nudibranch - to keep or ..

[desideria]

Hi all,

I just made a serious boo boo which I now regret. Admitedly I had stupidly let my desire of having something colorful in my tank led me to buy 2 very colorful nudibranches to put in my little 2 feet tank. Although I recall reading some about them being rather a nunscience, I had no idea that they were that bad till I read some forumns in here and on the web AFTER i got them. sob.

I got one bright purple and a pink one with orange "horns". I bought them from AM when the man who attended to me said that they eat algae and then I got confused when the lady who took my payment said I had to buy sponges to feed them. So I hesistated and asked both WHAT exactly do they eat? One said algae and the other sponge so since I have no sponge in my tank, but I definitely have algae, I thought ok, give it a try.

And then I came back to find out more and I read allot of disheartening comments about them dying with no food to eat and then killing off the inhabitants in the tank because of their toxins ( much like an anamonea "exploding" I suppose...). Since I don't exactly have a good quality skimmer And more importantly since my husband and I will be away for work for 2 weeks soon, I don't want to come home to see my fish and corals dying or DEAD because of the nudibranches.

Do see pics of both pink (can't get a proper pic of it as it was at the back so the pic is a reflection of it off the back wall) and the purple.

If anybody wants to adopt them, do PM me or leave a msg on this thread and I will be happy to give them to you. I don't want them to die nor do I wish the surviving inhabitants of my tank to uplorry because of my ignorance! sigh.

thanks all,

Desi

[desideria]

Here's another pic of the pink one a better pic.

THanks.

[RockyBoy]

It's a beauty. Try to buy some sponges to feed them.

[desideria]

I would like to but the thing is that there will be no one around to monitor them for 2 weeks come middle of september and mine is a small setup without the proper filtration system to filter out stuff if the shit hits the fan.. If they ate algae as per what i was originaly told, I would be happy but now I know they don't and I dont' want to risk killing the rest of my inhabitants.

I have taken both out of the tank and put them in a seperate pail with an air pump to areate the water. I would rather someone who has far more experience adopt them from me than for me to kill such lovely creatures.

Of course if noone expresses interest, I will either try to find an alternative tank (better than a pail) to keep them seperately OR worst case return them back to the shop.

thanks,

Desi.

[planula]

Hi there,

those you have seem to be Chromodoris bullocki, and they are def. sponge feeders. sad thing is that most nudibranchs are very very specific sponge feeders and it would be almost impossible for you to get the right species of sponge to get them to feed (because the collectors and dealers who bring them in prob dont even know what sponges they feed on, much less collect the food). I can say with confidence that almost all the Chromodorid slugs (many of them are extremely colourful and look like play dough) that are sold in the LFS are destined a slow death by starvation.

I suggest perhaps you could try giving it to someone who is keeping sponges, or are cultivating them. Otherwise, you could try giving them to Coral Farm or the larger LFS who keep stock of certain sponges. Even then, i think they are destined a slow death from the beginning they were collected.

Hope this helps

[planula]

Hi there again,

I just thought of this, maybe u could give this a try:

Ocean Nutrition Angel Formula

The first fish food made specifically for Marine Angelfish. Contains their primary natural food - marine sponges. These are combined with fresh seafood's and algae to create a natural balanced diet that enhances breeding color and excellent health.

INGREDIENTS: Krill, Marine Sponges, Shrimp, Green Algae, Spinach, Gel Binder, Kelp, Squid, Mussel, Salmon Roe, Krill Hydrolysate, Krill Meal, Spirulina, Lecithin, Fish Oil, Casein, Astaxanthin, Canthaxanthin (for color enhancement). Vitamins (potassium ascorbate, beta carotene, biotin, hydroxocobalamin [source of vitamin B12], niacin, riboflavin, thiamine HCL). Amino acids (methionine [dl-methionine], L-Lysine, taurine), and trace elements of calcium chloride, potassium iodide, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, magnesium carbonate, and zinc sulfate.

Cheers,

Planula

[desideria]

Yeah I read about the angel food formula that last night when I was spending the entire evening researching on them however I Came to the conclusion that it's too much of a risk to put them in my tiny tank with a rather basic filtration system and feed them. My spare tank is also not exactly meant for long term usage. So I took the decision to return back to AM this evening and also enlighten them on what I had read up on to please not tell unsuspecting customers that they eat ALGAE.

I don't know whether they would remember what i said cause I also mentioned that it is rather irresponsible to sell them or stock them in the first place because of the animal's pickiness with food as well as the supreme difficulty level of care. Every single website I found mentioned what you said that those beautiful animals would die a slow and starving death and that even EXPERTS have problems keeping them much less amateurs or worse, nubs like me!

I really want to "peng san" when I think about it.

sigh, lesson learnt.

Cheers,

Desi.