The Berghia Project...Take 3!

[returnofsid]

So I figured I'd document my third attempt, at culturing Berghia. This actually started, back in June, and I documented it, on our local club forum. My plan is to basically copy the information, from there, to here. Please keep in mind, as you read this, that this all started, back on June 10th.

 

[returnofsid]

Originally posted, June 10th.

Attempt #1. I started with about 15 adult Berghia. Everything was going great, with lots of eggs, lots of babies, and running out of Aiptasia to feed them. Then I screwed up and crashed the whole thing! Grrr

Attempt #2. Not worth talking about, as it lasted about 4 days, before they all died. GRRRRR!!!

Attempt #3. I'm doing things different this time, hoping for more success, even though I'm only starting out with 2 adults.

My last two attempts failed because I wasn't diligent in keeping water quality up, and keeping a stable temperature. This time, I'm making it much more convenient, so I'll keep up on it easier. I'm starting out with 2 of these containers, hanging inside my 40 breeder.

The larger container holds the 2 adult Berghia and Aiptasia. The smaller container will be the egg nursery.

Some eggs will remain with the adults, some will be moved to the egg nursery. I'm doing this because the larger aiptasia will actually eat tiny Berghia. I'm allowing the eggs to mature, for a couple of days, after being laid, and then transferring them to the smaller container. Here's some eggs, in with the adults.

There are currently 4 egg strands, in with the adults and 2 egg strands, that are about a week old, in the egg nursery.

This set up will accomplish a couple of things. It'll make it very easy for me to do water changes. This tank is right next to our bathroom. I remove about 12 ounces of water, from each container, every day, dumping it down the toilet and replacing it with tank water, from the 40 breeder. I'm also topping off each container, every day, as I top off the 40. Also, with the containers hanging inside the 40, the temperature stays stable.

In the smaller container, I'm seeding baby aiptasia by collecting large ones and cutting them up. My main concern, right now, is running out of aiptasia. The only place I have any growing is in the overflows of the 200...lol. They're HUGE in there, but not spreading to the display or sump/fuge area, so I've always left them alone. They're coming in handy now!

 

[returnofsid]

June 13th.

2 egg strands are in the "egg nursery", (smaller container), while the 2 adults are in the larger container, along with 5 egg strands. The 2, in the nursery, appear to be ready to hatch, so I'm considering "helping them," which consists of sucking them in and out of a pipette, to help break the egg casings.

I need to come up with a way to keep track of dates of eggs laid, allowing me to follow their progress, learning more about hatch time, and such.

It'll be interesting, as once hatched, the metamorphic stage takes about 3-5 days. Even then, the babies aren't visible, to the naked eye, for up to a month, sometimes 2 months!

 

[returnofsid]

June 15th.

On June 15th, I awoke to another egg strand being laid. This would be egg strand #6, in this container. 1 egg strand remains, in the other container, though I'm not sure they're viable.

Here's the eggs that were being laid, the morning of June 15th.

Someone asked me how many eggs are in a strand. I have NO IDEA, but this may give us a clue.

 

[returnofsid]

June 19th.

So, yesterday morning, the 2 adult Berghia were floating on the surface, upside down. My first thought was that they were enjoying an "intimate moment." However, upon further inspection, they were eating an Aiptasia that I'd added, the night before, that had floated to the surface. Figured this may be a unique opportunity to get some different pictures. In this photo, you can clearly see the egg masses, inside the Berghia. By the way, another egg mass was laid, this morning, bringing the total to 8 egg strands, in this container, with the 1 remaining in the other container.

 

[returnofsid]

July 6th and it gets fun!

Success!!

After thinking that the egg strands must not have been viable, but leaving them alone, last night, we discovered some visible baby Berghia. This morning, I was able to take a few pictures of them, though they aren't the best photos. I did a quick look and removed 5 babies, with a pippette, to move them to a container, for photographs. I placed a dime near them, for size comparison. The largest appears to be about 1/16"!

I believe there are probably more, that are too small to see yet.

 

[returnofsid]

July 15th

In the last week or so, all 3 adults have died. I know Berghia have a short lifespan, so am assuming they'd all outlived theirs, as they were all eating well and had plenty of Aiptasia available. As the egg strands, in the adult container, had "vanished" over a few days, I decided to leave that container alone, and supply it with some smaller Aiptasia. Yesterday, we saw at least 1 teeny tiny Berghia in it, so I'm assuming there are more. As I'm able to identify Berghia, in this container, I'll move them to the Nursery container. In the Nursery container, the 5 baby Berghia are growing quickly. The egg strands that were in that container have also all hatched, so I'm expecting to see more Berghia in it, in the coming weeks. I'm keeping both supplied with small Aiptasia, so far.

