blue velvet nudi

[bigdscobra]

I need to get a couple of these guys to put in my clown tank, due to flat worms.

Does anybody know were to get some, online or a local store that has them??


Thanks
Dan


http://www.saltwaterfish.com/site_11_03/images/313_bluevelvet.jpg

[seamonkey2]

I had to get mine from liveaquaria, nobody in town has them

Jose

[urban79]

I dont know of anyone that does in town..

[matt]

Sometimes marine depot has them. They are VERY hard to keep alive in aquariums, and their life span is only a few months. Since their sole diet is flatworms, the typical scenario is (if you can acclimate them to your tank and you don't have anything that will eat them) they eat most of what you have, then starve, then the flatworms come back. If you have a big enough tank with enough flatworms, they can effectively control the population, but not starve. Then it's just a matter of replacing them every few months as their natural life span ends. If you get them and it works well, please post something about it.

[urban79]

Ya i heard the same thing about them..

[AlexKilpatrick]

What about a coris wrasse or 6-line?

[mkengr45]

I am interested in these also.

[oceancube]

texas tropical gets them in sometimes. you can go ask them and they will get them in the same week....

[Ross]

A good idea may be to share them, go from one tank to another eating all our flatworms, that way they dont starve and we all get our flatworms taken care of.

[matt]

A good idea may be to share them, go from one tank to another eating all our flatworms, that way they dont starve and we all get our flatworms taken care of.

It's a nice idea in theory, but acclimating these guys is a PITA and they're really delicate. Moving them around from tank to tank would be tough on them. I had one in my 110 for a few months; it did eat alot of flatworms but eventually vanished. In a friend's 240, his was gone within a day or two.

[Ross]

Better to spend the hour or two acclimating it than just letting it starve.

[AlexKilpatrick]

It sounds like you need to handle it like a mandarin. Just keep a separate flatworm breeding area to keep it supplied with all the food it needs. :)

[bigdscobra]

I tried a target/spotted mandarin and a 6 line neathier would eat the flat worms, thats why I wanted to give these guys a shot and they look cool. If I get them and they do surrvive and eat all the worms I am up for the idea of trading them off to someone else just let me know.

[GaryP]

I had to get mine from liveaquaria, nobody in town has them
There's a good reason why no one locally carried them in stock. Hopefully they don't have any flatworms in their tank that they can feed them. Besides, once they go into a tank they have a tendency to disappear unless they are pretty big. On top of that, they have a pretty short life span (6 months), so you want to get them as soon as possible and not let them sit in a tank at an LFS. I have had an LFS order them for me and then just picked them up in the bag.

I did try these guys, and while they did knock down my population, they hadn't finished before they reached the end of their life span. I think you will have to keep buying them, or just buy a whole bunch to get the job done. I gave up. I tried every supposed flatworm eater out there until I finally found something that would do the trick. A lot of the supposed flatworm eater may eat an occasional flatworm, but that don't make them a steady meal. What I finally found was a tail spot wrasse (Halichoeres melanurus) or sometimes called Hoeven's wrasse. I have two of them now, and they both came from other tanks that they had already cleaned. For the first time after several years I am flatworm free. I tried every other critter that was supposed to eat these guys and what seems like gallons of flatworm exit. This is the guy to go for.

[JeremyGlen]

I was looking for info about that wrasse and it is listed under the non-reefsafe wrasses. It will eat everything in your tank that is a worm, copepod, etc. Has this been a problem in your tank Gary?

[GaryP]

How is that any different then any other similar wrasse like a 6 line or Coris? It has not been a problem, although I have a feeling he may be picking on my pipe organ when he gets hungry. That's probably my fault for not feeding more.

Most wrasses will feed on things like pods, bristle worms, etc. If it becomes a problem, my suggestion is to just trade him to a buddy that will be thankful for help with flatworms.

[JeremyGlen]

Well, the six line is considered reef-safe and the Hoeven's is not. I was just wondering if you had a problem with yours. I would like to get one of these so I don't have to use the FW exit. I am just afraid it would eat all my little baby Strombus snails and I would prefer to have them in there. I also have quite a population of small Nassarus snails running around in the sand.

