Aiptasia and Berghia Nudibranch breeding project

[moretor1]

Looks cool but I would go at least a 40 breeder for the aiptasia tank if you want to sustain any kind of population

If you have 30 cows in a 1200sqft barn you wouldn't dedicate 1200sqft of land to growing feed you'd dedicate dozens of acres

The larger the aiptasia tank the higher chance of success imo

 

[Jmp998]

Looks cool but I would go at least a 40 breeder for the aiptasia tank if you want to sustain any kind of population

If you have 30 cows in a 1200sqft barn you wouldn't dedicate 1200sqft of land to growing feed you'd dedicate dozens of acres

The larger the aiptasia tank the higher chance of success imo

Absolutely true, for long term you need at least 5X as much Aiptasia volume as Berghia.

 

[Saminpa]

Absolutely true, for long term you need at least 5X as much Aiptasia volume as Berghia.

In my breeding process, i go in the aiptasia tank and cut off the heads with scissors to put in the nudi tank. So i never technically lose any aiptasia, a new head regrows within 10 days. This helps with keeping a big supply of aiptasia, just need to put in the time to harvest the aiptasia for feeding.

 

[Jmp998]

In my breeding process, i go in the aiptasia tank and cut off the heads with scissors to put in the nudi tank. So i never technically lose any aiptasia, a new head regrows within 10 days. This helps with keeping a big supply of aiptasia, just need to put in the time to harvest the aiptasia for feeding.

Yes I did that at first also, it is more efficient for sure, especially if you feed them well first they are still digesting food and growing even when they don’t have a mouth to eat with. However once you have a few thousand of them it is not practical.

Too bad we can’t cut Berghia in half and grow two new ones!

 

[Saminpa]

Yes I did that at first also, it is more efficient for sure, especially if you feed them well first they are still digesting food and growing even when they don’t have a mouth to eat with. However once you have a few thousand of them it is not practical.

Too bad we can’t cut Berghia in half and grow two new ones!

I’m not sure if im lucky or unlucky that i don’t have a few thousand lol. I move them pretty quickly between local reefers in FB groups and two stores that i supply. I know i definitely have fatalities of course. I call it survival of the fittest. Whichever ones get to the aiptasia i drop in every other day, win the survivor race!!

 

[silent1mezzo]

So far I've found scrubbing the aiptasia with a tooth brush has been the most effective propagation method. There's hundreds of little heads

 

[silent1mezzo]

Looks cool but I would go at least a 40 breeder for the aiptasia tank if you want to sustain any kind of population

If you have 30 cows in a 1200sqft barn you wouldn't dedicate 1200sqft of land to growing feed you'd dedicate dozens of acres

The larger the aiptasia tank the higher chance of success imo

I've got another tub on top of my tank that I just started growing in too. Short term I'm just making sure I can sustainably growth both before investing in a larger setup. Longer term I'd look at racking a few 50 gallon lowboys for aiptasia growth

 

[moretor1]

I've got another tub on top of my tank that I just started growing in too. Short term I'm just making sure I can sustainably growth both before investing in a larger setup. Longer term I'd look at racking a few 50 gallon lowboys for aiptasia growth

You could do it in thick Tupperware tubs or stock tanks for much cheaper

 

[Jmp998]

Wow your system is clean. Mine is algae infested, but the aiptasia don't really care.

 

[Tripod1404]

Aiptasai grows pretty good on wood, or tree branches in the wild. You can give that a try. It will also makes it easier to transport them across tanks.

I am pretty sure I read somewhere before that in laboratory setting, the propagate aiptasia by putting some in a blenders and then dumping the chopped pieces to a tank.

 

[Reefer AJ]

This is awesome. I’m dealing with a terrible pasta problem myself. I put 8 berghia in almost a month ago and still awaiting results. Hopefully soon. My tank does have a lot of flow though so I wonder if that is an issue.

 

[silent1mezzo]

You could do it in thick Tupperware tubs or stock tanks for much cheaper

Ya, when I was looking the stock tanks were significantly more than the 50g lowboy. Tupperware could work I just haven't found anything large enough that's not also too tall.

 

[silent1mezzo]

Aiptasai grows pretty good on wood, or tree branches in the wild. You can give that a try. It will also makes it easier to transport them across tanks.

I am pretty sure I read somewhere before that in laboratory setting, the propagate aiptasia by putting some in a blenders and then dumping the chopped pieces to a tank.

I think that's kind of what I'm doing with the toothbrush. Scrubbing them until they come off the rock in pieces. I'd try this if I had a spare blender

 

[silent1mezzo]

This is awesome. I’m dealing with a terrible pasta problem myself. I put 8 berghia in almost a month ago and still awaiting results. Hopefully soon. My tank does have a lot of flow though so I wonder if that is an issue.

I did the same in my DT. They're currently holding the aiptasia at bay but haven't been able to reduce the numbers yet. Part of this breeding project is to add a lot more to the DT

 

[moretor1]

Ya, when I was looking the stock tanks were significantly more than the 50g lowboy. Tupperware could work I just haven't found anything large enough that's not also too tall.

I think livestock supplies are just cheap and aquarium stuff is expensive where I live

 

[silent1mezzo]

Anyone know how fast baby Berghia move? Eggs have been disappearing at the correct time and now I'm starting to see small specs moving around the tnknbut they're moving faster than I would have expected. I'm worried pods somehow got in

 

[StepByStepFishkeeping]

Movement is not really an accurate indicator. If the container is clear, I would examine each side up close while shining a strong flashlight from the side.

Just hatched Berghia is difficult to see unaided. They should look like tiny slugs without any spikes or protrusions from the body. 1 week old Berghia should appear to be 1/32” slug-shape objects with maybe a few cerata spikes. 2 weeks old Berghia should look like mini adults at 1/16”.

The second photo below features both 1/16” and 1/32” juveniles if you look closely.

 

[Jmp998]

Anyone know how fast baby Berghia move? Eggs have been disappearing at the correct time and now I'm starting to see small specs moving around the tnknbut they're moving faster than I would have expected. I'm worried pods somehow got in

They move slowly, if you have a magnifying glass you will see that they often move their 'heads' left and right as they crawl. If what you are seeing moves quickly or jerkily, it is probably copepods. The best place to look for the Berghia is as tiny elongated 'commas' surrounding a small aiptasia.

However you should not worry about seeing pods. The suggestion that common aquarium copepods eat/kill Berghia eggs or larvae is just completely incorrect (but repeated over and over). I have literally dozens?hundreds? of newly hatched Berghia larvae right now that have a similar number of copepods happily cohabiting. I almost always have copepods in my Berghia hatching containers. There is not really any other practical detritivore at the scale of my hatching containers (16 oz deli containers).

Amphipods may be a risk (I don't have any amphipods in my Berghia system, not enough food for them). There are probably some rare predatory copepods that eat berghia of course, but the common copepods that most of us have in our systems and that you will get from the various vendors are not harmful in my experience (My systems have been seeded with pods from Dinkins, Algae Barn, and Reef by Steele plus whatever hitchhiked in).

 

[Jmp998]

 

[silent1mezzo]

Oooh that's really helpful. The movements of the berghia larvae align with what I'm seeing. They're much jerkier then I was expecting.