My Berghia Verrucicornis Nudibranch Breeding Tank Log *pics*

[sulp]

I am starting a thread to document and share my attempt at successfully breeding the Aiptasia Eating Berghia Verrucicornis Nudibranch. I have set up a 12g nano to start with. As you can see I have quite a few small and large Aiptasia that hopefully I will get to multiply quite rapidly. I will start OVER feeding them frozen brine cubes on a daily basis which without regular water changes and a limited supply of Live Rock will make for a high nutrient based enviorment in which to thrive. Anyway here are some pics from day one:

 

[new2u]

sounds very interesting, glad I'm the first to reply!

 

[sulp]

Tonight I will cut up (trying tenacles only first) one of the larger anemones and let the pieces float about the tank. Hopefully just the tenacles will be enough to re-generate from.

 

[PoukieBear]

lol, i think you are the only person in this hobby trying to propogate Aiptasia! even if it is for a cool reason. can we see some pics of the nudies you are trying to breed?

 

[dymaxiun]

I would love to give it a shot.... But no need to maintain another tank at the moment...

 

[Julio]

12 gallon is a lot of volume for these nudibranchs if you intend to breed them, do a search on Reef keeping Mag, there was an article on culturing them about 6 months ago. I used to culture them, but they require a lot of attention.

 

[sulp]

Poukie - Believe it or not, MANY people are trying to propagate aiptasia to breed these nudis. Problem is that the nudis eat aiptasia faster than it can grow. That combined with how fast the nudis reproduce and it becomes a real challenge. The upside is that they are in such high demand right now so you won't have any trouble getting rid of them or getting top dollar for them.

Heres a pic of my new best friend:

 

[Poolrad]

How much do they sell for? I have a 6g I could try to setup if it is worthwhile..

 

[sulp]

Julio - I've done my homework and have a good plan in place. I've read numerous articles on both Aiptasia & Berghia nudibrances. The nudis will never just be thrown into the 12g with the aiptasia. Without getting into the process in great detail, my father and I have come up with a well thought out system. Quite frankly I think its kinda ingenious. I'm very excited.

 

[Julio]

although you think you are doing thsi for a business thing, is not gonna work, people that have aptasia problems would need to put several hundred of them to do some work on the aptasias.

 

[needyreefer]

Sulp, Instead of trying to make the anemones reproduce quickly, why not put the nudi's in a seperate tank from the aiptasia's and feed them one every other day or so. I've read that they will turn white when they haven't ate in awhile (I think they get the brown color from the zooxanthellae in the aip's) When they start turning white put a aiptasia or two in there to keep 'em happy. This way you could have a good supply of aiptasia's. Does this sound like a good idea? :/ Dumb idea?

 

[Julio]

is not a dumb idea, however these gys eat a lot, they will eat an aptasia per day, if you wish to breed them you really need to power feed them. You really need to have several hundred aptasias already in place, plus you really need to feed small aptasias to the newborns as the larger aptasias can swallow them whole.

 

[sulp]

Julio, thats funny...Anyone who sells these things can't keep enough to fill the orders they have. Believe me, I've checked into it. And although I will sell them, I'm not starting a serious business. Hundreds to clear up what size tank? I've seen 3 wipe out a big infestation in a 30g in no time. I've read about ratios of nudis to aiptasia to water volume. "Hundreds" never came up. Don't forget, placement is also a key factor when using these nudis. Listen, I'm not going to waste my time justifying myself to someone who can't even spell Aiptasia. I don't need your advice. Thanks anyway! I'll be just fine....Trust me. Stop back in a month or 2.

 

[Thorsx]

I attempted to breed Nudis a while back but had the following problems.

1. I used a 10 gallon tank with no sand and no live rock to start. Filtration was a bubble filter. I was told a 10 gallon tank is to large.
2. I placed 1 piece of live rock in at a time to supply aiptasia. Nudis liked hiding under the rock. Copods and amphiopods migrated off the 1 rock into the tank.
3. I got many egg casing spirals on the tank glass. I noticed 10 to 15 for each each breeding cycle but never noticed young Nudis hatching.
4. I discovered that copods and amphiopods were eating the eggs.
5. Nudibranches have a short life span. Mine lived 4 months. The Nudis did decimate any Aiptasia I put in the tank but I never got a second generation.
6. In a previous attempt I had Berhgia in a glass cup in the sump. I found salinity hard to control in a small cup.

Good luck with your breeding project. I bought up my failures to help you avoid making the same mistakes.

 

[Poolrad]

I think 12g is going to be a problem unless you are just using that to raise large amounts of aiptasia and then transfering that to a smaller tank with the Nudi's in it...

 

[sulp]

Julio, why the change of attitude? Two totally different posts. I already know the things you are telling me. I know how I am going to feed, I know bigger Aiptasia have been known to eat the nudis, etc, etc. What part of this thread made it seem like I needed to be told what to do and if it was a good idea? I started this thread to document my progress. If you wish to follow along your more than welcome. If not....Oh well.

 

[sulp]

I have already said that I would not be adding the nudis to the 12 gallon Aiptasia tank. 12g with the nudis and Aiptasia together will not work properly. I have feeding systems in place.

Thanks Throsx, I will heed your advice. I see one of your biggest problems was having the 2 together in one big system. You could have dealt with the cup/salinity issue if you just put the cup under water in the sump and just fastened the cup to the bottom or something similar. A small cup of water would be a nightmare to control all by itself.

 

[reefmaint]

I was thinking of doing this in my 150 main...
BUT have a seperat tank for the aiptasia to grow.and from there have a pipe going to main tank so that any new baby aiptasia will go into tank. while the "mother colony" of aiptasia stays safe

 

[sulp]

reefmaint - why would you want to put any aiptasia into your main tank? Baby aip's sneaking into your main system will rapidly spread all over as well. I'm confused. What is the main purpose of the 150? To breed the nudis? I wouldn't think you'd want aiptasia spreading into the 150 if there was anything else in there. Please clarify.

 

[Julio]

easy there Stan, Obviously you seen to know what you are doing, not to mention i was keeping a huge culture at Atlantis Marine World along with Anthony Calfo, but you seem to know more.