Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium

February 9, 2001
From: Tracey Bollier

We have discovered about 10 Tritoniopsis elegans adults (approx 55 mm long) and quite a few patches of eggs (layed in circles) in our reef tank. They were devouring one of our leather finger corals. We have removed them from the tank, but don't know what to do with them now. Does anybody collect these? Is there any other food they will live on other than soft corals?
Tracey Bollier

tracey.bollier@ch.abb.com

Bollier, T., 2001 (Feb 9) Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3749

Dear Tracey,
I am afraid your 'Leather Finger Coral' is what Tritoniopsis elegans eats, and is probably how they came to be in your aquarium - on the soft coral when they were minute juveniles.

About what you should do with them. It really depends how easy it is to replace the Soft Coral. I am biased, but if the Soft Coral was not that difficult to replace, I would suggest keeping a couple of the nudibranchs in your aquarium. I suspect they have planktonic larvae, which would be most unlikely to survive in your tank, so I doubt if there egg-laying would mean that you will end up with unmanageable numbers.

Other than keeping one or two, your only other alternative is to kill them all. If you live near the sea, PLEASE DON'T release them into your local waters. It may seem a kind thing to do, but if they survive, they could cause a major environmental problem.
Best wishes,
Bill Rudman

Rudman, W.B., 2001 (Feb 9). Comment on Tritoniopsis elegans in aquarium by Tracey Bollier. [Message in] Sea Slug Forum. Australian Museum, Sydney. Available from http://www.seaslugforum.net/find/3749

Factsheet

Tritoniopsis elegans

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