Chelidonura Varians?
- Thread starter loosbrew
- Start date
chrisstie
Premium Member
I've seen Marcye at SITC get them in if you request them but if you're looking to purchase now BlueZooAquatics has them, but not in stock. You can have them email you when its in stock.
These will eat flatworms but will starve when they finish them all off so hopefully you'll be able to keep him going.
These will eat flatworms but will starve when they finish them all off so hopefully you'll be able to keep him going.
jdhuyvetter
SWFMAS Event Coordinator
If you are coming down to our Frag auction, check out Aquarium and Reef Center in Cape Coral (The Del Prado store). They had a couple when I was dropping off event posters.
waterfaller1
New member
They are ok to use in refugiums, but they are weak and cannot hold on in the flow of most tanks. They will get carried into the overflow.They, like all nudibranchs are specialized feeders. Once they finish off the planeria{if you are lucky enough to keep them alive that long} they will starve and die. Then new flatworms will emerge after they are gone. For every fw you see, there are dozens more you don't, and eggs waiting to hatch. My best luck with velvet nudis was when I kept three. They would do this display with each other, very cool to watch. I thought they were done eating all the fw's. I worried about them starving so I found new homes for them. At the time I wished I would have kept them, because shortly after removing them the fw's returned.
Get some fw killer, I think there is a new one on the market. The key is to remove all visible fw's before you begin, to reduce the amount of toxin expelled by them as they die. Have a large water change ready after the time the directions say to leave the product. You may have to try a couple times before they are all gone. I finally beat them, I only had them in my refugium though. I gutted it and cleaned it out, no more fw's. I am surprised you would consider keeping such a beautiful creature, that really should be left in the ocean.
Get some fw killer, I think there is a new one on the market. The key is to remove all visible fw's before you begin, to reduce the amount of toxin expelled by them as they die. Have a large water change ready after the time the directions say to leave the product. You may have to try a couple times before they are all gone. I finally beat them, I only had them in my refugium though. I gutted it and cleaned it out, no more fw's. I am surprised you would consider keeping such a beautiful creature, that really should be left in the ocean.
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To be honest, I'm not a fan of chemical means to eliminate anything in my tank. I've had FW's for years, never thought to remove them completely but never had an aquarium large enough to justify the nudi. I have a low flow 120 gal softie tank now and I can see them surviving as long as they would in the wild should nothing out of the ordinary happen to them.
Other than running out of food and flow, is there anything that is a show stopper for them? I wonder if anyone has been able to get them to breed or spawn in captivity.
Thanks for the comments and concerns, they are rightfully noted.
Luis
Other than running out of food and flow, is there anything that is a show stopper for them? I wonder if anyone has been able to get them to breed or spawn in captivity.
Thanks for the comments and concerns, they are rightfully noted.
Luis
Mrs Smith
New member
We had one... for approximately 20 seconds. One of the most painful reefing experiences I've ever had. This was probably 5-6 years ago, and we also had serious red planaria problems. We ordered one from Flying Fish Express (yes, that long ago) and it came unscathed. We acclimated it, and slipped it into the tank. And as it was drifting to the bottom, it did munch on a few planaria.
And a blue leg hermit saw it, and ran over, and killed it right then and there.
So that was my crappy experience with the varians. It's a stunning nudi, and smaller than I thought it would be.
Good luck. We ended up blasting our tank with Oomed, which I believe is no longer on the market, and are pretty paranoid about them now.
Danielle
And a blue leg hermit saw it, and ran over, and killed it right then and there.
So that was my crappy experience with the varians. It's a stunning nudi, and smaller than I thought it would be.
Good luck. We ended up blasting our tank with Oomed, which I believe is no longer on the market, and are pretty paranoid about them now.
Danielle
chrisstie
Premium Member
In all honesty I'm a fan of going au naturale when you can, but if your fw problem is as large as your tank, I do have to say that by following directions on flatworm eXit (the one i've used personally) that it never actually caused real harm. I'm sure there are other people out there that may have had their experiences vary but what waterfaller describes is very accurate- as to the lifespan of the nudi as well as having that waterchange ready after treatment if you decide to go with it.
The only other thing I could suggest is to experiment if your tank has room with wrasses. There are a lot of hit or miss ones but you may boost your chances of naturally hunting them. Many times people say having wrasse to kill pests is a bit moot since wrasse tend to sleep at night which is when most pests come out.
I tend to think that its worth it in that the dusk and dawn times (I know theres an inbetween time for my tank when the lights go out but the ambient light is enough that my fish stay awake for a while) there is some good hunting. I've had good success with a possum wrasse, albeit small. The other types of wrasse are a bit too jumpy for my tank (I've had two or three manage to escape past eggcrate and/or suicide into my overflow and then jump out of my sump) the possum just acts very different from the halichores though. Just another possible suggestion that might help.
Good luck with whatever you decide on!
The only other thing I could suggest is to experiment if your tank has room with wrasses. There are a lot of hit or miss ones but you may boost your chances of naturally hunting them. Many times people say having wrasse to kill pests is a bit moot since wrasse tend to sleep at night which is when most pests come out.
I tend to think that its worth it in that the dusk and dawn times (I know theres an inbetween time for my tank when the lights go out but the ambient light is enough that my fish stay awake for a while) there is some good hunting. I've had good success with a possum wrasse, albeit small. The other types of wrasse are a bit too jumpy for my tank (I've had two or three manage to escape past eggcrate and/or suicide into my overflow and then jump out of my sump) the possum just acts very different from the halichores though. Just another possible suggestion that might help.
Good luck with whatever you decide on!
