My Berghia Verrucicornis Nudibranch Breeding Tank Log *pics*

Travis, Yes, Infact my father is a senior scientist at Glaxo and has electron microscopes at his disposal. I could get beautiful, clear images (that I would be able to post) of just a single cell if I wanted too. But to answer your question, If I can get an egg sack off cleanly I will definatley give it to my dad and have him take some pics of it under an electron microscope. We were actually going to do this anyway with some other things before we got involved with this just to try it out. I think it would be pretty cool and interesting to post totally crisp pics of different cells of different corals and such.
 
sulp, congrats buddy!!! the one thing that would drive me out of my tree would be you have got this awesome experiment going and its not at your house!!!! but its good to hear that they are doing good and eating. yes you have got to post some pics!!!! It sounds like you are well on your way. once again congrats and keep us all updated :D
 
Well its not too bad. My father lives literally 3 hundred yards from where I live and every time I leave my house I have to drive by his nomatter where I am going. I was going to set it up at my house but my father had a perfect area in his basement for what we are doing.
 
A couple shots of the breeding tank

A couple shots of the breeding tank

I know these pics aren't of the best quality. But since most everything is now in place and the nudis are settling in quite nicely I figured I'd post a few shots.


SNEAK ATTACK..........Can you find the nudi?

DSC01123.jpg



FULL TANK WITH DIFFERENT HOLDING TANKS

DSC01124.jpg


"Whoa! He's a big one"

DSC01122.jpg


My father is actually worried that the aiptasia is a little to large for the tiny nudi(s) to handle. I would think so too. But after reading articles discrediting the rumors that aiptasia will eat these larger nudis I feel quite confident (I hope so or my father will kill me) that the nudis will win. It should be pretty cool to watch how they handle it. I've read that colonies actually work together and plan a group attack against these larger prey. I will post pics of the battle as it unfolds. And if it happens to occur overnight I will post pics of the aftermath and hopefully the nudis will come out on top.
 
My father is actually worried that the aiptasia is a little to large for the tiny nudi(s) to handle. I would think so too.
Click to expand...
I don't know about the Aiptasia eating the slugs, but Dr. Kempf does say that you should give the nudis a variety of sizes to feed on. I don't think he mentioned the reasoning behind that though. If he did I forgot.
 
sulp, those are great pics. I love the one where he is coming in low. now have you seen them eat any ap yet and it so how long did it take them to mow it down? that is a pretty big size diff, they look happy looks like they have quite a few of their quills. that is awesome. keep us posted!!!!!! :D
 
Read one article that mentioned Peppermint shrimp (didn't specify genus) would eat the Berghia before they had a chance to eat the anemones.

Anyone had experience with this?
 
Yeah, Although Berghia have no known predators on the reef, Peps are definaltely a no-no. Peppermint shrimps aren't really from the reef and are not reef safe nomatter what people say. They are usually found around docks and things like that. They will eat Berghia if given the opportunity and they Berghia's sting is usless against them.

I have seen the Berghia eat and they seem to eat a lot slower than I had thought. This is definately a good thing. The first night I put a med size aip. in with them and they didn't seem to even care about it at all. The next morning they were all over it and had changed color to a deep rich brown. Between the 4 of them they only managed to eat about half of the med sized aip. It is kinda hard to tell because the way that the aip retracts and shrivels up.

GB- I've read the same thing about using different sizes. There was an article, and someone mentioned here that larger aips will eat the nudis. While this may be true of juvenile Berghias, the adult (12mm and over) nudis like the ones I have can handle themselves just fine even if a larger aip. happens to swallow them. They have been seen being swallowed by aips. only to work there way out and attack the same aip. that just swallowed them. Nice!

Thanks Graphixx for all the compliments! I will post some pics of them actually eating as soon as I can. It's so hard for me to get pics because "stupid me" drilled holes on all sides of the front holding tank. I wish I would have left a "window" of clear space for viewing and photography. It bugs me so much that I may just purchase another tank and only drill it on 3 sides. Although I'd hate to transfer everything againg! We'll see what happens.
 
