Nudibranch ID / Care

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barkdog

Guest
So I managed to get a purple nudibranch as a hitchhiker with some rock. It looks exactly like this one:

Can anyone authoritativly identify it for me? Can anyone actually successfully feed these guys in captivity? Or is he doomed? What does this particular one eat?
Thanks.
 
schneidts

schneidts

Active Member
Hi,
That is a beautiful specimen...it is, unfortunately, doomed. That is Hypselodoris bullocki. They feed only on a certain species of sponge, so the only advice I can give is to take as many pics as you can, and enjoy it while you can.
 
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barkdog

Guest
I'm going to do my best to find a food this guy will eat. Maybe if I get lucky, others can learn from it, and fewer of these little guys will be doomed to starve slowly.
So far in my research I've found 2 stories of getting them to eat. One person had him eating frozen angel formula. I have some on hand here, and had no luck, so thats out.
A second person said they have seen them eat breadcrumb sponges, aiptasia, dysidea and aplysilla. I'm pretty sure that he was mistaken in seeing it eat aiptasia, but the others all seem possible, especially aplysilla. Does anyone know where I can get some aplysilla? Or any other likely food source sponge?
 
ctgretzky9

ctgretzky9

Member
Originally Posted by schneidts
Hi,
That is a beautiful specimen...it is, unfortunately, doomed. That is Hypselodoris bullocki. They feed only on a certain species of sponge, so the only advice I can give is to take as many pics as you can, and enjoy it while you can.

Sadly, I have to agree :-(
i have read of people living in the carribean being able to harvest sponges from the reef (im sure illegally) and keeping them long term.
 
spartan78

spartan78

Member
If your going to try and keep him and go through the trouble of finding his diet, make sure he wont get sucked up through the power head. Ive heard of some materials you can use to prevent that from happening.
 
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barkdog

Guest
I've got the powerheads and the overflow covered so he cant get sucked down.
As far as collecting sponges, that wouldnt be too easy for me. I'm about 100 miles from the atlantic ocean, so the distance is a bit prohibitive. Plus its the wrong ocean...
Does anyone know any legal sources for the sponges I listed? I've heard of aplysilla growing on live rock, but I dont even have a picture of it, and there doesnt seem to be anything on my LR that he likes.
 
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