breeding hares????????

[icyuod2]

i recently rented a sea hare from my lfs. i had no idea it was expecting. 2 days after i introduced it to my aquarium it gave birth. (this is in my 50g planted system) 8-10 days later i have approx a million little larva in the aquarium (sea hares can lay up to 2 million eggs) with such short life cycles (some only living a year) and the size of the adult (6") i imagen these grow fast.

i've searched for info on breeding sea hares, but lets face it, what do you do with 2 million hares when theres not a market for them. i want to do it just for fun. i have a 25g sump which i can dedicate to the hares. i have no shortage of algaes so they can fest away. i'm looking for any info (including an id) on raising these little guys.
the parental unit

the eggs

the eggs stick together very well. they have the texture/strength of under cooked spaggetti pasta, thats been in the refridgerator for a couple days.
what i thought were the eggs, turned out to be groups of 100's of eggs. just to give you an idea of size. ( about the size of a silk needle-very small)

and the larva, heres one. had to use my zoom and an eyepiece from my rifle scope

 

[icyuod2]

todays the day.

if nothing else, they'll make an excelent food source for my corals


thanks for the help.

 

[icyuod2]

fyi http://www.marineland.com/seascope/ss2005_issue1.pdf
found a link that touches on the seahares diet, during its life.
it states most of the larvae die in the home aquarium due to the shortage of photoplanktons and algaes. i have lots of ulva (along with 9 other types) and photplankton is available at my lfs.
heres hoping a few survive

 

[mwp]

Cool! I'm working with my fourth egg ribbon of Elysia diomedia...hoping that I can figure out how to raise them up before the parents short natural life span kicks in!

MP

 

[Freed]

SERIOUSLY, if you do get any to live please let me know how much you want for some and I will gladly pay you for some. Thanks, Jeff

 

[Qwiv]

I would contact ISPF. I believe they breed a species of sea hare.

 

[icyuod2]

thanks guys. if any survive, i plan on giving them away to anybody that wants to pick them up/cover shipping. but i am in canada

its been over a week since the eggs were layed, and my parent hare is still going strong. every night he's out trimming up the ulva. i've been keeping a close eye on it, but i think it might survive another year. its not showing any signs of stress or fatigue.
who is ispf?
thanks for the support guys

 

[ediaz]

http://www.rsmas.miami.edu/groups/sea-hares/

 

[Qwiv]

Sorry, typo
http://www.ipsf.com/

also try

http://www.inlandaquatics.com/

 

[icyuod2]

i contacted the University of Miami

the reply short and sweet
"Forget it! Aplysia larvae are extremely difficult to culture. Best to let your filter feeders have a meal."
Tom Capo
maybe by shear luck a couple will survive. but i wont be holding my breathe.

 

[mwp]

I'm grumpy to hear that. It looks like my pacific lettuce nudies eg ribbon has already released a bunch of veligers...either that or I've got rotifers in the specimen container already

Keep in mind that 2 is all you really need to get the next generation going!!! I'd be HAPPY to get 2!

MP

 

[Samala]

I think you should try, RSMAS thinking its possible or not. If they can do it in a laboratory in large scale, I would hope you could get one or two of those teeny little guys to make it. Time to start up some phyto my friend!

>Sarah

 

[icyuod2]

i've stocked up on green water, added alot of red algae/kelp and ulva to my sump, along with a hand full of all my other algaes in hope that some will survive.
the university keeps the larvae in a sterile solution for 6 weeks, and my sump is anything but sterile
i dont imagen theres too many sterile areas in the ocean, so who knows

 

[icyuod2]

well yesterday i noticed, the tiny larvae thats been swimming on the surface of the slowest part of my sump had changed into larger white blobs. (much easier to see with the naked eye)

problem is, my isopods (which are out of control)in the sump are also at the surface feeding on them. hopefully a few will survive.

 

[sunfishh]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7408348#post7408348 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by icyuod2
problem is, my isopods (which are out of control)in the sump are also at the surface feeding on them. hopefully a few will survive.

Good luck. At least there is a million or so that are feeding the isopods. Hopefully one or two will win the lottery and grow to adult size