Blue Velvet Nudibranch

The Blue Velvet Nudibranch, or Blue Velvet Sea Slug, has a deep black body with trademark blue outlining. It has two “tails” at the end of its body with one always longer than the other and a somewhat hammer shaped head. It is a stunning, although somewhat difficult to keep, member of the Cephalaspidea order.

The Blue Velvet Nudibranch is found in the western Indo-Pacific region in a wide variety of habitats such as lagoons, mud flats and reefs. In a home aquarium they generally require an ample amount of live rock and a substrate. This is necessary more as a habitat for their food source, as opposed to a requirement for the nudibranch itself. They are most active at night in their natural habitat and this behaviour generally continues in a home aquarium.

The Blue Velvet Nudibranch is not only visually striking, but also is a ravenous consumer of flatworms. In fact, their diet is made up completely of flatforms and they are generally introduced into a reef tank in order to control the flatworm population. However, once their natural food source is depleted they will require supplemental feeding in order to remain healthy.

There are a few things to keep in mind if choosing to keep a Blue Velvet Nudibranch. For example, care must be taken to ensure that they cannot be sucked into wavemakers or pumps and these should be covered, as the nudibranch is capable of climbing aquarium walls.

They also need to be slowly acclimatized to the tank and should be introduced when the main aquarium lights are off. Care should also be taken when housing them with large, aggressive fish who may see the nudibranch as a meal. If they can be provided with a steady source of food and protected from intake pumps the Blue Velvet Nudibranch can be a beautiful member of any reef tank.