Flying lettuce nudis

[nunofs]

I just got 2 lettuce nudis on a pooled order and they seem to be doing well in my tank, cruising everywhere.

The "funny" thing is that every now and then, when the water flow changes and catches the nudis just the right way, they take off and there they go flying around the tank until they land somewhere else... That can't exactly be good for them, but it's still funny in a sadistic kind of way

Anyway, my question to people who keep lettuce nudis is: do they leave a lot of slime/mucus behind them? Mine do, and I'm thinking that's happening because they need to create more mucus to better try and hold on to a surface due to the water flow... any opinions/experiences? FWIW, flow is about 1200gph from a closed-loop, plus about 600gph from the sump return (on a 75g).

Thanks,
Nuno

 

[Liam]

yeah i had i lettuce nudi that used to do that,i say used because one day he flew right into a powerhead intake which promptly shredded his rear end.I removed his front half from the pump and set him back on the rockwork.He lived for several months and it even looked like his rear end was regrowing but then he suddenly vanished.Guess he was'nt so lucky after all!

 

[NateHanson]

Nuno, mine must have gone flying because I found him this afternoon plastered to the side of my Seio! But I shut off the pump, and gently blew him off with a baster. Amazingly he slowly recovered and extracted himself from the 4 slits he was sucked into, and now he's happily (I think?) squirming around the tank. Hopefully he learned a lesson!

 

[nunofs]

It stopped being funny... I found little pieces of one of the nudis scattered around the tank, and can't find the "rest" of its body... it must have been sucked by the closed-loop intake Don't know what to do about the remianing one... I can't really cover the intake with foam (it has a plastic strainer already) because it would be impossible to keep clean... on the other hand I hate risking the other nudi's life... I guess I underestimated the flow in my tank, maybe it's too much to keep nudis safely.

Nuno

 

[JWeb]

Well, maybe I should be happy someone "stole" my nudi from the pooled order (I picked my stuff up from Mark yesterday and the nudi was MIA... I think Nate was mad because I was going to get the free mug)

 

[NateHanson]

That's too bad Nuno, and Jeff, sorry you didn't find a nudi at Mark's. I wonder if it took a ride through his drain, or crawled into the other side of the fuge?

 

[Matt L.]

...Hopefully he learned a lesson!

Good luck with that I don't think they "learn" too much,

Matt

 

[NateHanson]

Well, he's got about half a many ruffles left on his back, so maybe he's less likely to get stuck in an intake. Maybe for a nudi that's as deep as learning gets, so I'll take it.

On a happy note. I think mine laid eggs on the glass last night. (either that or I'm having another bout of white flatworms)

 

[Reef55]

I'm pretty sure too many walked out the door, but who knows? *shrugs*

I checked everywhere, and the MIA nudi isn't at my place Sorry Jeff, hopefully the frag made up for it.

 

[JWeb]

No worries, at all, guys! I am definitely teasing... the frag is great, Mark. And, the cerith and nassarius are cruising about. I hope they begin to make a difference in the sand quality. Thanks again for organizing the buy... and be sure to tell Sara(h)? that I appreciate her help as well! Seeing your tank was definitely worth the trip - nudi or not.