KP Aquatics Live Rock - Hitchhikers ID

[benwilsonx]

I picked up KP aquatics live rock from the airport about 10 days ago, and I've been having a blast finding new critters every night (all the action happens after dark, of course). I'd love to have ID help with some of the finds - I'll start with a couple of squishy creatures (nudibranchs or similar) that are completely foreign to me, but I can add some crabs, urchins, and worms when I get better photos.

These are in a Waterbox 130.4, with 100 lbs of live rock. No fish or corals yet, I plan to have an LPS-dominant mixed reef eventually.

#1: Any idea on nudibranch species? This one is pretty tiny, a little under 1" in length:

#2: Some sort of nudibranch (or other sea slug) species? This one is bigger, about 2" in length:

#3: Lastly (for now), I'm pretty sure this one is a stomatella snail?

I'll definitely keep the stomatella around assuming that's what it is. I'm assuming I'll have to relocate the nudibranchs, but I wanted to see if I could figure out their species and diets first.

 

[KJ]

Welcome to R2R!!!
All are nudibranch.

 

[ScottR]

Nudi IDs typically are quite hard and little is understood about what most of them eat. With their relatively short lifespans, I’ll bet they starve and disappear and each species typically has a very specific type of food they eat. Extremely specific.

 

[KJ]

I picked up KP aquatics live rock from the airport about 10 days ago, and I've been having a blast finding new critters every night (all the action happens after dark, of course). I'd love to have ID help with some of the finds - I'll start with a couple of squishy creatures (nudibranchs or similar) that are completely foreign to me, but I can add some crabs, urchins, and worms when I get better photos.

These are in a Waterbox 130.4, with 100 lbs of live rock. No fish or corals yet, I plan to have an LPS-dominant mixed reef eventually.

#1: Any idea on nudibranch species? This one is pretty tiny, a little under 1" in length:

#2: Some sort of nudibranch (or other sea slug) species? This one is bigger, about 2" in length:

#3: Lastly (for now), I'm pretty sure this one is a stomatella snail?

I'll definitely keep the stomatella around assuming that's what it is. I'm assuming I'll have to relocate the nudibranchs, but I wanted to see if I could figure out their species and diets first.

Tambja and Doris sp. Nudibranch.

 

[benwilsonx]

Awesome, thanks! Should I not worry about trying to remove them (before adding corals), or should I try and catch them in case they're polyp-eaters?

Here are a couple more shots of what I thought was a Stomatella snail. I didn't see any gills at the back end, and it seems to have an outer "top layer," so I figured that meant snail?

 

[benwilsonx]

Here's a brittle star I'm curious about, mainly wanting to make sure it's not a green brittle star or something else known to be predatory. There were several large-ish stars like this that came along with the rock, but I only have this crummy photo because they stay jammed in the rock until lights out.

No fish yet, but anything I should watch out for with these guys? Are there even any known predatory stars that come from the Florida Keys, or are they reliably safe CUC?

 

[Goaway]

I have that bristle star. Spot feed once a week. He'll be fine. But when you get fish, watch him at night. If he moves close to were fish are snoozing. He might be looking for a meal.

 

[Acros]

No clue about ID, but your pictures look good.

 

[Alexopora]

Awesome, thanks! Should I not worry about trying to remove them (before adding corals), or should I try and catch them in case they're polyp-eaters?

Here are a couple more shots of what I thought was a Stomatella snail. I didn't see any gills at the back end, and it seems to have an outer "top layer," so I figured that meant snail?

This is definitely not a stomatella snail but not a nudi since the lack of visible exposed gills. Its prob another genus of sea slug. As for the other nudis, I doubt you’ll have to worry about them eating your corals since they dont resemble any of the common coral eating nudis. The only problem is that the nudis you have will most likely starve.

 

[benwilsonx]

This is definitely not a stomatella snail but not a nudi since the lack of visible exposed gills. Its prob another genus of sea slug. As for the other nudis, I doubt you’ll have to worry about them eating your corals since they dont resemble any of the common coral eating nudis. The only problem is that the nudis you have will most likely starve.

Thanks for the reply, good to know. I'll have to do some more sea slug research.

The Nudibase Facebook group was helpful for ID on the other two actual nudibranchs.

They called this one as Felimare ruthae, which looks right to me:

This next one is some sort of Carminodoris, possibly C. hansrosaorum. This particular species was described in Brazil, so (at least to my understanding) there's some uncertainty due to its range.

 

[benwilsonx]

Found a mantis friend today. Any idea on species (maybe N. wennerae)? He's pretty small, about 1.5" length. I'm not even sure I can tell if it's a smasher or spearer, this is the first mantis I've seen up close.

Noticed him staring out from a rock, so I removed the rock and coaxed him out with a few squirts of cold seltzer water (my first attempt was drawing him out with a slice of raw shrimp, but he just ripped it off of my tongs and darted back in the rock). I'm trying to decide if I want to put him back in the tank (and just keep him well-fed), or make a little home in the sump for him (is this a bad idea?).

Head-on view:

 

[Bouncingsoul39]

definitely wouldn’t put the mantis back in the tank. hell be killing stuff if given the chance. In the sump with a rock or two would be fun.

 

[Sump Crab]

Awesome, thanks! Should I not worry about trying to remove them (before adding corals), or should I try and catch them in case they're polyp-eaters?

Here are a couple more shots of what I thought was a Stomatella snail. I didn't see any gills at the back end, and it seems to have an outer "top layer," so I figured that meant snail?

Looks like a type of cowrie snail to me.