Bubble shells

I am looking into getting a bubble shell for my tank, but am having problems locating the species I want.
Photo is on the link below:
The Sea Slug Forum - Hydatina physis
Does anyone know where to buy these at?
They are supposedly reef safe and very common in shallow water.

 

I don't know where to get one but you don't want it anyway. Paper Bubble Nudibranchs feed SOLELY on cirratulid worms. I doubt you have enough of these in your tank to keep one fed for very long. Then it will starve.

 

Well that kinda sucks. This book that I had (Pocket Expert Marine Invertebrates by Shimek, Ph.D.) said that bubble shells were good reef animals.

 

The only thing neat about those is the color of the eggs(sea collar). Thats some cool looking red eggs with the neon blue edge!

 

Maybe I'm wrong. I would send Dr. Ron an email. ron@ronshimek.com

If he responds that I'm wrong, please post back on this thread. I don't like for bad information to be floating in cyberspace. This hobby is challenging enough as it is without bad information too.

 

Thats why I asked....

I figured someone out there would know more than I do...
I just keep my nose stuffed in a book for about 3 months before I even buy the fish/coral I want... need to know as much about it as I can before I buy it.

 

You are going to do well in this hobby then. You'll still have some 'hiccups' along the way but you are doing what I wish everyone did. Karma to you.

 

Mainly feeding on polychaete worms and various other microcrustaceans...yes they are considered reef safe because they won't harm your coral, fish and many inverts-but the specialized feeding will be a problem for you I would imagine! The thing that will happen, is that I feel your Bubble will eventually run out of that kind of food stuff also, dispruting the close knit ecosystem by depleting these beneficial organisms found with in your benthic area of your tank(sand bed)!

 

I wonder if "paper bubble shell" is used to refer to more than one kind of slug...

According to The Nano-Reef Handbook (Chris Brightwell):
The paper bubble (Bulla sp.). These interesting creatures are a type of gastropod that is somewhere between a snail and a nudibranch in morphology. Nocturnal in nature, these organisms are extremely effective grazers of microalgae, leaving macroalgae and all sessile invertebrates alone.

I was trying to dig up info on the Bulla paper bubbles, as Brightwell seems really fond of them and recommends them with a kind of zeal, but I have had rather limited success in finding out about them.

This video is one of the few hits... they are pretty cute.

 

One thing that may be happening is that "bubble shell snails" cover a lot of critters, the most common being the Stomatellas, which are really great for your tank as they feed on algae, and reproduce well. It wouldn't be too far off the mark for some confusion to be the reason for some of the mixed opinions.