Those ultra colorful nudis?

[ccloveraz]

Anyone know husbandry on these?

 

[reefbuzz]

from what I've read, daily or every other day doses of phytoplankton, marine snow, zooplankton. Their life spans are short and they need to be well fed.

 

[musty baby]

Depends on the species. Some of them have very specific diets that are extremely hard to supply to them and will release toxins when they eventually starve to death.

 

[LeslieH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8721803#post8721803 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefbuzz
from what I've read, daily or every other day doses of phytoplankton, marine snow, zooplankton. Their life spans are short and they need to be well fed.

For nudibranchs

Keeping branchs is just not a good idea. They're predators. Nearly all of them are very specialized feeders and will only eat one or a few species. Sponges, tunicates, corals, anemones, worms - these are typical foods. Unless you can supply the right food for whatever species of nudi you have the animal will starve. Not all nudis are toxic but many are. The chemical defenses in some species are enough to nuke a tank at death or if released due to stress or something trying to take a bite out of them Most of them are short-lived - a year or so at most.

 

[boomsticks]

Very short lived and very specific diets. Not a good canidate for a pet.

 

[reefbuzz]

Doesn't a tank that grows sponges and tunicates, a nudibranche's main diet, need the foods I specified.

 

[LeslieH]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8856304#post8856304 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefbuzz
Doesn't a tank that grows sponges and tunicates, a nudibranche's main diet, need the foods I specified.

For some of the tunicates & sponges, yes. Most of the commercial products are in the wrong size category to be utilized by sponges & tunicates. Many of the sponges absorb dissolved organic material directly from the water, others feed on bacteria, nanoplankton, pico-zooplankton, detritus, etc. Tunicates tend to feed on very fine particles of detritus, bacteria, nanoplankton, etc.

Don't forget that most nudibranchs are very specialized predators. Hypselodoris bullocki - the common purple one with a white margin & yellow rhinophores & gills - is thought to feed on one sponge in the genus Euryspongia. You could have 20 sponges in a tank but if you don't have that particular one a H. bullocki won't eat.