Getting rid of a Nudibranch

[lemadl]

Hi, I have a 95 gallon reef tank. Last night when the lights went out, I noticed a small nudibranch in my reef tank, which is stocked with LSP and SPS corals. He was approx. 1 inch across.

Unfortunately he was in a spot impossible to get to, without major disruption to the corals, which I did not want to risk.

Can anyone provide advise with regard to how I can set a trap for him and what can be used to trap him?

Any advice will be much appreciated.

 

[dc]

Unfortunately if you have one, you probably have more. They are pretty easy to siphon out with rigid tubing. That way you can reach in and get them in small spots.

 

[greenbean36191]

You can't really trap nudibranchs. Pretty much the only thing that attracts them is their food or other nudibranchs. Unless you know what species it is, there is pretty much no way to know what its food is and even then chances that it's known aren't good.

 

[slam308]

Hello all,
I was just looking online for info on nudibranches. Most of what I saw said they only live for a month or two in aquariums, not enough for them to eat.
I saw them in a LFS and thought they were pretty neat looking. Is the above info no longer accurate with available commercial food or is it the fact that lemadl has a reef tank that he wants to get rid of it.
Trying to learn as much as I can.
Thanks for any replies.

 

[greenbean36191]

There are certainly many nudibranchs that can live indefinitely in reef tanks. Unfortunately, they can do that because they feed on the desirable creatures we keep. Generally, they also aren't nearly as attractive as the dorids which are what most people think of when they think of nudibranchs.

Generally, dorids can't be kept very long in captivity because their diets are extremely specific and most feed on sponges which are both hard to ID accurately and to keep alive in reef tanks.

To give you an idea, here are some of my nudibranch pics. This first one isn't one you would find in a reef tank, but it is related to and looks similar to a few of the pest species. Not very flashy.

This one is a common hitchhiker that feeds on leather corals.

This one is a dorid that I've kept for about 2 months so far, but only because I collected it on a large amount of its food sponge.

 

[slam308]

Greenbean,
Thanks for the info.
If I had a hitchhiker, and didn't have corals or sponges, would it eat fish, or just die? How much would that pollute the tank?
Are there FOWLR safe branches that could be kept with some sort of commercial food? Doesn't matter how flashy they are, I'm thinking of another cool thing for the kids to watch and keep track of in their "fish journals."

 

[greenbean36191]

Their diets are very specific in most cases. If you don't have one of the species of prey item that they feed on then they will not survive. They don't switch prey and none of them eat fish.

How much a dead one would pollute the tank would depend entirely on the species. Most would be harmless if they died while some dorids like Phyllidia could kill almost everything in a tank. With the exception of the few noxious species (pretty much just Phyllidia in the hobby) any nudibranch would be safe for a FOWLR. The biggest issue though is feeding. There are no commercial foods or dead foods suitable for nudibranchs. You have to know what the given species you have eats and be able to grow it. That pretty much means the only feasible options are species that feed on cnidarians like corals and anemones. Aeolidiella is probably the only suitable species sold in the hobby. It feeds on Aiptasia, but to keep it alive you really need to be able to culture the anemone in fairly high density.

Another issue with a FOWLR would be fish preying on the slugs. Wrasses are notorious for eating nudibranchs, and I suspect triggers and puffers would get pretty nippy too.

 

[slam308]

Thanks again Greenbean,
Always on the lookout for cool learning experiences for the boys. Hadn't seen much avail on the internet on nudibranches, so I figured I'd ask.