believe it..

whats with your Black Sea Cuke? .. I tot many recommened cukes for maintaining sand bed..

[Dazza]

o ic

i hv 7 of these chaps in my tank. It came with the big chunk of blue sponge i bgt. Nedless to say, no more blue sponge left. 7 fat slugs runnign ard busy mating n laying eggs haha. too bad my fishes dont eat the eggs. They did not touch my ornage sponge at all tahts funny.