Lettuce Nudibranch

[smokie]

My LFS tells me If i put a lettuce nudibranch in my tank it will eat all the aptasia.
Is that correct?
what will it eat after it eats the aptasia?

 

[Anonymous]

No it will not eat aptasia. The store is just wrong

. The lettuce nudibranch has been known to munch on bryopsis, at type of problem algae.

RR

 

[smokie]

Strange they would tell me that.
The guy also has a business cleaning and maintenance on business aquariums as well as
people who are rich and lazy.
He seems to be fairly knowledgable about what he sells,and everything else hes told me kind of fit in place with what i had read and heard.
He also told me if i had any Anenomes other than the Aptasia that the lettuce nudi would possibly bother or even try to eat the anenome.

 

[Anonymous]

You know, it's really hard to tell what each nudibranch will eat in any given situation. There are some whose diets are known, however, and you might be able to learn a lot just by looking at it.

The commonly referred to "lettuce" nudibranch that is greenish in color does in fact eat briopsis and algae, and it is green partly for camoflauge, and partly because it retains the chloroplats from the algae to use for photosythesis and creating its own food.

A white nudibranch that looks remarkably similar and could possibly be misnamed as a "lettuce" nudibranch is a tentacle sucking anemone eater that will devour aiptasia. But it lacks any colors.

 

[smokie]

Dr Reef
So i need a white nudibranch not a lettuce nudibranch?
If i put one in my tank,what will it eat after the aiptasia are all gone?
Is it going to eat my flower anenome and my bubble anenome?
Will it eat my sponges and other livestock as well?

 

[Anonymous]

Unfortunatley, I cannot advise on that specifically.

I think it best to err on the conservative side and assume that aiptasia eating nudibranchs will probably move on to other anemones when their preferred food source thins out.

If I remember correctly though, the nudibranch Bergesia or some such spelling is the one that everyone has success with. Do a quick search for "aiptasia nudibranch" on a compiler or on Reefs.org here.

 

[SPC]

Posted by Smokie:
The guy also has a business cleaning and maintenance on business aquariums as well as
people who are rich and lazy.

-In my experience rich people are usually not lazy

.
Steve

 

[smokie]

Well i guess if you want to take it literally that may be the case.
But then again we could mention a certain individual with a pending Lawsuit which would tend to tilt the scales the other direction.

 

[smokie]

Thanks for your input Dr Reef much appreciated.

 

[Anonymous]

Berghia verrucicornis are the Aiptasia sp. eaters.

 

[Horse Luver]

Strangely enough, this just happend to be a topic of one of my conversations this week. Strange because I have no interest in Nudiies nor want to. Regardless, what I would consider a very reliable source claims that you can get them to eat hair algea.

 

[Emperator]

berghia look absolutely nothing like the lettuce nudi.

also berghias do not get larger than 1" whereas the lettuce nudi can get up to several inches long.

 

[ec]

smokie, i have 2 berghia that i got from inland aquatics in my reef tank and can say that they do eat aptasia, but very slowly. the aptasia are reproducimg as fast as the berghia can eat them. i belive that they are very specialized feeders and will starve to death when the aptasia are gone. you might try a peppermint shrimp. they also eat aptasia, but WILL eat other corals when they are done with the aptasia, so they need to be removed at somepoint.good luck....evan

 

[Anonymous]

Here's a shot of the Lettuce Nudibranch I bought tonight. Hope my fish don't kill it.

[ April 06, 2002: Message edited by: moe_k ]</p>

 

[SPC]

Man, what a beautiful creature!

Steve