Bad Berghia! Not eating the dinner I made for them

[ConsummatePro]

I just got 4 Berghia from my LFS (also in the bag were tiny little white linear specs that crawl - could they be babies too?). Put them all into a small holding tank to see if I could breed out a few or see eggs or just watch them eat before putting them into my display tank which has way too many aptasia. They are mostly in their water from the LFS and I’ve only added a small amount of my own tank water. No heater yet.

I put a coral plug that had a few smallish aptasias into the container expecting to see them all gone the next morning (in fact I saw a couple berghias crawl onto the plug and start touching but shying away from the aptasia). Shut off the lights but next morning no aptasia eaten and berghias crawling around elsewhere. A few times I found a couple balled together - I presume they were doing the nasty.

I grabbed a couple other free aptasia in the gravel and put them in, too. So far no one is eating them. Got the berghias yesterday. To get to their size they must’ve eaten something. I am leaving them in the dark in between pics and checking on them.

Why don’t they like my aptasia?

 

[larreef]

well ya didn’t follow the direction provided if bought from a professional store.also too new and nowhere to hide in an empty tank…

 

[ConsummatePro]

well ya didn’t follow the direction provided if bought from a professional store.also too new and nowhere to hide in an empty tank

Thanks for the tip - I’ll put in a couple hiding spots. I was hoping the lights out would make them feel ok enough.

 

[Jmp998]

I would give them a couple more days. If well fed previously they may not eat for a day or so. If they were coiled together mating, they may just be busy. They tend to eat, mate, lay eggs, repeat.

 

[ConsummatePro]

I would give them a couple more days. If well fed previously they may not eat for a day or so. If they were coiled together mating, they may just be busy. They tend to eat, mate, lay eggs, repeat.

Doesn’t sound like a bad life. I’m slowly dripping more tank water to fill this small container and will put some small rock hides.

 

[BuckChoklit]

Nowhere to hide and i also believe they are nocturnal feeders.

 

[Jmp998]

Hiding spots in a small tank like this are unnecessary. They will hide if given the option, but as long as not exposed to bright light they will happily eat, mate, lay eggs, etc. They probably would even under a spotlight, but I have never been inclined to try that.

 

[Jmp998]

They do prefer to be active/eat at night, but if hungry enough will hunt during the day. The cerata have some brown to them which indicates they have fed fairly recently.