Elegance Coral Devours Lettuce Nudibranch

[hobbes51]

Just got home and am seeing this happen in person. I'm videotaping this but i feel pretty bad for the nudibranch. Will update this with some pics or video if you guys are interested.

Anyone even heard of this happening? Do elegance corals eat fish too?

 

[Bolivian Ram]

Yes pics and video would be awesome.

Yes Elegance Corals have been known to eat inverts. My own has made dinner of small sized snails.

And yes they do eat fish too. The chances of them doing this is quite small unless the fish and elegance are in really really small living area and the fish gets caught by its tentacles. Elegance have pretty powerful stings.

Then again all corals are opportunistic in the first place especially LPS.

 

[kurt_n]

I'm no nudibranch expert, but don't they contain toxins for self-defense? I know some nudis do, but I'm not sure if they *all* do.

If so - and I realize this is a little late since your Elegance has obviously finished the guy off by now - I'd be worried about the health of the Elegance, or what happens when the Elegance spits the remains back out.

Granted, nothing much to do now but sit back and wait... but I'd have a fair amount of water ready to go for a water change if you don't keep it onhand as a normal practice.

 

[footballdude2k3]

I'm no nudibranch expert, but don't they contain toxins for self-defense? I know some nudis do, but I'm not sure if they *all* do.

If so - and I realize this is a little late since your Elegance has obviously finished the guy off by now - I'd be worried about the health of the Elegance, or what happens when the Elegance spits the remains back out.

Granted, nothing much to do now but sit back and wait... but I'd have a fair amount of water ready to go for a water change if you don't keep it onhand as a normal practice.

That is a great point, just to be on the safe side I suggest having a water change ready

 

[hobbes51]

So what happened was very strange.. the elegance never actually finished him off.

My clownfish tend to host in the elegance coral, and somehow knocked the lettuce nudibranch free. It's also possible the toxins were too much for the elegance, as a result spit him back out into the tank.

The lettuce nudibranch seems to be about 50% of his size today.. i guess because some of him was digested... he is alive and moving though.

Here's some pictures from the incident.. i plan to upload a video once im done editing.

http://i.imgur.com/5kWqQSc.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/7YDXipg.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/8DRuCx3.jpg

Thanks for the advice on the water change.. I didn't think to do that and noticed polyp extension on my SPS was hurting today.

 

[hobbes51]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfViHOvSsj4

Here's a short clip I took. I have a longer video I can also upload.

 

[fishcraze_1]

Yeah, this elegance just stung one of my flowerpots. Long story the flowerput ran into the elegance and almost died completely. Half of it is gone, not sure if it will bounce back. I doubt it. Now I know these guys can pack a punch if bothered.

 

[wii64brawl]

Lettuce slugs aren't nudibranchs. They're headshield slugs.

 

[ClownFishKeeper]

Elegance corals definitely pack a punch. I have seen elegance corals and bubble corals kill/eat clownfish who attempted to host those respective corals.

 

[stunreefer]

I kept an elegance for years that would eat Stomatella snails off the glass. Murderous :thumbsup:

 

[Bolivian Ram]

^LOL exactly. Elegance corals are snail killers. I can't keep snails in my tank anymore cause of it.

 

[Raceimage]

I had an elegance that ate 2 mandarins. Didn't affect the coral at all - can't say the same for the fish. You could actually see the fish through the flesh of the coral.

 

[Bolivian Ram]

I had an elegance that ate 2 mandarins. Didn't affect the coral at all - can't say the same for the fish. You could actually see the fish through the flesh of the coral.

This is why I love Elegance Corals. They're like anemones except they don't wander randomly and get stuck in a power head. :dance: