Sea Slugs in a local Mall pet store

February 13, 2000
From: Mike Thomas

Hello,
I'm not sure if this is the right forum for my question or not, but here goes. I have a mini reef tank with about 5 species of soft corals and one hard coral. I found at the local mall pet store the other day some sea slugs for sale. They look like the slug at the top of each of your web pages (being blue and yellow with orange apendages on top). The people at the store said they eat left over food on the bottom of the tank. I don't believe them, since they have the slugs in with two large yellow tangs which seem to have taken large bites out of most of them. And I have read that many eat corals.
The slugs at the pet store are very beautiful, and I was wondering what species they would be safe to put in my reef tank. By the way your web page is very nice with an abundance of information.

Mike Thomas

Tardis@siu.edu

Thomas, M., 2000 (Feb 13) Sea Slugs in a local Mall pet store. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1868

Dear Mike,
If the slugs are like the one in the banner they are Chromodoris elisabethina which feed on particular species of sponges. Nudibranchs aren't very good animals for aquaria because most have very specialised food requirements. There are some that feed on hard corals, others that feed on soft corals, some that feed on anemones etc etc. Most of their various foods are colonial animals and themselves difficult to keep in aquaria.

Usually, the only people who can easily keep nudibranchs alive in aquaria are scuba divers or regular visitors to the shore who can colect their own nudibranchs and replace their food on a regular basis. One alternative to nudibranchs are Sea Hares which are herbivorous sea slugs and so can be fed more easily. Some pages worth looking at are:
•Keeping in captivity
•Hypselodoris bullocki
•Chelidonura varians
•Berghi verrucicornis

All of these pages have messages and discussions on keeping sea slugs in aquaria.

Hope they are of some use,
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman.

Rudman, W.B., 2000 (Feb 13). Comment on Sea Slugs in a local Mall pet store by Mike Thomas. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/1868

Factsheet

Keeping sea slugs in captivity

Related messages

  1. Is It Possible To legally Purchase Phyllidia ocellata?
    From: Jason Brooks, May 5, 2010
  2. Unknown sea slug
    From: Jupiter dale, March 19, 2010
  3. Re: Chromodoris annae in aquarium
    From: R. Grooters & M. Snoek, March 7, 2008
  4. Chromodoris annae in aquarium
    From: Mattias Westermark, March 5, 2008
  5. Hypselodoris bullocki and aquarium shops
    From: joshua sampson, November 21, 2004
  6. Concerning 'angelfood'
    From: Alan Osborne, March 19, 2004
  7. Hypselodoris bullocki in aquaria
    From: Steve Jen, March 19, 2004
  8. Hypselodoris picta in aquaria
    From: Susanne, March 18, 2004
  9. Question of an outsider ...
    From: Shoei, October 11, 2003
  10. More aquarium shop misinformation
    From: David Clay, March 23, 2003
  11. Need some advice - uninvited aquarium guests
    From: Jenifer, December 30, 2002
  12. Red Seaweed for sale
    From: Jim DeMattia, June 8, 2002
  13. Elysia crispata and Green Carpet Anemones
    From: Andy Feifarek, May 21, 2002
  14. Identity of Nudibranch mimic
    From: Raymond Mears , March 23, 2002
  15. Observing sea slugs in aquaria
    From: Sarah Bredensteiner, March 14, 2002
  16. We want to buy a nudibranch
    From: jennifer, March 10, 2002
  17. Opisthobranchs in Captivity - new book news
    From: Dave Behrens, February 7, 2002
  18. Introducing a sea slug
    From: Alisa Taylor, November 12, 2001
  19. More misinformation from nudibranch suppliers
    From: Michael Bloss, July 2, 2001
  20. Keeping nudibranchs in tanks
    From: Melinda Newton, May 31, 2001
  21. Keeping sea slugs in captivity
    From: Lorena Schwarz, May 28, 2001
  22. Sacoglossan Defenses
    From: Tina Calle, March 22, 2001
  23. keeping Spanish Dancers in aquaria
    From: Kyle, February 8, 2001
  24. Colored sea slug
    From: Robin, January 7, 2001
  25. Alternative to Sponges for Hypselodoris bullocki
    From: John Leventis, October 26, 2000
  26. Re: What do they eat?
    From: Darla Hatton, August 7, 2000
  27. Re: What do they eat?
    From: Darla Hatton, August 2, 2000
  28. Help identify species & what do they eat?
    From: Darla Hatton, August 1, 2000
  29. Re: what do they eat?
    From: Darla Hatton, August 1, 2000
  30. Sea Slug Info
    From: Cherish, April 7, 2000
  31. Seaslugs as pets
    From: Steven Grant, March 29, 2000
  32. Advice on keeping nudibranchs in aquariums
    From: Phanor Montoya, August 22, 1999
  33. Nudibranch I.D.
    From: Adam Walbridge, August 20, 1999
  34. Can you recommend good aquarium species?
    From: Eirik Eilertsen , July 29, 1999
  35. Nudibranchs in the Reef Aquarium
    From: Theresa Coulter, May 23, 1999
  36. Re: keeping nudibranchs in the aquarium?
    From: Rob See, January 7, 1999
  37. Sea Slugs as Pets?
    From: Sam Noe, August 10, 1998
  38. Keeping sea slugs in captivity
    From: Stephen (Max) Gillies, July 9, 1998

Show factsheet and all related messages