This little Lettuce Nudi is a cleaning powerhouse

[Karen00]

Hello fellow Saltines,

I thought I would share with you the marvels of this little Lettuce Nudi (I believe he might actually be a sea slug as opposed to a nudi according to webpages about these guys).

My tank is about 15 months old and has been stabilizing on its own and the uglies have started to subside albeit slowly. I've been struggling with turf algae and some red film that might be cyanobacteria. About a week ago I was at my LFS to pick up an order and I saw this very cute/beautiful "thing" in one of the tanks and when I inquired about it I was told it was was Lettuce Nudibranch and it eats algae. Well I have had a bunch of different CUC in my tank but all of them seemed to be a bit lazy in their cleaning duties so I thought "why not". Even if this nudi turned out to be lazy he is seriously awesome looking. Take a look at the pic of one of my rocks. The entire right side has been stripped of algae and I just noticed my sandbed is almost clean. This wee nudi has been miraculous! The first pic shows the nudi to the right of the coral and the second pic is the rock. My other rock is almost just as as clean.

Now I'm a bit concerned my little nudi might run out of food. Anyone know what these guys can be fed in lieu of algae? Sinking algae pellets? Nori? Something else?

 

[Mschmidt]

I feed my urchins nori and sinking pellets, also cichlid food.

 

[Bucs20fan]

They will eat nori like most algae eaters, they also love film algae, which grows quite fast on rocks.

 

[Karen00]

I feed my urchins nori and sinking pellets, also cichlid food.

Thanks for this! Which sinking pellets do you feed?

 

[Karen00]

They will eat nori like most algae eaters, they also love film algae, which grows quite fast on rocks.

How do you feed the Nori? Do you clip it to the glass or a rock and do you feed dry or fresh?

 

[Mschmidt]

Thanks for this! Which sinking pellets do you feed?

whatever petco had 6-8 months ago when I bought them, Hikari maybe. Maybe it was the lfs.

 

[Bucs20fan]

How do you feed the Nori? Do you clip it to the glass or a rock and do you feed dry or fresh?

I feed dry nori, I use a standard veggie clip, I push it almost all the way to the sand bed

 

[Karen00]

whatever petco had 6-8 months ago when I bought them, Hikari maybe. Maybe it was the lfs.

Thanks! I will look into Hikari.

 

[Karen00]

I feed dry nori, I use a standard veggie clip, I push it almost all the way to the sand bed

Thanks, especially the part about pushing it to the sandbed. I probably would have put it near the surface expecting him to climb for his meal. LOL

 

[SlugSnorter]

Hello fellow Saltines,

I thought I would share with you the marvels of this little Lettuce Nudi (I believe he might actually be a sea slug as opposed to a nudi according to webpages about these guys).

My tank is about 15 months old and has been stabilizing on its own and the uglies have started to subside albeit slowly. I've been struggling with turf algae and some red film that might be cyanobacteria. About a week ago I was at my LFS to pick up an order and I saw this very cute/beautiful "thing" in one of the tanks and when I inquired about it I was told it was was Lettuce Nudibranch and it eats algae. Well I have had a bunch of different CUC in my tank but all of them seemed to be a bit lazy in their cleaning duties so I thought "why not". Even if this nudi turned out to be lazy he is seriously awesome looking. Take a look at the pic of one of my rocks. The entire right side has been stripped of algae and I just noticed my sandbed is almost clean. This wee nudi has been miraculous! The first pic shows the nudi to the right of the coral and the second pic is the rock. My other rock is almost just as as clean.

Now I'm a bit concerned my little nudi might run out of food. Anyone know what these guys can be fed in lieu of algae? Sinking algae pellets? Nori? Something else?

View attachment 2876078 View attachment 2876079

Looks like a clarki to me. either way, they seem to require living algae, as they gain some of their nutrition from kleptoplasty (the process of stealing chloroplasts and other chemicals from plants in order to preform photosynthesis themselves). If you are looking for something to feed them, they are believed to eat Halimeda and Penicillus algae in the wild.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I hear these little guys will also eat Bryopsis

 

[SlugSnorter]

I hear these little guys will also eat Bryopsis

some species do, some don't

 

[Karen00]

Looks like a clarki to me. either way, they seem to require living algae, as they gain some of their nutrition from kleptoplasty (the process of stealing chloroplasts and other chemicals from plants in order to preform photosynthesis themselves). If you are looking for something to feed them, they are believed to eat Halimeda and Penicillus algae in the wild.

Thanks for this! I definitely want to start growing something for him. I'm concerned he's running out of food. I don't want to lose him although I might be able to take him back to the LFS I got him from if needed but he's such a cool little dude that I would like to keep him if possible.

 

[1ocean]

are these guys mixed reef safe?

 

[SlugSnorter]

are these guys mixed reef safe?

they pose no danger to anything else, but those conditions may not be ideal for them.