Feeding Aiptasia

[William Bruckmann]

I am trying to get a Bergia Nudibranch farm off the ground and things are going pretty well. I know the hardest part of this is keeping enough Aiptasia to keep the Berghia alive. I built a 48x14x18 acrylic tank to start my effort and currently have over 500 Aiptasia in it. That is a lot for such a small space so I am supplemental feeding along with 2 Kessil A80's for light energy. I am feeding a mix of Reef Roids and Rotifiers, along with newly hatched brine shrimp. For the life of me I can not find anything on the web about how often I should feed or the digestion rate of Aiptasia Anemones. Reef Roids is orange and I can see orange in their trunks for weeks after feeding, but I don't know if it is undigested or it has stained their trunks. I have seend threads where people feed daily but that seems over the top for an Anemone. I know raising Berghia is a side gig a lot of Reef2Reefers have undertaken so I am hoping I can get a answer here. Thanks!
I attached a video of my Berghia feeding just to entertain those of you who like to watch Aiptasia be murdered.

 

[exnisstech]

Sorry can't help with feeding them but the video is pretty awesome.

 

[William Bruckmann]

Sorry can't help with feeding them but the video is pretty awesome.

Thanks!

 

[Spare time]

I think once a week is fine.

 

[William Bruckmann]

In case the video did not play....mp4 instead of .mov

 

[Jmp998]

Depends on your goals, desired effort, how many Berghia you want to produce/can sell.

If they are kept under normal lighting, certainly Aiptasia will survive and grow being fed once a week. However Aiptasia are capable of being heavy feeders, and they will grow much faster being fed daily. Of course you will need more filtration/water changes/etc to deal with pollution. It is a balance between how fast you want them to grow and how much time/effort you have to invest. If you have only 500 Aiptasia and already have a population of Berghia going, you probably want the AIptasia growing as quickly as possible. Feeding every other day is the minimum I would consider until you achieve a stable balance between Aiptasia growth and Berghia population.

If you decide to do heavy feeding on the Aiptasia, increase slowly. If they have not been heavily fed, it takes them a while to adapt to heavier feeding. If you over feed them, they will regurgitate undigested food as small pellets. If you are feeding newly hatched brine shrimp, regurgitated food will look like small bright orange balls. If you see this, skip feeding for a day or say and then restart at a lower level. It is hard to maintain any sort of normal clean up crew in a high-density Aiptasia tank, so you don't want uneaten food spoiling and fouling the water.

 

[William Bruckmann]

Depends on your goals, desired effort, how many Berghia you want to produce/can sell.

If they are kept under normal lighting, certainly Aiptasia will survive and grow being fed once a week. However Aiptasia are capable of being heavy feeders, and they will grow much faster being fed daily. Of course you will need more filtration/water changes/etc to deal with pollution. It is a balance between how fast you want them to grow and how much time/effort you have to invest. If you have only 500 Aiptasia and already have a population of Berghia going, you probably want the AIptasia growing as quickly as possible. Feeding every other day is the minimum I would consider until you achieve a stable balance between Aiptasia growth and Berghia population.

If you decide to do heavy feeding on the Aiptasia, increase slowly. If they have not been heavily fed, it takes them a while to adapt to heavier feeding. If you over feed them, they will regurgitate undigested food as small pellets. If you are feeding newly hatched brine shrimp, regurgitated food will look like small bright orange balls. If you see this, skip feeding for a day or say and then restart at a lower level. It is hard to maintain any sort of normal clean up crew in a high-density Aiptasia tank, so you don't want uneaten food spoiling and fouling the water.

Great! Thanks for the advice. I read somewhere that the bigger and healthier the Aiptaisa are, the better your Berghia production is going to be. I think I will try 3 times a week and slowly work into every other day. Every day is probably not going to be practical since I pipette them one at a time. That Just to tedious every day lol. Thanks again!

 

[maroun.c]

I would just broadcast feed.
Do u have the aptasia on rocks or no rocks in ur aptasia farm? How do u remove the aptasia to feed them to the berghia and how do you manage pods from getting into the berghia culture?

 

[Solo McReefer]

Sorry can't help with feeding them but the video is pretty awesome.

That's better than my laser

 

[William Bruckmann]

I would just broadcast feed.
Do u have the aptasia on rocks or no rocks in ur aptasia farm? How do u remove the aptasia to feed them to the berghia and how do you manage pods from getting into the berghia culture?

I pipette food to keep from fouling the water. I snip heads off when it is time to feed so I have 0 losses of Aiptasia. I remove spirals with a dental scraper and place in beakers to try and keep pods from eating them.

 

[jabberwock]

That's better than my laser

Does the laser actually work? If so, what kind?

 

[ectoaesthetics]

I know that in the past broadcast feeding freeze dried plankton caused them to take off faster than I could have ever imagined! I think the option of freeze dried would be WAY more economical unless you happen to have left over rotifers and don't want to add them to your tank. Brine Shrimp Direct sell freeze dried rotifers, baby brine shrimp, and daphnia for really reasonable prices. I certainly used to feed live to my tank -but probably wouldn't to a tank of nems -especially when they bloomed SOOO fast with freeze dried broadcasts in the past.

 

[Solo McReefer]

Does the laser actually work? If so, what kind?

Ya it works alright

It sizzles them into a hundred pieces, which spread around the tank

Which proceed to grow to adulthood

Sure it works

It is fun, tho. Dangerous, stupid, and fun

 

[William Bruckmann]

I know that in the past broadcast feeding freeze dried plankton caused them to take off faster than I could have ever imagined! I think the option of freeze dried would be WAY more economical unless you happen to have left over rotifers and don't want to add them to your tank. Brine Shrimp Direct sell freeze dried rotifers, baby brine shrimp, and daphnia for really reasonable prices. I certainly used to feed live to my tank -but probably wouldn't to a tank of nems -especially when they bloomed SOOO fast with freeze dried broadcasts in the past.

Thanks! How often did you feed?

 

[ectoaesthetics]

Daily. I have used reef chili as well as just mixed my own. I am pretty sure that the selection now available on BRS is simply rebranded Brine Shrimp Direct -as they have nearly the exact same selection.

Of course I was not TRYING to grow aptasia... it just happened. I can also say that my sponges had NEVER been happier.

 

[William Bruckmann]

Thanks!