OK.... thanks for the tip on the no-no shrimp.

Next question: Any tips on how to remove two 'imbedded' Pep shrimps from an established tank with lots of nooks, crannys, crevasses, and generally impossible to get to hiding places?
 
Eating Nudis and 1st eggs pics

Eating Nudis and 1st eggs pics

Ok, I got some pics of the Berghia's actually eating. As I said my picture quality isn't the best because of the damn holes I drilled right up front. I definatley have to do something about that. Anyway, I did the best I could.

Oh, and guess what?........Someone already laid eggs. Needless to say I was thrilled about that. With no predators in the closed tank hopefully these guys will hatch successfully. The breeder I bought the nudis from said that all the nudis he sells are ready to lay eggs immediatley. I guess he was right. I only saw one group of eggs but there may be more. I didn't really examine everything.

Ok, heres some pics:

EATING:

eating.jpg


A LITTLE BETTER SHOT OF HIM EATING. NOTICE HOW PLUMP AND BROWN HE LOOKS.

plump.jpg


HEADING OFF FOR AN AFTER DINNER NAP.

berg.jpg


berg1.jpg


1ST EGGS.....HOORAY!

berghia-eggs1.jpg


berghia-eggs.jpg
 
Thanks cirri! Everything seems to be going just perfect up until this point. Aiptasia is growing and spreading and all the nudis are happy and healthy. It will be a while before I notice if eggs are hatching successfully. It could take up to 3 months before the nudis are at the size where they are clearly visible to the naked eye. Hopefully I'll be able to notice something before then.
 
The holding tanks are inside the main tank. As you can see, there are holes drilled all over them to allow water flow/exchange. As far as the filtration on the main tank, it is a JBJ nano. The only thing I use are the sponges in chamber one. I may also add some established LR rubble in the 3rd chamber and maybe a few more small pieces in the display, but thats it. That along with water changes will be plenty.
 
Is a small tank (or holding tank like you have) required b/c the nudis will travel too far from the food source and not be able to find it? Enjoying this little diary -- good luck!
 
Nicholo- Yes.....Kind of. It allows you to feed the nudis rather then just having the nudis in with all the aiptaisa all the time. I put some food in with them, when it is gone I wait until they start to turn white which is an indication that they are getting hungry. Then I add more food. I've also read that nudis in larger systems will sometimes die off only because they could never find each other to breed. And from what I've personally witnessed so far, they are not the smartest creatures in the sea.
 
I had a 2.5 gallon tank set up for them last year. As noted, the tank may not yield a lot due to the size but you are not looking to breed an army for major resale. I had mine setup for about 4 months, and with weekly egg sacs only yielded about 5 juveniles that in turn reached adulthood.

I never saw them act as a roving gang, but can certainly agree with your observation that they aren't exactly geniuses. I didn't do a ton of scientific research in regards to their anatomy...but they appear to be quite blind. Mine would wander the rocks and "stumble" across an aptasia with their forward antennae, almost shocked to have found it before going back to eat. I eventually put them all in my 55g where I saw them nicely colored up to three weeks later before I stopped being able to night watch as much.

I'm very interested in seeing the electron mic. pics as well, that is going to be very cool.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

K
Looking to Buy Berghia Nudibranchs
Replies
2
Views
1K
Kgrover
K
B
Help needed with aiptasia tank
Replies
3
Views
621
griss
griss
spsfreak25
My breeding attempt of berghia nudibranches
Replies
6
Views
1K
griss
griss
Markarian421
Parting out our 120 gallon tank -- Fremont
Replies
5
Views
1K
Markarian421
Markarian421
S
FS: Berghia Nudibranchs - 1/4" - $7 each
Replies
12
Views
2K
sfdan
S
Back
Top