ID: Tunicates?

[Rovert]

Ok, guys. Bought these cute little fellas which were labeled as Tunicates, but I can't seem to find any confirmation or information about them. Anyone with information to share?

Heh... and any ideas about how to deal with the diatoms would be appreciated.

 

[KUDA]

I don't have any info on them, but they sure are cool looking.

 

[LeslieH]

Yes, it's one of the colonial species in which many individuals are embedded in a gelatinous tunic. Each set of 2 small opening represents the incurrent & excurrent siphons of one individual.

 

[Rovert]

Leslie, do these reproduce locally (within the colony), or is the progeny free-swimming? I ask, because it seems to me that not only are they significantly larger than when I got them (about 2x or more original the size), but it looks like there are more of them than the original few that I bought.

 

[graveyardworm]

Ooooh those are very nice looking. Care requirements?

 

[Rovert]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9678327#post9678327 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by graveyardworm
Ooooh those are very nice looking. Care requirements?

Care is minimal. They seem to be thriving off of my current tank conditions, though I recently started feeding with some phytoplankton to support a baby T. Maxima that subsequently didn't make it. According to what I've read on this species, they feed on planktonic forms, but on a guess, they might consume bacteria, also. I don't think they're photosynthetic, and I have them in a relatively low-flow area of the tank.

 

[LeslieH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9677984#post9677984 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Rovert
Leslie, do these reproduce locally (within the colony), or is the progeny free-swimming?

Both. Ascidians are hermaphrodites but the colonial forms also spread by asexual budding of either individual zooids or of the colonies themselves. Sounds like you're giving them exactly what they want if they're doing so well. A few species carry symbiotic unicellular algae but I don't think this one does.

 

[boomsticks]

From what I have heard they only feed on bacteria not phytoplankton apparently it is too big for them to process?

 

[CadetMKultra]

Remember, tunicates and people and fish and dogs and cats all have a common ancester. They are protochordates. Closer to us than they are to worms or polyps or the other stuff in here. Cladistically speaking.

 

[Grunt]

They have great color.
Cheers

 

[Grunt]

Kinda looks like- Distaplia stylifera

Usually those are reddish, yellow or brownish.

Maybe related? I dunno