Any Berghia Nudibranch in Rochester Area?

[jamesonkh]

Hello All - I am wondering if anyone in the Rochester area has any Berghia they can sell, trade, loan, rent, etc. I'd like to try to rid my tank of Aiptasia.

I've always thought it would be a great idea to get some of these and rotate them around between club members - everyone gets them for a week until their tank is clean and then passes the Berghia to the next infested tank....

Anyway, let me know if there is any available. thanks! jamie

 

[puter]

Plan on an adult "Berghia" (Aeolidiella Stephanieae) eating about one good sized Aiptasia per day... if you have enough Aiptasia to consider getting the nudibranchs, it'll probably take much longer than a week for your tank to be cleaned. Remember, these guys are nocturnal, so you may never see them again once you put them in the tank. And they tend to eat the smallest Aiptasia first (the ones you're not likely to even see... so, it can take awhile for you to begin to see results.

If you decide you want some, ask for them at your favorite Rochester reef shop... they all can and do get them in on request.

- Mark

 

[bosborn1]

Berghias will do the job however you may want to consider Peppermint Shrimp or if your daring Copperbanded Butterfly fish. I have and still do culture Berghias from time to time and I think for most people there not the best way to remove aptasia. I have had two colonies in my tank and while they get rid of them they will die as soon as the outbreak is over. The population of the Berghias is dependant on the aptasia population. Also if you have powerheads in the tank I would suggest that you cover them with sponges as they will rip the berghias to shreads if they find there way into the strainer. If you run Tunze Streams or Seios I would forget about it. if you still want to try the berghias I suggest you read this link and live by it. This is the article that I used to finally maintain a good size culture with. The next time I try a culture I will post it. If I can find them in my tank when they have completed there task I try to get rid of them before they die.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/ac/feature/index.php

Scott