Sea apples?

monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
Last weekend I was at one of my favorite LFS and they had something new in one of their tanks. Very colorful...just beautiful...kind of a like a cross between a snail, an urchin, and perhaps even an anenome. Geez, I wish I could describe them better.
They were labeled as being sea apples (they had 4 of them). Not sure that I want one, but they were so pretty, I'm just wondering if anyone has one or knows of them?
I'll do a google to see if I can find them...be back later.
Lisa :happyfish
 
monalisa

monalisa

Active Member
Yes, yes, yes...somehow that was in the back of my mind regarding the sea apples. Thank you very much. Like I said, I had no intention of getting one...but man, they were really pretty!!
Lisa :happyfish
 
M

mopardwh

Guest
Yeah they look pretty cool, but very toxic. Who wants too risk it?
 
chilwil84

chilwil84

Active Member
really cool invert if u are careful and have a properly stocked tank had mine for over a year with no problems even through the learning curve i brought it back to my lfs after it sat on my plate coral for the day while i was at work the plate lost a lot of flesh and burned the apple they both lived but the sea apple went back for a trade
 
merredeth

merredeth

Active Member
I just saw this post, so excuse the delay in posting a reply.
I have a sea apple. In case you didn't know it most that are stocked at the LFS are from Indonesia, if memory serves me correctly. These are regular sea apples, however there is a Royal Sea Apple from Australia that is even more brightly colored and even more sensitive to water parameters that I will describe below.
The basic difference between the two types other than where they come from are color. Billiant purples, blues, red, orange and bright white will probably result in the identification of them being an Australian Sea Apple.
Although a few books say a 50 gallon tank is sufficient for it, they put a huge bioload on your tank so at the very least I'd say 50 gallons, preferrably double that. Keep in mind due to the feeding requirements of sea apples (what goes in must come out) doing more water changes than you normally would have done is almost a given if you check your water parameters.
Also they cannot tolerate swings in salinity or temperature. The Australian Royal Sea Apple is even more sensitive than From what I have read optimal temperature to the tank they are in is 79 degrees. You should have a high flow rate or turnover in your tank. Lighting for a sea apple is immaterial.
Yes, they can crash a system if they get stressed or die in your tank. More often than not, this happens if they get stuck in an intake or become extremely stressed. I have heard about blue legged hermit crabs stressing sea apples, but have never witnessed anything like that.
The most interesting thing about a sea apple is that they breath through their butt and they feed on phytoplankton (which you should purchase) sticking the tentacles in their mouths constantly to keep up with the demand for food. Sea apples should be feed the normal dose of phytoplankton daily, however I feed mine twice a day and just add half doses to my tank so there is enough food for it to consume.
The one thing that should be pointed out to anyone who hjas them, saying they have had no problems with their sea apple that is six months old is saying nothing about the health of the sea apple. They will slowly starve to death if you aren't adding phytoplankton daily and you don't see it constantly feeding.
Another interesting thing to note is that certain types of fish and crabs live in the butthole of the sea apple and come out at night to eat, retreating back to the sea apple when you turn on your lights.
I absolutely love my Australian Sea Apple as he is quite the showstopper in my aquarium when people look at my 'favorite' tank he is in.
Denise M.
 
tugglife2

tugglife2

Member
Another interesting thing to note is that certain types of fish and crabs live in the butthole of the sea apple and come out at night to eat, retreating back to the sea apple when you turn on your lights.

No kidding. Sea apples have something in common with my boss.
 
merredeth

merredeth

Active Member
Originally Posted by tank watch
Merredith, please throw up a pic of your sea apple.
I saw one last year at the LFS. beautiful............Matt
Matt:
I'd love to mut my kids were taking pictures BY the pool and somehow that famous kid named "I Didn't Do It" managed to take my digital camera into the pool and ruin it just this week.
I want to strangle that kid named "I Didn't Do It." He or she is responsible for everything that goes wrong in the house lately.
However, here is a good picture that I found on the web.
Denise M.

 
merredeth

merredeth

Active Member
Originally Posted by TuggLife2
No kidding. Sea apples have something in common with my boss.
When I told my husband the story of the sea apples, I prefaced it with "sea apples have ALOT in common with you..."
I am always asking him "what crawled up your ass today" on the days he is struck with DMS (around here known as "Dumb Man Syndrome).
Denise M.
 
conch

conch

Member
Originally Posted by promisetbg
I have something related to the sea apple, but much smaller and safer.

