duberii
Valuable Member
I, like many reefers, find myself particularly fascinated by nudibranchs and sea slugs. However, I do think it's sad, both for the nudi and the reefer, when unknowing refers buy just any old nudi and expect it to live in their tank, only for it to starve and die. My question is, which would be the easiest to keep? When I say "keep" I'm not really talking keep and spend a fortune on buying food for them- I'm talking their food can be sustainably grown in our tanks, even if we have to set up a dedicated tank or sump to do so.
Needless to say, the first step is to get a definitive ID on whatever one is buying, which can be extremely difficult and often more work than it's worth for reefers. Once you get that, then you can start weighing whether or not it's possible to take care of it. Other considerations such as covered overflows and such will not be considered, though you should consider them if you would like to keep any soft-bodied invert.
I'm thinking something like a Dolabella sea hare seems to be among the best candidate for captivity if somebody had a large tank with a hair algae problem or a way to grow a continuous amount of algae (dolabella auricularia in particular seems to consume a variety of algae types, look here).
Other sea hares may be possible as well- I'll link you to this list of studies on the diets of different sea hare diets.
Lettuce sea slugs can be a bit more tricky, seeing as they only eat bryopsis. Again, it is possible to culture bryopsis in a large tank or sump, and the adults seem to be able to photosynthesize in order to live for 6ish weeks without bryopsis.
Berghias I'm going to include because I have heard of people keeping breeding colonies of these. One would keep a species tank for aiptasia (very strange, I know), and chop some off and throw it into the berghia tank.
Blue velvet nudis, Casella sp., are where we start to enter the realm of not so possible nudis. The ONLY imaginable scenario I can imagine for keeping these long-term is by breeding polyclad flatworms by feeding clams or something (never heard of anybody doing this, but it might be possible). Not sure how fast polyclads reproduce compared to how much a velvet nudi eats, but maybe with a large enough breeding tank it is possible, though I am very doubtful and would request that only an expert reefer tries this.
Nembrotha kubaryana- cool black and green-looking nudi, but it feeds on tunicates and I don't know of any ways to effectively culture tunicates. This one I'm gonna say is impossible atm.
Dondice occidentalis eats specific hydroids, so are pretty much impossible for captivity
Gymnodoris aurita- strawberry nudibranch- east other nudis
The following nudis all eat specific groups of sponges, meaning they are not suitable for captivity
Hypselodoris bullocki- pink with white and yellow accents
Glossodoris atromarginata- white with black accents
Phyllidia varicosa- black with blue warts (probably eats sponges)
Chromodoris magnifica- orange with black and white accents
Hexabranchus sanguineus- spanish dancer nudi
I tried to find information on every nudi I could find for sale online, but who knows if they're correctly identified. In short, don't buy nudis or sea slugs on a whim- they are specialized feeders and often don't live their full life (which is usually short regardless) in captivity. If they were that easy to keep, everybody would have one!
Note: If anybody has anything to add or any experiences with nudis to share, post below!
Needless to say, the first step is to get a definitive ID on whatever one is buying, which can be extremely difficult and often more work than it's worth for reefers. Once you get that, then you can start weighing whether or not it's possible to take care of it. Other considerations such as covered overflows and such will not be considered, though you should consider them if you would like to keep any soft-bodied invert.
I'm thinking something like a Dolabella sea hare seems to be among the best candidate for captivity if somebody had a large tank with a hair algae problem or a way to grow a continuous amount of algae (dolabella auricularia in particular seems to consume a variety of algae types, look here).
Other sea hares may be possible as well- I'll link you to this list of studies on the diets of different sea hare diets.
Lettuce sea slugs can be a bit more tricky, seeing as they only eat bryopsis. Again, it is possible to culture bryopsis in a large tank or sump, and the adults seem to be able to photosynthesize in order to live for 6ish weeks without bryopsis.
Berghias I'm going to include because I have heard of people keeping breeding colonies of these. One would keep a species tank for aiptasia (very strange, I know), and chop some off and throw it into the berghia tank.
Blue velvet nudis, Casella sp., are where we start to enter the realm of not so possible nudis. The ONLY imaginable scenario I can imagine for keeping these long-term is by breeding polyclad flatworms by feeding clams or something (never heard of anybody doing this, but it might be possible). Not sure how fast polyclads reproduce compared to how much a velvet nudi eats, but maybe with a large enough breeding tank it is possible, though I am very doubtful and would request that only an expert reefer tries this.
Nembrotha kubaryana- cool black and green-looking nudi, but it feeds on tunicates and I don't know of any ways to effectively culture tunicates. This one I'm gonna say is impossible atm.
Dondice occidentalis eats specific hydroids, so are pretty much impossible for captivity
Gymnodoris aurita- strawberry nudibranch- east other nudis
The following nudis all eat specific groups of sponges, meaning they are not suitable for captivity
Hypselodoris bullocki- pink with white and yellow accents
Glossodoris atromarginata- white with black accents
Phyllidia varicosa- black with blue warts (probably eats sponges)
Chromodoris magnifica- orange with black and white accents
Hexabranchus sanguineus- spanish dancer nudi
I tried to find information on every nudi I could find for sale online, but who knows if they're correctly identified. In short, don't buy nudis or sea slugs on a whim- they are specialized feeders and often don't live their full life (which is usually short regardless) in captivity. If they were that easy to keep, everybody would have one!
Note: If anybody has anything to add or any experiences with nudis to share, post below!
) in which case a lettuce nudi could survive and thrive and possibly even breed. I have certainly heard stories of reefers keeping breeding colonies of lettuce nudis too, but that is such a broad category, and the species they kept likely stayed small. Lord knows if anybody can even identify or find another one (or a pair, if you wanted to breed them) of that specific species.
