mogurnda September 11, 2015 September 11, 2015 Jessica (Squishie89) was nice enough to give me a quick tank tour, plus a quartet of small nudibranchs, from her tank this evening. I ran back to the office and shot a few photos throught the dissecting scope. I love this club! Anyway, I have not ID'd them, but am thinking they may not be nudis after all. They seem to have eyes (look at the dark spots behind the rhinophores), and have no gills. The gills in some nudibranchs are hidden, but I don't think any species has eyes. Anyway, here are the photos. In the first photo, each mark is 1 mm, so these guys are tiny. Amazing that she saw them at all. On its side: If I ever figure out what they are, I will let you know.
Squishie89 September 11, 2015 September 11, 2015 Oh wow, that is so awesome. Thank you so much for running back to the office to photograph them, your photos are much better than mine haha.
mogurnda September 12, 2015 Author September 12, 2015 Oh wow, that is so awesome. Thank you so much for running back to the office to photograph them, your photos are much better than mine haha. Your photos were pretty darn good. I wish I had played with the lighting a little more. Thanks all for the nice words. To give a different sense of scale, here is one on a mag float. It is pretty cool that these guys keep popping up in her tank. Probably because there are lots of sponges that may be their food.
Squishie89 September 12, 2015 September 12, 2015 (edited) Weirdly enough I spotted some eggs last night. They are on the right side in the middle of the green area at ~75 degrees F. Edited September 12, 2015 by Squishie89
Squishie89 September 15, 2015 September 15, 2015 Not to hijack this thread but here is a macro of the eggs a few days ago And here is the eggs tonight, with 2 new borns
mogurnda September 15, 2015 Author September 15, 2015 Any chance they are snails? Depends on your definition of snail. Since we still are unsure of what they are, it is certainly possible. Not to hijack this thread but here is a macro of the eggs a few days ago And here is the eggs tonight, with 2 new borns How can you hijack a thread about your own tank? Great shots. Again, I am astounded that you found them.
Squishie89 September 16, 2015 September 16, 2015 How can you hijack a thread about your own tank? Great shots. Again, I am astounded that you found them. Haha but I didn't start the thread. When they first showed up in my display tank it was like an explosion of little slugs (I am going to continue to call them slugs/nudis until proven not) so it was easy to see them. And it seems once you get an eye for them, they sort of stick out. I am also sort of obsessed with my tanks, and especially the micro critters. All the eggs were gone this evening, no sign of any hatchlings. I was thinking more about what we talked about Dave, about how usually these slugs taken on the color of their host or food. The eggs and hatchlings were the same color as the adults, so it seems less likely they are eating something and becoming pigmented with red. The host thing might be still be a valid theory, except for the extreme lack of red I have in the tank. Very interesting stuff!!!
Squishie89 October 8, 2015 October 8, 2015 So I have an update on this! I noticed the slugs were in the display (it really is hard to imagine how small these guys are) and all over area with spinoid worms. I definitely was thinking they must be eating the worms! It all made sense; the slugs really like the overflow and overflow cover, which are big spinoid worm areas, and now they were on these rocks covered in worms. Here is a photo of them on a rock . So tonight I decided it was time to try and do some more research. Just putting, "saltwater red slugs" yielded results haha guess I never really tried before! These 2 threads talk about them and give an ID. http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/341768-red-slug-nudibranch/ http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/tiny-red-slugs-everywhere-what-are-they-134971.html Here is the slug. http://seaslugsofhawaii.com/species/Vayssierea-felis-a.html Yes indeed its food source is spinoid worms, otherwise completely harmless, weird little nudibranch. So if you hate spinoid worms, I can give you some nudis haha. The slugs have been reproducing a lot at the moment so if anyone is curious to see them, let me know and you can come over!
Origami October 8, 2015 October 8, 2015 Jessica, how do these nudis do in all the flow of your tank? Can you bring a few to the meeting next weekend?
mogurnda October 8, 2015 Author October 8, 2015 Bingo! Mystery solved. Of all the slugs I looked at, none seemed quite right, but this has all the right features. I wonder if you can do a SWAP with these guys.
AlanM October 8, 2015 October 8, 2015 Jessica is super observant. I can't believe the amount of little stuff she comes up with in her tank. Micro-brittles and stomatellas and limpets and oddball nudibranchs, etc. Can you find anything in that tank that eats vermetid snails? There are a bunch of those in the childcare center tank I run and they bug me.
Squishie89 October 8, 2015 October 8, 2015 Jessica, how do these nudis do in all the flow of your tank? Can you bring a few to the meeting next weekend?Once they are settled on a surface they stick really well. I have a gyre x150 on 20% in the tank. I definitely can bring some! Just curious, are they for your tank or for everyone to look at? Bingo! Mystery solved. Of all the slugs I looked at, none seemed quite right, but this has all the right features. I wonder if you can do a SWAP with these guys.
Origami October 8, 2015 October 8, 2015 Spirorbid worms, Jessica? Spionid? Most of the links that you provided, when traced out to other links seem to indicate that these feed on Spirorbid worms. I don't have an explosion of spirorbid's in my tank, but I may have a few. (I'll have to look again. I'm just getting back into my tank now that MACNA has passed.) More than anything, I was curious about these that you have.
Squishie89 October 8, 2015 October 8, 2015 Spirorbid worms, Jessica? Spionid? Most of the links that you provided, when traced out to other links seem to indicate that these feed on Spirorbid worms. I don't have an explosion of spirorbid's in my tank, but I may have a few. (I'll have to look again. I'm just getting back into my tank now that MACNA has passed.) More than anything, I was curious about these that you have. Yes sorry, please excuse my error, spirobid is what these guys eat. No problem! I will see what I can come up with so everyone can try and see these little weirdos.
AlanM October 8, 2015 October 8, 2015 I had piles of those little circular worms at one point a few months in to my new tank, then they mostly went away. Wonder if it was these little nudibranchs that somehow hitchhiked in that got rid of them.
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