I just got one of those as well they are very cool looking although not very moble. Do you find this to be the case with yours? My KFS called it a Pink Sea Cucumber. What are they really?
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
Yes, pink cucumber..I used to have the exact name. I'll see if I can find it. This species is a filter feeder, and it does choose a spot to "hang out", generally on the glass or rocks positioned so the flow passes it's tentacles where it pulls food particles from the water column. I target feed mine Phycopure, coral vibrance, and DT's oyster eggs. Do not pull on them or otherwise disturb them. You never want a cucumber such as this to eviscerate it's insides..it is deadly to the entire tank. These also benefit from an attached refugium and breeding species such as shrimp and fish. If you google filter feeding pink cucumber you will find a good write up on these and alot of similar cukes/sea apples. They do not touch the sandbed as other cukes like the atlantic spotted or tiger tail does. I believe them to be in the family Stichopodidae .
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by promisetbg
Yes, pink cucumber..I used to have the exact name. I'll see if I can find it. This species is a filter feeder, and it does choose a spot to "hang out", generally on the glass or rocks positioned so the flow passes it's tentacles where it pulls food particles from the water column. I target feed mine Phycopure, coral vibrance, and DT's oyster eggs. Do not pull on them or otherwise disturb them. You never want a cucumber such as this to eviscerate it's insides..it is deadly to the entire tank. These also benefit from an attached refugium and breeding species such as shrimp and fish. If you google filter feeding pink cucumber you will find a good write up on these and alot of similar cukes/sea apples. They do not touch the sandbed as other cukes like the atlantic spotted or tiger tail does.
promise, how often do you spot feed yours? How do you do it? When I try to spot feed mine it pulls it's tentacles in and won't come back out.
 
alyssia

alyssia

Active Member
Originally Posted by Merredeth
Matt:
I'd love to mut my kids were taking pictures BY the pool and somehow that famous kid named "I Didn't Do It" managed to take my digital camera into the pool and ruin it just this week.
I want to strangle that kid named "I Didn't Do It." He or she is responsible for everything that goes wrong in the house lately.
However, here is a good picture that I found on the web.
Denise M.


Hmmm, I had a similar experience yesterday. My 5 year old threw my 10 year old's game boy in the pool.
kids!
 
conch

conch

Member
I feed the Tank with Zooplan and Cyclopeze, and the Cucumber seems to love it, he sticks his tenticles way out when I feed, I also have a mating pair of clowns that spawn every 2 weeks pretty much runa clock by them now. A little extra food for the tank.
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
Originally Posted by alyssia
promise, how often do you spot feed yours? How do you do it? When I try to spot feed mine it pulls it's tentacles in and won't come back out.
I put whatever I am feeding into the sump and let it broadcast. I do this either very early a.m. before lights on, or late at night after lights a few times a week. If you shoot food straight at them they will pull in, but if you just let the current take the food to them, they tend to "taste" it and you get the desired feeding response. Mine is fat and bright pink, a good sign as far as I'm concerned. I would worry if it started to lose it's feeding tentacles, looked thin, or lost it's color. Smashed up cyclop-eeze is another good food for them. Especially anything with the caretenoids in it to give it color. Mine seems very happy where it is ...it moved to the glass since this photo. I just clean the glass around it, as not to disturb it.
 
bonebrake

bonebrake

Active Member
Originally Posted by Merredeth
Another interesting thing to note is that certain types of fish and crabs live in the butthole of the sea apple and come out at night to eat, retreating back to the sea apple when you turn on your lights.
Bonebrake says a quick prayer to God, thanking him for creating me in His image, and not a sea apple... nor the creatures that live in the butt of the sea apple...
 
promisetbg

promisetbg

Active Member
We get atlantic cucumbers in that have a type of eel-like fish that lives inside of them. I thought of a couple other food items that I use that I think are beneficial to this cuke: A frozen Invert Formula by Ocean Nutrition, H2O Rotifers, crushed sweetwater zooplankton{I use the back of a spoon} and Kent Chromamax. I also use Kent Zoe, and Selcon in my food preparations.
 
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