Sea Lemon Care? Anisodoris nobilis

I went collecting and brought one of these bad boys home. But I don't know what to feed it! All I read is that they eat sponges. Well... I can't really supply that.

What might this thing eat in captivity?

I have film coming soon!

To feed, sea lemons use their filelike tongue (radula) to rasp sponges. They usually concentrate on one species of food, even when they’re moved to a different location. A favorite prey is the breadcrumb sponge. A nudibranch’s color often matches the color of the sponge it eats

found that but his food was probley next to him

This is the problem. Is there any way to keep this in captivity?

probably not.

from the info i have been reading they don't make it in tanks unless you have the natural food they eat

That's too bad! I knew Nudibranch had specialized diets, I was really hoping it's diet was something a little more accessible

Anyone know a good way to farm sponges?

Unfortunately with nudibranchs they only eat a certain kind of food. I would go and collect some sponges as soon as possible from the location you found the nudibranch.

Collect the sponge correctly of course, don't let it even touch the air. Then provide excellent conditions for the sponge to thrive, and in turn the sea lemon.

I JUST shot this and am upoading it as we speak. I will now be removing the sponge from the sea lemon.

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="https://www.youtube.com/v/pnfPLR3gZh0?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="https://www.youtube.com/v/pnfPLR3gZh0?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>



Can I grow this kind of sponge in my sump and feed chunks to the lemon? I should be able to get more of both the sponge and lemons. I mean long term.

Mail order sea lemons and sponge seed...? I bet I can get them to breed. and I think the might thrive in room temp tank. How is that for a boost to the hobby?

I noticed that my rock crab is in full view in the shot! Only his eyes, in the top left from 0:05 to 0:15. See him? lol

That is his fav place in the tank.

Why are you removing the sponge? Or are you just trying to preserve it? It might be a good idea to let it grow in the sump, or just as well in the tank and then add the lemon later.

Sounds like a challenging project. Halichondria sponges are photosynthetic and tropical species are available in the trade. If you could find some temperate species it should be possible to grow them. I would keep the sponge in the same place that you keep the nudis.

As far as breeding goes, apparently keeping nudibranch larvae alive is difficult, partly because they eat phytoplankton.

Are you sure about the species? Anisodoris nobilis is very similar to Archidoris montereyensis (see http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/archmont).

The article Collecting Oregon Marine Invertebrates mentions Archidoris montereyensis:

"Most nudibranchs or 'sea slugs' are indeed very beautiful but should not be expected to live long in the home aquarium, due to their delicate nature and particular dietary needs. One such exception is the Sea Lemon, Archidoris montereyensis, which prefers sponges but may also graze on 'live rocks' from tidepools."

I'm not deterred.

I took the sponge away to preserve it, yes. I think the lemon would have polished it off quickly. I collected that sponge one its merits and and the lemon eventually stumbled upon it. At first I didn't see it there with the sponge because of the camouflage!

Who knows how to cultivate sponges?

I want to grow the sponge in my sump, and propagate it by division. Grow like frags. I think is might be pretty straight forward. Just that no one has ever bothered. They are very uninteresting by traditional standards. Which ever sponges lemons don't eat can thrive in the display tank. And sponge can be added from the sump to the display tank when needed to feed the lemons.

I imagine lots of filter feeders would like the sponge spawn.

I'm just now thinking about a nano that is devoted to collected sponges... 5gal... one hermit

Another option for nudibranches is Aeolidia Papillosa, these feed exclusively on sea anemones. I've found a few of these in small tidepool under a rock at low tide.

In most descriptions of sponges that Ive read they've mentioned strong current so I assume that is probably quite important, as is water quality. If you could setup a tank for growing phytoplankton that would probably work well.

I think is is safe to say that one would have to grow the food and the slugs separately. What grows faster, sponge or nems? lol

These sponges were found deep in a pile of rocks. I don't think the flow or water quality are that great. I'll have to go back and look for more sponges. See where they like.

Yes, anemones probably would have to be grown seperately unless you had a larger tank. Food for sponges certainly would have to be grown seperately even in a larger tank: the amount of food available to them in the wild comes from a huge volume of water.

4PacNW wrote:Yes, anemones probably would have to be grown seperately unless you had a larger tank. Food for sponges certainly would have to be grown seperately even in a larger tank: the amount of food available to them in the wild comes from a huge volume of water.

I have spent some thought on this... didn't get very far lol I noted that most aquarum many sponges grow without any special care at all.

If I want to grow sponges in one tank to use as sea lemon food, food for the sponge is the primary requirement. Luckily, I have a theory that might make this easier than first I thought. At there heart, sponges are opportunistic feeders. While their diet is composed of a particular plankton (or whatever... I don't even know what they eat!), that isn't to say I must necessarily provide them with that item. What I MUST discover is something they don't spit out!

Problem: I can't tell if they are eating or dieing! Can anyone ID that sponge from my movie?

Method: I think I will firstly, wait for a low tide and see if I can find and harvest some more of these sponges... or more sponges , period. This will likely include the collection of the attached rocks. The key might be to move encrusted rocks between two tanks? I will see what the lemons like and then move to another tank.

We have identified our targets. Simply enough, my plan is to put the specimens under my trickle filter. The water will "rain" a short distance onto spongefuge tank's water surface. Target specimens will be set 1-2" under that surface. Add a power head and wait. The first hope is to see if any of the targets will grow opportunistically. Either as detritivore or by consuming free floating prey. Done... Could lemons be that easy? If not, this batch has then served as my control.

I have poli-wool in my filter to grab the dust and gunk from newer collections/die-offs. Should that be removed?

That's what I have set in mind. Research continues... I need to get the tank set up. That means moving my frog to another tank and using that 10gal as a sponge sump/fuge. I currently have only a plastic tub sump! lol

So... what fish get a new tank mate?

Maybe Myxilla lacunosa.

*Moved to Other Inverts forum