Elysia crispata - breeding in aquarium

January 9, 2004
From: Paul Baldassano


About seven weeks ago I aquired an Elysia crispata to put in my thirty two year old 100 gallon reef tank. Now I have over 100 of them. I can not find the original "mother" but the rest of them continue to reproduce and grow to adulthood. I know they are still reproducing by the numerous babies populating every inch of the tank. I have never observed them eating anything and they seem to prefer bare rocks to algae covered rocks. I have been selling them to aquarium stores. I am curious to see if the population continues to increase.

I have been a diver since 1971 and I believe I have one of the oldest reef tanks in existence. I attribute this to the fact that I use some natural water, plankton, and amphipods that I collect locally in New York.

Paul Baldassano

Urchsearch@AOL.com

Baldassano, P., 2004 (Jan 9) Elysia crispata - breeding in aquarium. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11846

Thanks Paul,
Elysia crispata seems to be an excellent aquarium 'slug'. As you have discovered it can happily reproduce in aquaria and apparently feeds on microscopic green algae which have no trouble growing in aquaria. As you may have read on the Forum, Elysia crispata is one of those Solar-powered sea slugs which keep chloroplasts from the algae alive in their own tissues where they photosynthesise and provide sugars and other nutrients for the slug. This will only work in aquaria if you have the appropriate lights. In the close-up photo alongside, the dark green regions are where the algal material is kept alive in the slug.

Concerning the breeding. I suspect the one animal you bought had already mated and so was able to lay many fertilised eggs in your aquarium over a period of time. These have gradually hatched and begun to grow providiing you with the apparently 'inexhaustible' supply of new ones. I am not sure how long they take to reach maturity but once the first ones do, hopefully you will have a second generation, and then a third, etc, etc.
Best wishes
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2004 (Jan 9). Comment on Elysia crispata - breeding in aquarium by Paul Baldassano. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/11846

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