As for the size, full grown and 5" would be kinda big for my tank. The six-line only gets about 3-4" so it seems better suited to my tank.

[GaryP]

This is from Liveaquaria's website:

Reef Compatible: With Caution

The Hoeven's Wrasse is also referred to as the Tail Spot Wrasse, the Yellow-lined Wrasse, the Orange-tipped Rainbowfish, the Tailspot Wrasse, and the Pinstriped Wrasse. The body of this fish is blue-green in color and has pink or yellow stripes running horizontally across its sides. The color of the juvenile is more muted.
A 50 gallon or larger aquarium with a tight-fitting lid, a 2-3 inch sandy bottom to hide under if frightened, and other peaceful wrasses, including its own species, is an acceptable environment.

It will eat fireworms and pyramidellid snails, protecting corals and clams. In addition, it may eat feather dusters, wild shrimp, tubeworms, and flatworms. It may also eat parasites off of tank mates. When first introduced into the aquarium, live saltwater feeder shrimp should be used to entice this fish to eat. Regular feedings should include a variety of prepared and live meaty foods, such as feeder shrimps, flaked foods, and marine fish.

[seamonkey2]

hey Gary can I borrow one of them, the velvets are in need of help

Jose

[GaryP]

Check with Louis. He was the source of them. I got one from him and the other came from Mikey's tank after he cleaned the worms out of it.

I plan on keeping them in my tanks forever. I never have to worry about bringing home worms again. If I do, I know they will be taken care of. Insurance.

[bigdscobra]

I got one of the velvets finally he did a good job mowing a path on a couple of rocks, but I havent seen him since.. I may try out one of those wrasses, got to let Louis know to get me one.

[JeremyGlen]

I wish I had the funds to get a small army of them for my tank. Order like 5 of them and get the FWs gone by the next morning.

[GaryP]

You'll need more then 5 to do that. Usually a tank that has FWs will have thousands. The nudis are pretty expensive and not always available. I know people that have been on waiting lists for months. They may be seasonal and do not reproduce in captivity. Also, be aware there is a mimic that looks similar but does not eat FWs.

[JeremyGlen]

My tank is small enough that it will only support a few hundred. :lol I know cause I got about 2-300 of them when I siphoned last.

[GaryP]

Nudis may be a good alternative for a small tank. For larger tanks I think you are wasting your time unless you have a lot more money then I do.

Siphoning is a good way to help control them. I would get several hundred everytime I did a water change. However, you need to consider the source of them though. They bloom in numbers because there is a good source of detritus to feed on. If you are sucking a bunch out every two weeks when you are doing a water change, then they are probably going to just come back between water changes. Having other detritivores such as hermits, nassarius, and bristle worms provides competition for their found source. Of course they are also photosynthetic, but if you cut back their supply of protein, you'll cut back on their reproduction. There are a lot of other things you can do to reduce detritus as well. I'll leave that conversation for another post.

I siphoned every day for a week with a Magnum before treating with FW Exit and that didn't even work. It seems like you leave a few behind that become resistant to FW Exit and the cycle just starts over again.

[JeremyGlen]

I've got a huge army of blue-legs, nassa & cerith snails, many kinds of worms, etc. in a tank that hasn't had a fish in since 08-20. I have not fed anything to the tank except one or two pieces of shrimp for my peppermint and my serpent star. I reduced the population of FW quite a bit and they are regaining their numbers already. No food source for nutrients as far as I know, other than like chromaplex.

I am going to do the FW exit thing this weekend and try to get rid of them. Then I will be getting a wrasse to kill them if they come back.

[GaryP]

Be real careful with the FW Exit, especially where your snail and hermits are concerned. The "stuff" that the FW release when they die is toxic and can kill the more fragile critters. Make sure to follow the directions for running carbon and water changes after treatment. Running a large amount of carbon in a small tank that doesn't have a sump can be a problem. On the other hand, doing large water changes are a lot easier.

[JeremyGlen]

I figure I'm going to siphon out whatever I can today and then do the FW exit thing tomorrow. I don't have a cannister filter I can run with carbon, but I think I'll run a bunch of carbon in my overflow and do a 10g water change as/after they die off.