Looking for Vayssierea felis slugs to eat Spirorbid Worms

Alexangely

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Hiya ! as the title says, im looking for some Vayssierea felis slugs to help with my spirorbid worm population, preferably from someone in florida but also willing to pay for shipping from out of state if it isnt too much for a couple, i dont know where else to get them :)

Vayssierea_felis.jpg 1.jpg Vayssierea-felis-99a.jpg
 

KrisReef

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Never heard of these slugs or their dietary usefulness in a reef before.

GL, send me the pair after they clean up your tank!
 

animalcule

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i found my first one digging through the filtered runoff of a coral tank at my local aquarium store! i’ve never had a tank but i’m a microbiologist and i love pokin around in places like that. i love studying minifauna like Vayssierea felis and i’ve been looking for a replacement for trixie to keep better care of after accidentally starving her :^(( that’s what we named the sea slug…i made a tiktok of her and everything! if anyone finds anyone who cultures them pls hmu!(Vayssierea felis video)
 

KrisReef

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i found my first one digging through the filtered runoff of a coral tank at my local aquarium store! i’ve never had a tank but i’m a microbiologist and i love pokin around in places like that. i love studying minifauna like Vayssierea felis and i’ve been looking for a replacement for trixie to keep better care of after accidentally starving her :^(( that’s what we named the sea slug…i made a tiktok of her and everything! if anyone finds anyone who cultures them pls hmu!(Vayssierea felis video)
Welcome to Reef2Reef! You need to set up a tank now so it is ready when we find a source! :)
 

ISpeakForTheSeas

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Has anyone found where to buy these from? Or can I buy any Nudibranch to help with my Spirorbid outbreak.
I don't know of any place that sells these guys. No, you can't just buy any nudibranch to help with spirorbids. Almost every nudibranch has an incredibly specific diet and will only eat a very limited number of things - most nudibranchs actually starve to death in our tanks because they don't have access to their needed food source.
 

Janet Belanger

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I think found one cruising my reef, and they are TINY. Its unclear where it came from, either a recent frag or possibly my ipsf mud order. Given I dip all frags and generally not even pods survive the dip, I doubt its from the frags.

I've put it in the sump because there's a more reliable food source and quite frankly I was terrified it was an acro eater before I knew what I could be looking at. If there's a magical population explosion, I'll let you all know.
 

Bitcoin Reefer

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Anyone ever figure out if these actually would be smart to put in a reef tank, and if they’re even attainable? I’d be worried about them causing other issues, but if they only eat spirorbids, sign me up!!!

or since we all have the same issue, did anyone else find an alternative solution? I’m ready to try multiple wrasses at this point as the only really viable option I’ve found. I read maybe hermit crabs, but I have had too many snail deaths so no longer want risk of hermit crabs to kill my snails who are great algae cleaning employees lol.
 

natalia la loca

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Resurrecting this thread to say I’m pretty sure I have these slugs in my tank. They first showed up about a year and a half ago.

In my tank, they don’t seem to be putting a dent in the spirorbid population. To me they don’t seem like a viable control mechanism if that’s what you want them for, although there may be mitigating factors (like the fact that I have a damsel who likes to eat little critters).

They also don’t seem to harm anything else in the tank. I don’t see them on corals or anything. They’re really cute.

For scale, the trochus snail in the background is about half an inch wide.

F791B206-ECA3-45FA-A342-F9659C6BB46C.jpeg
 

Bitcoin Reefer

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Resurrecting this thread to say I’m pretty sure I have these slugs in my tank. They first showed up about a year and a half ago.

In my tank, they don’t seem to be putting a dent in the spirorbid population. To me they don’t seem like a viable control mechanism if that’s what you want them for, although there may be mitigating factors (like the fact that I have a damsel who likes to eat little critters).

They also don’t seem to harm anything else in the tank. I don’t see them on corals or anything. They’re really cute.

For scale, the trochus snail in the background is about half an inch wide.

F791B206-ECA3-45FA-A342-F9659C6BB46C.jpeg
Lol so since I posted this, my tank has become populated with them. They seem to be massively growing in my refugium. They seem to spend a lot of time on the algae/cyano/dino/diatoms or whatever is growing in the refugium lol. Maybe there are baby spirorbid worms getting stuck on the filter I dunno. Hard to figure out what they're eating, but I have a LOT of them lol.
 

Janet Belanger

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Cute!! Mine never did seem to take off and the one I found before seems to be missing or just too tiny to find.

Where do you all think they came from?
 

natalia la loca

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Not long after responding to this thread I started seeing a lot more of these slugs in my tank too. Once I even saw one floating in the water column. Now I’m not seeing nearly as many, they seem to come and go. Or maybe I noticed them more because I was looking for them.

I have a feeling they came into my tank as a package deal with their prey, spirorbid worms. I still have no idea how I’d be able to ship them or how many would be enough to start a viable population. I feel like you’d have to have a piece of rubble or a frag plug with some spirorbids on it and keep an eye on it until some slugs showed up, but they don’t seem to congregate, at least not in my tank. Maybe could use similar methods to those used to ship berghias, but berghias are a lot bigger.
 

Kasrift

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Saw this thread a little while ago. . . now I see 2 of these guys in my tank. . . hopefully they are not harmful. . .
They are not. I've had them in my tank for well over a year. They seem to self regulate, spirobid die down, they become less common. I actually have a ton of spirobid on my magnetic cleaner and these guys hang out there too. @TheBourbonReefer I have no idea if these things would survive shipping, they are super tiny. I'd be willing to try it if you'd like.
 

Mike A. Tango²

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They are not. I've had them in my tank for well over a year. They seem to self regulate, spirobid die down, they become less common. I actually have a ton of spirobid on my magnetic cleaner and these guys hang out there too. @TheBourbonReefer I have no idea if these things would survive shipping, they are super tiny. I'd be willing to try it if you'd like.
I would absolutely love to purchase some off you. I understand the possibility of them being poor shippers but would without a doubt give it a try!
 

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