Elysia subornata eggs!

[dvl445]

I recently purchased three lettuce nudibranchs from reefs2go (I have mixed reviews as ~half my order of other items arrived dead). Interestingly, they actually sent me two Elysia crispata (lettuce nudibranchs) and one Elysia subornata, which I am actually pretty stoked about. Well, as soon as I put the subornata in the tank, within 3 hours, she started laying eggs. They are really cool and I am so excited, but I was wondering if anyone has heard of raising Elysia subornata in captivity. I have heard of crispata, but never subornata. I have a feeling they might be similar, but maybe with different algae preferences. I have attached photos of her and her eggs.

Thanks for any help!

James

 

[bobbychullo]

sorry, kinda off topic but they are so cute!! lol

 

[pagojoe]

Hopefully yours are fertile and will reproduce for you, but egg laying shortly after introduction to an aquarium is usually a stress response. Cool slugs, and nice pics!

Good luck & cheers,




Don

 

[dvl445]

Ah, I see. The stress response thing makes sense. I hope they are fertile too! I'll keep you posted on their development/lack-there-of.

 

[dvl445]

I just wanted to post some things I noticed about my subornata. She is quite active, and seems to like the Caulerpa in the tank, which makes sense. I currently only have Caulerpa racemosa, but I will be getting some taxifolia and serrulata this week. One of the most interesting thing she does is when she falls from a rock or wall, she opens up the flaps on her back and falls gracefully to the bottom, like a leaf. It is really cool. I will try to get a picture/video.

Here are some more pics of her.

Looking right at the camera.

 

[Elysia]

All I can add is that I hope you will continue to update us on the status of your slug and the eggs. All too often these threads die leaving me wishing I knew more.

 

[dvl445]

Will do! The eggs haven't changed too much, maybe a bit, but it is hard to tell.

I will say that she is very hardy, or she seems to be. Yesterday morning she got stuck in the small intake for the filter. I ma not sure how long she was there but, I immediately removed he whenI saw. She was actually quite flattened, but I noticed she was moving. I was so worried! The next few hours she was quite still. After about 5 hours she was back to her normal and zooming around as she normally does. Those pics were taken actually after the incident.


I was sure to cover the intake with a sponge. ( I thought the flow was low enough to avoid being sucked it, but I guess if you have no bones/calcified parts, when you are sucked in somewhere it can be hard to escape.)

I will keep up the posts up! I'll try to include some updates/pictures on my two crispata too. The one thing I have noticed, which is cute, is that they tend to hang out together. Although this might just be because, there is limited space in a 5 gallon tank... or maybe they don't like the subornata.

 

[dvl445]

Not too many updates today. The eggs look pretty similar as yesterday. They are become a little opaque. Maybe rot? idk. I noticed yesterday that she actually laid two other nests of eggs two. Both smaller, but I am not sure when. I have a few more pics of her. She has been such a nice distraction from studying for my PhD qualifying exam! (which is tomorrow...) haha

So cute and active!

The original nest with a Halocaridina rubra in front.

 

[Elysia]

Hope that your exams went well and that the slugs are okay. My experience is that the eggs do not disappear after they "hatch," but eventually sort of disolve. If the eggs disappear all at once, it is usually because something has been eating them.

 

[dvl445]

Thanks for the kind thoughts Elysia. I just found out that I passed my exam actually, so I am estatic. Sorry for not updating in a while. I am actually away right now, but I will post updates and some new pics on Sunday.