Help me grow aptasia!!!!

jlinzmaier

jlinzmaier

Premium Member
I'm culturing berghia and the berghia culture has taken off like crazy. The appetites of these little guys is amazing and unfortunatly I can't keep up with it. A month before I started culturing the berghia I had set up a 10 gallon aptasia culture tank. Seeing how quickly the bergia were depleting my aptasia reserves I quickly set up a 29 gal aptasia tank and got it stocked with about 40 large aptasia from a friend. I'm certain that there are no berghia in my aptasia cultures becuase I take great care not to cross contaminate the water and take every precaution to prevent any berghia from accidently getting into the aptasia tanks.

Any thoughts on how I can induce the aptasia to grow and muliply at top rates???

On the 29gal tank I have a continuous feeding of cyclopeeze which equates to about 1/8 tsp per day.

- I have a fair amount of flow to keep the zooplankton suspended and available to be eaten by the aptasia.

- I run about 1.5 cups high quality carbon to keep any ammonia or nitrite build up from being problematic

-I have some chaeto in the tank to also help export detrimental nutrients.

-I have a 8 in brood lamp with a 23 watt CF bulb to provide some light for the aptasia.

-Many of the people I disperse the berghia to have mentioned that they tried aptasia X and it simply made the aptasia populations explode. With that in mind I used some of the aptasia X on a few of the largest aptasia to see if there is any change. It seems to have killed one of the five I used it on and it sounds like in peoples experiences it took about a month for the aptasia population to explode after using the aptasia X.

-I've tried enhacing the population by taking several large ones and cutting them into many pieces. The little pieces all do survive and grow back to original form, but the end result is merely one very large aptasia split it into several small aptasia. That doesn't significantly increase the total aptasia mass which is the pertinent factor when trying to increase the total amount of food for the berghia.

Any thoughts or suggestions on how I can maximize aptasia reproduction and growth rates??

Thanks.

Jeremy
 
...and really boost the light. The folks I've known to have them go geometric did so after they made a lighting upgrade.

DJ
 
Thanks for the suggestions!!

I've actually been spot feeding them spectrum pellets in addition to the continual dosing of cyclopeeze.

I'll try bumping up the light and see if that makes a difference.

Jeremy
 
I would try pulling out the cheato too... I'm pretty sure aiptasia like dirty tanks, and the aiptasia will be competeing with the cheato for nutrients.
 
happyclam said:
I would try pulling out the cheato too... I'm pretty sure aiptasia like dirty tanks, and the aiptasia will be competeing with the cheato for nutrients.
Click to expand...

The chaeto is only to prevent any significant deadly ammonia spikes. With all the zooplankton I'm feeding, the tank is pretty "dirty" but with decreased potential for crash with a bit of filtation from the chaeto. I also use a bit of carbon for the same reason. As far as I'm aware, the aptasia my like a high nutrient/dirty tank but would still be suceptible to harm/death from ammonia spikes.

Jeremy
 
lol its funny to see someone trying to grow aptasia, i usually get people running into the store saying "WHAT THE H*** IS THIS" then once i explain it they tell me to get rid of it.
 
xdannyxrocksx said:
lol its funny to see someone trying to grow aptasia, i usually get people running into the store saying "WHAT THE H*** IS THIS" then once i explain it they tell me to get rid of it.
Click to expand...

It's not funny, it's ludicrous (unless your also culturing berghia that is)!!!

Jeremy
 
pandarider007 said:
have you tried pulling some off? too make them spread babies?
Click to expand...

I agree, mess with em and poke em. It seems the more I did anything to them the faster they spread. I wouldn't worry too much about crashing a tank full of aiptasia, they would probably survive a nuclear attack.
 
I have actually mutilated a few in various ways to see what results might come about. I've taken several and cut them into dozens of pieces. I've taken a needle to a few and poked them several times in an attempt to give them the "reproduce becuase I'm dying" type of feeling. I've tried aptasia X and many other marketed products that are intended to kill aptasia (however most of the products simply induce that "lets reproduce becuase I'm dying" type of response). In fact I bought some aptasia X because so many people that I've sold berghia to claimed that after they used the aptasia X the populations of aptasia explode and the aptasia grew larger and faster than ever before.

At this point my 10 gal aptasia tank is doing very well and growing out many aptasia. The trouble with any sort of mutiliation is that there is a recovery time and if I take one large aptasia and split it into a dozen pieces the net result is a dozen small aptasia. The key that I'm trying to figure out is how to maximize their growth rate. The reproduction is easy since they can be cut into several pieces and each little piece will quickly grow back into a normal shaped aptasia (just a smaller verison). I've been dosing cylcopeeze several times a day and that seems to be the best means of increasing growth rates. The aptasia of all sizes seem to very readily accept the cyclopeeze and I can see masses of it inside thier digestive tract. I have enough bristle worms within the substrate that any food that settles seems to get eaten by some sort of critter one way or another.

I truly think that if I let this 10 gallon tank mature a bit more and grow out some large aptasia I'll routinely irritate and/or mutliate them to continue with the production of smaller ones that I can grow out with continual feedings. Who would ever think it would be difficult to grow aptasia!!! The berghia culturing has been a very rewarding and spectacular learning experience and the aptasia culture that goes with it has been fun as well. It's quite exciting to feed a tank massive amounts of food, neglect the husbandry, and irritate the animals as much as possible for the best growth and reproduction rates!! You get to do all the stuff you shouldn't do to a normal reef tank!!

Truly appreciate everyones input. Thank you!

Jeremy
 
Off the top of my head:

Get a stick blender and shred them in the tank.

Get a cheap piece of fish from the grocery store and shred a few grams into a slurry and let the little filter feeders eat up.
 
jlinzmaier said:
Any thoughts on how I can induce the aptasia to grow and muliply at top rates???
Click to expand...
The best way to grow aptasia is to put them in my tank! :eek2: I would be interested in some of the Berghia if you have any for sale. I promise to feed them well.....:spin2:
 
I'd PM if interested in Jeremy's little experiment. This is not a sales thread and talk of such will get the thread closed.
 
jhildebrand said:
I'd PM if interested in Jeremy's little experiment. This is not a sales thread and talk of such will get the thread closed.
Click to expand...

Thank you John! Appreciate you looking out for me. You must be watching my threads closely. LOL!!

This is not a sales thread. Merely looking for input on culturing aptasia.

Jeremy
 
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