 

[returnofsid]

Also July 15th

Pics of 2 of the 3 babies I just found and moved.

and for size comparison, this is a dime.

 

[returnofsid]

July 17th.

Found and moved 9 more itty bitty babies, so far, today. Also cut up a few largish aiptasia to make small aiptasia...lol. I'm starting to worry about running low on aiptasia again!

 

[returnofsid]

On July 26th, one of our local club members must have been bored...lol.


You're going to love this:

 

[returnofsid]

July 27th.

Upon returning from SeaMax, I moved ALL Berghia to a single container, as there were 4 new egg strands!! That means that the first hatch, are now at a breeding age, though it may take a little longer before the majority of their eggs are actually viable. At this point, I have 5 breeding berghia and about 12ish newly hatched berghia. Woke up this morning to 3 egg strands in the berghia container, along with the 4 egg strands in the other container.

 

[returnofsid]

July 30th.

Time for an update! Upon returning from SeaMax, I found that the first generation of baby Berghia had begin laying eggs! I completely emptied and cleaned one container and moved all Berghia to it. The next day, we had almost a dozen egg strands, in the cleaned container. It actually appears that even the second generation of Berghia are now laying eggs. Here's some recent pics.

It's hard to tell, but there's about a dozen Berghia, here, eating an Aiptasia

 

[returnofsid]

Okay, at this point, we're up to date. All future updates will be posted, here!

Today, I actually found 3 more teeny tiny babies, and moved them. I cleaned out the empty container, and moved all Berghia and most egg strands, to clean container. I'm thinking some eggs have recently hatched, in the container I didn't clean, so I don't want to clean it out, in fear of killing Berghia that are still too small to see.

 

[mobyreef]

When are you gonna start selling'em? :wink:

 

[Hyprviperx]

awesome write up, great read. appreciate the info... i must be bored cause i started counting the eggs in the pictured when i hit 57 i quit then i saw the counted pic below haha

 

[Reefer831]

How do you stock the Aiptasia? and how do you remove it to where you can use it?

 

[returnofsid]

When are you gonna start selling'em? :wink:

Not any time soon...lol. Even with all the egg strands that have hatched, OR NOT hatched, I only have about 20-25 Berghia. I'm still working on getting a large enough colony going and then will spread a few out, locally. This has mainly been a fun project.

awesome write up, great read. appreciate the info... i must be bored cause i started counting the eggs in the pictured when i hit 57 i quit then i saw the counted pic below haha

Thank you! LOL Yes you must have been bored, but not near as bored as the local hobbyist who made it much futher than 57.

 

[returnofsid]

How do you stock the Aiptasia? and how do you remove it to where you can use it?

That has actually been one heck of a challenge!

When I started, I had a lot of Aiptasia growing, in my overflows. I scraped those out, as needed, until I ran out! At times, I'd cut them in half, through the mouth, to "create" more Aiptasia. At times, I noticed that this would cause them to spawn babies, which was great! Unfortunately, even doing this, I ran out!

A time came, when I was helping a local hobbyist replumb his tank. His tank was infested with Aiptasia, especially his durso stand pipes. Since we were replacing those stand pipes, I brought the old ones home and scraped off all of the Aiptasia. I kept them in a small container, doing 100% water changes, daily. I also cut about half of them, to "propagate" them. At this point, I still have quite a few, but will probably be running out again, soon. LOL Who knows, you may see a WTB post, looking for Aiptasia, in the near future.

 

[Reefer831]

That has actually been one heck of a challenge!

When I started, I had a lot of Aiptasia growing, in my overflows. I scraped those out, as needed, until I ran out! At times, I'd cut them in half, through the mouth, to "create" more Aiptasia. At times, I noticed that this would cause them to spawn babies, which was great! Unfortunately, even doing this, I ran out!

A time came, when I was helping a local hobbyist replumb his tank. His tank was infested with Aiptasia, especially his durso stand pipes. Since we were replacing those stand pipes, I brought the old ones home and scraped off all of the Aiptasia. I kept them in a small container, doing 100% water changes, daily. I also cut about half of them, to "propagate" them. At this point, I still have quite a few, but will probably be running out again, soon. LOL Who knows, you may see a WTB post, looking for Aiptasia, in the near future.

Thanks for the info....I am sure a lot of people could help you out with finding some aiptasia LOL....

 

[returnofsid]

Believe it or not, locally, a lot of members DON'T have any aiptasia. Unfortunately, this is partially my fault...lol. Over the past 18 months, our club has put together 2 group buys, of Berghia, both of which I led. Now, those group buys are biting me in the behind, since I need Aiptasia and most locals don't have many.