Got Aptasia and a microscope?

[scbill88]

I am going to be looking into the viability of shipping Berghia Nudibranch egg spirals first class mail instead of overnight.
Berghia eat the pest Aptasia and only Aptasia. They eat, sleep, and make spirals with hundreds babies. Then they die off when your Aptasia is gone, so they are the perfect Aptasia clean up crew. Unfortunately, they are expensive to buy and you need a good number of them to get your colony going. Couple that with $50+ shipping and most people spend north of $150 to get results. I am hoping the egg spirals are hardier than the adult Berghia, and can survive the harsher conditions of 1st class mail instead of overnight. So, if you have Aptasia and a microscope let me know and maybe we can get this experiment off the ground. Berghia larva are active in their egg sac when alive, so that is what you will be looking for. See the video below.

 

[JohnL]

Good luck with this.

 

[kharmaguru]

When I had aiptasia years ago, I agreed to a purchase of two adult berghia from a fellow reefer. When I went to pick up , one of the berghia had died so he gave me one adult and an egg spiral that he found. That turned into hundreds in my tank and worked amazing. I think this a good idea and hopefully someone can do this trial with you.

 

[scbill88]

When I had aiptasia years ago, I agreed to a purchase of two adult berghia from a fellow reefer. When I went to pick up , one of the berghia had died so he gave me one adult and an egg spiral that he found. That turned into hundreds in my tank and worked amazing. I think this a good idea and hopefully someone can do this trial with you.

Yea, they are voracious aptasia eaters. My biggest problem with this venture will be keeping enough aptasia and not breeding the berghia. LOL

 

[Genetics]

This is a great idea. One would think egg spirals would consume much less oxygen and other than getting too cold I believe this will work.

I wouldn’t mind placing an order to try it. Only have a nano so I don’t need a whole spiral.

 

[JohnL]

What kind of microscope would we need?

 

[scbill88]

What kind of microscope would we need?

Nothing special…a student one will work they have at least a 4x…there is no rush on this since I am about 60 days from my current batch being sexually mature. Im just trying to get a contact list of willing participants.

 

[Anemone]

Yea, they are voracious aptasia eaters. My biggest problem with this venture will be keeping enough aptasia and not breeding the berghia. LOL

Yeah, I did this. Had A LOT of Aiptasia, bought a few Berghia. A couple of months later, had A LOT of Berghia and no Aiptasia. Started scouring LFSs and local hobbyists for Aiptasia. Found a service account that had thousands of Berghia in a several hundred gallon tank (the owner liked the look!). Started adding rocks with hundreds of Aiptasia (on each rock) to my tank (an 80 gallon). Did this for about a year, then the Berghia colony crashed (I have no idea why) and I ended up with an 80 gallon tank with a bunch of Aiptasia - where I started. Bummer!

Kevin

 

[JohnL]

Nothing special…a student one will work they have at least a 4x…there is no rush on this since I am about 60 days from my current batch being sexually mature. Im just trying to get a contact list of willing participants.

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[reefing102]

Very interesting. I don’t have Aiptasia currently but I would think it could work

 

[scbill88]

Like this?

AmScope Outlet 40X-1000X All-Metal All Optical Glass Lens Student Biological Field Microscope with LED light

This biological microscope comes with an LED illumination system that can be powered by either batteries or wall-power supply . It is specially designed for both indoor and outdoor applications. It is portable and can be taken out to field sites. It comes with a 45 degree inclined monocular head...

amscope.com

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