Berghia Nudibranch Development

this is an amazing thread, thanks for sharing!
I wouldnt be too worried about the contamination in the berghia tank, if you have 100% survival of all of the offspring you are going to quickly run out of aiptasia to keep them fed!

Hahaha, true, but with higher survival rate, I can pass along babies to fellow hobbyists who may want to raise them in a petri dish for fun. :)
Plus, I just learned that a slight contamination from dying aiptasia will quickly sour the whole batch. (I just lost a batch)
 
Day 12 - 04-19-2013

Day 12 - 04-19-2013

A few have hatched and are moving around a bit.

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Day 15, 04-22-2013

Day 15, 04-22-2013

They are starting to look more like snails/slugs...
(sorry aquanut, these aren't color corrected, not sure any white reference surfaces) :spin3::spin3:

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No complaints from me. They look great. I'm not the CC police! :)

I think color correction is helpful in a reef so we can see the real colors and cameras have problems with the blue. These pics don't need it!
 
I think color correction is helpful in a reef so we can see the real colors and cameras have problems with the blue. These pics don't need it!

I agree that appropriately white balanced photos are preferable to too blue ones, and the need for color correction is roughly inversely proportional to the color temperature of the primary lighting. If one were to use daylight color bulbs for lighting, there wouldn't be a need. Of course the tank would look pretty yellow...

For me, the easiest color correction technique is to shot in RAW mode and to set the color temperature via software slider or text entry box. No white objects required. However, it only works with cameras that shoot RAW, and currently most point and shoots and all cellphones do not. If your camera can't save its images in RAW format, custom white balances are your best option (besides replacing your camera).
 
Ron, on a separate note, I recommend embedding some EXIF / IPTC info in your images. Visual watermarks are easily removed and having the photographers information embedded in metadata for the image helps to make clear who the photographer was should the watermark be gone.
 
I agree that appropriately white balanced photos are preferable to too blue ones, and the need for color correction is roughly inversely proportional to the color temperature of the primary lighting. If one were to use daylight color bulbs for lighting, there wouldn't be a need. Of course the tank would look pretty yellow...

For me, the easiest color correction technique is to shot in RAW mode and to set the color temperature via software slider or text entry box. No white objects required. However, it only works with cameras that shoot RAW, and currently most point and shoots and all cellphones do not. If your camera can't save its images in RAW format, custom white balances are your best option (besides replacing your camera).


I agree with all of the above.

My point and shoot doesn't seem to have a custom white balance so the techniques I demoed are about all I can do with that camera. It'll go under water and can record GPS data but NO CWB!! :(

To do a custom white balance you need to light a white object with the same light as the tank and be able to fill the frame with the white object. Hard to do on a tank tour or at a public aquarium like the Steinhart!

It's good to have several techniques because you never know what you will be able to use on-site or what your limitations will be. At home, in a more controlled environment, it's easier to get great shots. All you need to do is keep trying! :)
 
Oh, sorry for the lack of posts. About a week ago... We lost all the bergias. We think it was due to poor water quality in the petri dish plus too many aiptasia in the culture dish.

When we had to move the culture dish to and from the microscope, water movement may have caused some berghias to get eaten by aiptasia.

Temperature at the facility where microscope was kept may have also been a factor, but unverifiable since we did not have a temperature graph monitor to understand overnight temp fluctuations.

Oh well, back to culturing them at home in a slightly more controlled environment.
 
Thanks for the post! I look forward to updates if you both can start it up again. About 1 week ago, I started cycling a 10 gallon tank to be dedicated to beeding these wonderful creatures. BTW, cheap 5 or 10 gallon systems at Wal-Mart (Tetra brand) should work well for these. This same brand's heater has only one setting- about 78 degrees which is the perfect temp form keeping them from what I have herd from Saltyundergroung.com. They have good prices on them, especially the 1/4 inch ones. Keeping nitrates very low will be essential form them.
 
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