WTB Berghia nudibranches

[LadAShark]

So I realized I have accidentally introduced aiptasia to my tank despite quarantining. Interested in purchasing a few berghia nudibranches to firstly culture then to then begin to eradicate my own aiptasia (since my copepods would likely kill them off if I introduced them too young, and I run the risk of my fish eating them if I don’t have enough). Would prefer to buy locally and support some local breeder/culturer rather than shelling out for some online retailer. 

Edited May 14, 2020 by LadAShark

[obrien.david.j]

Heads up.  In order to grow out Berghia, you have to be able to Feed Berghia.  They only eat Aptasia.   Kind of counter intuitive, but better start a side tank to culture Aptasia Right Now.   And feed it heavily so they grow out.  Put in simple things for aptasia to land on, and move into bergia tanks easily.   Maybe line the tank bottom with small floor tiles.  So you can just remove one at a time and feed to berghia directly.

I've cultured these guys at least three times.   First time I starved them, thinking I'd get the Aptasia right out of my tank to feed them.  Didn't work

In general, they were Super Easy to grow and get to breed.  I saved deli containers and grew in those.  poke a hold, add an airline bubbling for light water motion.  Add an aptasia or two when they're gone.     

Deli Continers, like these:  https://www.uline.com/BL_1517/Deli-Containers?keywords=deli+food+containers

 

[LadAShark]

11 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

Heads up.  In order to grow out Berghia, you have to be able to Feed Berghia.  They only eat Aptasia.   Kind of counter intuitive, but better start a side tank to culture Aptasia Right Now.   And feed it heavily so they grow out.  Put in simple things for aptasia to land on, and move into bergia tanks easily.   Maybe line the tank bottom with small floor tiles.  So you can just remove one at a time and feed to berghia directly.

I've cultured these guys at least three times.   First time I starved them, thinking I'd get the Aptasia right out of my tank to feed them.  Didn't work

In general, they were Super Easy to grow and get to breed.  I saved deli containers and grew in those.  poke a hold, add an airline bubbling for light water motion.  Add an aptasia or two when they're gone.     

Deli Continers, like these:  https://www.uline.com/BL_1517/Deli-Containers?keywords=deli+food+containers

 

Yeah I realized that my tank wouldn’t have nearly enough aiptasia to support a culture long term. Plus, I wouldn’t even want to rely on my tank as an aiptasia farm. The plan is to find some that I have not killed yet and then just plant a ton of them in a 5 gallon tank or so. Maybe chop them up a few times for said tank. The tiles idea is pretty good, I’ll try to see if I can find any tiles lying around from a while back. Alternatively I might just consider going barebottom with those and just tear out some aiptasia using some forceps. Culturing them might actually end up being a lot of fun.
 

Any idea how much aiptasia they actually need to eat on a dailly/weekly basis? 

Edited May 14, 2020 by LadAShark

[obrien.david.j]

Anything on the bottom will make it easier than Bare.   you could even just use really coarse or Puka shell gravel.   that would work.

Berghia will eat an Aptasia every 1-2  days.  I ran out of them super fast.   You need time for the berghia you get to grow.   Then lay eggs, and hatch.  Then grow out the little pin pricks into berghia again.     Its actually a fun cycle.

BTW, another source to feed your Aptasia farm is visit a few local fish stores.    I noticed easy to get to overflows at All Things Aquariums at the club meeting there last year.   Overflows are my prime place to harvest Aptasia from.   (concentrated and usually easy to get)    See if they'd let you harvest?    You get the idea.

[LadAShark]

27 minutes ago, obrien.david.j said:

Anything on the bottom will make it easier than Bare.   you could even just use really coarse or Puka shell gravel.   that would work.

Berghia will eat an Aptasia every 1-2  days.  I ran out of them super fast.   You need time for the berghia you get to grow.   Then lay eggs, and hatch.  Then grow out the little pin pricks into berghia again.     Its actually a fun cycle.

BTW, another source to feed your Aptasia farm is visit a few local fish stores.    I noticed easy to get to overflows at All Things Aquariums at the club meeting there last year.   Overflows are my prime place to harvest Aptasia from.   (concentrated and usually easy to get)    See if they'd let you harvest?    You get the idea.

That makes a lot of sense. Goodness, if they eat 1 every 1-2 days sustaining something like 10s to hundreds of them would take a lot of aiptasia. Though I guess similarly aiptasia can multiply like crazy, something to the order of 1 polyp to 5000 per year given the right conditions. I guess if I think about it in another way I’m basically converting the food I otherwise would have fed to a culture into aiptasia which acts as food for the berghia. Now I just need to source my berghias. 

[IntoTheMystic]

In my experience, keeping your cultures fed is definitely the hardest part of rearing Berghia. O'Brien's absolutely right. If you're doing it right, you run out of food for them much faster than you think you will. If I was going to do it again, I'd start out with a dedicated Aiptasia broodstock tank and feed it lavishly months in advance of getting the nudibranchs. Then, I'd leave the massive sequoia 'nems alone and let them kick out all the planula they wanted, as well as going after the middleweight 'nems with pedal laceration. Some guys use a toothbrush for maximum regenerative spread.

Only tried the one time and was really pleased with the results......

Until I ran out of food. Good luck with this.

 

[Lazyreefer]

I got mine from Brett at paradise coral. Was very happy with the size of them and actually randomly I hadn’t seen them since I put 4 of them in and was worried that my wrasse ate them but went out to the tank this morning and saw these two guys going to work it was pretty cool You can see the second one actually eating an aptasia they have at least doubled in size. I then found another one so I am sure I have at least 3 still in the tank hopefully they breed and I have a bunch of them I can spread around.