Ink Spot Tunicate ( Sea Squirt)

The Ink Spot Tunicate is a sea squirt: an attached filter-feeding animal that draws water through its body to collect very small food particles. Its contrasting purple and pale-to-orange markings make it visually striking, but its nutritional needs are difficult to meet.

Provide an established system capable of supplying appropriate bacterioplankton and other suitably fine suspended food. A deliberate feeding strategy must balance food availability with water quality; ordinary fish food and a spotless, heavily stripped water column are not dependable substitutes for its natural diet.

Place the animal where its openings remain unobstructed and protect it from persistent pecking or physical disturbance. Tunicates are best attempted by experienced aquarists prepared to monitor long-term condition and feeding. Their presence should never be used as a reason to neglect filtration or assume that visible waste will sustain them.