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Photo submitted by Henry Kelzenburg

Junior Henry Kelzenberg's salt water aquarium. The aquarium is a 10 gallon tank, this is one of three aquariums Kelzenberg owns.

Junior Henry Kelzenberg took up a unique interest over the past summer. Kelzenberg decided to make a hobby in raising and selling sea slugs. Kelzenberg inhabits the sea slugs in 10 gallon salt water aquariums at his house that have specific conditions designed for the slugs.

Over the summer, Kelzenberg knew he wanted to habitat a salt water aquatic species. Kelzenberg choose to raise Berghia sea slugs. These sea slugs are useful for controlling and sustaining environments in aquariums by eating pest anemone. They require controlled habitat conditions and special filtration systems.

“The Berghia sea slug is one of the only things that eat anemone so people will buy the sea slugs to control their problem in their tank,” Kelzenberg said.

Sea slugs are inhabited in salt water aquariums and their purpose is to eat the anemone in aquariums. The process of raising these sea slugs starts with raising the anemone. By raising anemone, there is a stable food supply for the sea slugs.

“It’s kind of a complex system because you need to raise a stable source for their food supply which is the pest anemone that they eat, so we need to have a couple tanks full of those. And once you have a stable population of those you can start raising the sea slugs in their own tank,” Kelzenberg said.

Once the sea slugs are raised and have a sustainable population then they will be sold for profit and for fun. Each sea slug ranges in price from $10 to $20.

 “Once I get a good population of them, I’ll start selling them,” Kelzenberg said. 

Raising these sea slugs is not an easy task. They require a stable environment which means regulation of temperatures and special tools made for salt water aquariums inhabiting sea slugs. The filtration is one of the tools that needs to be specific for these sea slugs. By using a filtration systems for a normal aquarium the Berghia larva may be filtered with the water, but by having the right equipment, this problem can be avoided.

“They need very stable perimeters. You need to maintain a stable temperature and salt concentration and you just need to maintain a very stable environment for them,” Kelzenberg said.

As the population of sea slugs become sustainable, Kelzenberg will be able to turn his interest into a profitable hobby.