Aiptasia care

[Andrew D]

So I went by the LFS the other day and picked up this really neat rock, loaded with these things called aiptasia that the sales guy said were really beneficial for my tank in the long run. Well, I got home and am now worried about my ability to keep them alive....

Just kidding, sort of . I've got a well established 350G tank that is starting to develop an aiptasia problem. I certainly don't want these pests in my tank but am wondering about their care for a different reason. I bought some berghia's and am trying to breed them in a separate 10G tank. I've done some reading and it's recommended to concurrently cultivate aiptasia's in another separate tank so that the nudibranches have plenty of food to keep them going and reproducing. I've set these tanks up but wonder if I need to keep them lit. Do aiptasia's need light to reproduce or is it enough that I feed them regularly?

Thanks for your insight.

 

[JohnnyRedd]

While not a scientific answer I have not noticed them in places that do not get light. I have two systems. One has covered overflows and the other does not have a fuge. I have not seen them in the covered overflows nor in the dark sump when I am cleaning out the skimmer, etc.

 

[eastlake]

You could put the equivalent of a basking lamp on the tank with a 50/50 compact fluorescent light bulb and that should do you. But like mentioned above, they'll grow anywhere light or dark.

 

[vhuang168]

It also seems that if you try to eradicate 1, 100 more sprout up. Maybe you can try to kill 1 once a week to hasten the spread?


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[jason2459]

Mine spreads just fine in my sump that is dark 99% of the time. They remain clearish.

 

[johnike]

It also seems that if you try to eradicate 1, 100 more sprout up. Maybe you can try to kill 1 once a week to hasten the spread?


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:lolspin:

They must not need much light, my covered overflows have plenty.

 

[SeaCucumberFan]

Get like 20 berghias and your problem is done

 

[C.Eymann]

:lolspin:

They must not need much light, my covered overflows have plenty.

I was about to post "paging johnike"

 

[johnike]

I was about to post "paging johnike"

:wavehand:

 

[moondoggy4]

I have a 7 gallon that had a break out of Aptisa and I bought one at a frag show. It layed eggs and I got a hole bunch of babies and they eradicate the aptisa. They start out slow but gain momentum.

 

[MondoBongo]

i have a bunch of them popping up in my grow out system currently. it seems like like two things:

1.) no predators
2.) nasty *** water.

since i haven't brought in any new fish for a few months i only do sporadic water changes on my grow out tank. like once a month sporadic. i feed it heavily with leftover frozen food from my main tank, and let my harlequin shrimp murder chocolate chip stars in it at an incredible rate. all this adds up to nasty *** water and a bunch of aiptasia.

 

[ca1ore]

Mine spreads just fine in my sump that is dark 99% of the time. They remain clearish.

They will grow in the light and have a brownish color, or in unlighted areas of the tank where flow brings them particulate food - then they are clear. Interestingly, in my tank, I have tons of them in my sump, but none that I can see in the display; so something is eating them.

 

[C.Eymann]

They will grow in the light and have a brownish color, or in unlighted areas of the tank where flow brings them particulate food - then they are clear. Interestingly, in my tank, I have tons of them in my sump, but none that I can see in the display; so something is eating them.

My guess is your group of pyramid butterflies gobble them up.

 

[rt67ghy]

I remember one person cultivating them for his berghias. He grew the aiptasia in a separate tank and would cause stress to the larger ones growing on the glass (can't remember how often) to cause them to spawn. He would harvest the smaller ones for his baby berghias. It seemed to work well for him. Feeding them with coral food every day would also help them to grow.

 

[ca1ore]

My guess is your group of pyramid butterflies gobble them up.

Yes, probably true. They certainly took care of my Xenia and blue clove problems.

 

[Andrew D]

Thanks everyone, for your feedback.

 

[Dkuhlmann]

Racoon butterfly fish are guaranteed to eat them. Other butterfly fish are hit or miss. You can also get Matted File Fish

 

[jason2459]

They will grow in the light and have a brownish color, or in unlighted areas of the tank where flow brings them particulate food - then they are clear. Interestingly, in my tank, I have tons of them in my sump, but none that I can see in the display; so something is eating them.

Yep, I was just giving a heads up on what they'll look like with no light.