Lettuce sea slug care

[razorskiss]

I'd like to try keeping a few lettuce sea slugs in a low flow tank out of scientific interest. Do they need to be fed complex live macroalgae continuously or can they be fed prepared algal foods like nori sheets?

 

[KrisReef]

They die when the algae runs out, but not sure if nori is a viable substitute for nutrition replacement in a lab tank situation? Bump.

 

[Spare time]

They should need live algae but the problem is you never know what species you get and most focus on one specific algae and that algae only

 

[razorskiss]

Thanks for the insight, I do have access to a range of aquacultured macroalgae species so I may try to present a range of options and see if I can narrow down a diet that can be sustained with what we have access to.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Thanks for the insight, I do have access to a range of aquacultured macroalgae species so I may try to present a range of options and see if I can narrow down a diet that can be sustained with what we have access to.

Yeah, given the way they feed (sucking the chloroplasts out of macroalgae), I'd assume they need live algae too (though I don't know for sure). If you have pics of the slugs you're wanting to work with, we can probably figure out which macro species will work.

 

[razorskiss]

I was planning to order from reefcleaners as we're placing an order for snails soon, they think their offerings are either Elysia crispata or Elysia clarkii

 

[razorskiss]

We already grow some caleurpa and gracillaria sp., can easily acquire codium, ulva and chaeto, and also have access to a range of live cold water species including kelps, ectocarpus, and fucoids

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Elysia crispata or Elysia clarkii

They've recently been shown to be the same species, E. crispata, just different morphotypes (meaning they look distinctly different, but they're genetically the same - this is discussed in the last link, which also contains feeding/rearing info).

Feeding info for them:

Yeah, here's what I've found on the feeding of E. crispata:

"For example, Caulerpa was described as the primary food source of the sea slug Elysia crispata (Jensen, 1980), while Clark and Busacca (1978) reported that the same species did not consume Caulerpa but instead fed on macroalgae of the genera Halimeda, Penicillus, Bryopsis, and Batophora."*

*Source:

Crawling leaves: photosynthesis in sacoglossan sea slugs

Abstract. Some species of sacoglossan sea slugs can maintain functional chloroplasts from specific algal food sources in the cells of their digestive diver

academic.oup.com

You are most likely thinking of "Lettuce Nudibranchs" (which is a misleading name used to identify Sacoglossan slugs, as they are not actually related to nudibranchs).

Some lettuce slugs (typically from the genus Elysia) will eat nuisance algae species, but their wild diet varies pretty drastically from one species to another, and some species have some pretty specific wild diets (I don’t know if these are required diets or preferred diets, but Reef Cleaners reports that they'll eat just about any green, fleshy algae). That said, Elysia slugs generally feed on siphonalean algae such as Caulerpa, Codium, Acetabularia, Halimeda, Udotea, Byropsis, and Valonia spp. So, in theory, these guys should eat nuisance algae that pops up in your tank.

With either sacoglossans or sea hares, however, you'll want to make sure you have your plumbing, pumps, powerheads, etc. are proofed for the slug's safety (they have a tendency to climb into the powerheads and die).

Breeding and Rearing Elysia clarki – Solar Sea Slug Blog

solarslug.info

Elysia crispata Morch 1863 - Plazi TreatmentBank

treatment.plazi.org

 

[razorskiss]

Thanks a ton, sounds like I should be able to keep em fed on codium and caleurpa, halimeda is also easy for us to get.

 

[ReeferHD]

i kept one for a while, did great in my display but i will say they need quite low flow, mine would blow around in tank for minutes at a time even with basic sicce pumps, i eventually moved him to my refugium where he also did great, until he found his way into the return pump but if i get the chance to have another i would put it in my 6 gallon, they are super fun to watch. i recommend live algae due to the way their mouth works, observing mine i didnt see any radula (snail teeth) for eating algae.