Raising your own Berghia

I bought 4 of them for $60. As I was acclimating them in a container, (drip acclimating) they basically turned to mush. Bye bye $60.

I think if you want to do this, you have to put them in a tank, not a container (say a 20g tank with a bubble filter, no powerheads) and you have to have an aiptasia "farm" (say a 10g tank loaded with aiptasia).

Once you get them to breed, put them in your tank so you at least get SOMETHING out of them. (I should have put mine in the tank, so they might have done SOMETHING, but instead, they just died)

V
 
I bred them for a while in a 10 gallon tank. They have very short lifespans so putting them in your main tank means that unless you're very lucky and they find each other and mate AND the eggs don't get eaten, you're throwing them away. What I did is added my aiptasia infested rocks one by one to the small tank and my half a dozen turned into many many berghia. I put some of the them in the main tank, but always kept some breeding in the small tank. They're really fun to watch!
 
Vince didn't you leave them over night in the container and I thought the container overflowed due to the dripping? Berghias seem to cling to the water surface tension and can easily get washed overboard! When I was acclimating mine I had to constantly blow them back down to the bottom of the container instead of clinging to the top of the container.
 
I left them in the container and drip acclimated them. The container was in the sump. When it got near full, I let some water out of the container to empty it a bit and let the drip continue (sort of like a mini manual overflow). At some points, the water level reached the top. I went to work with the drip off and when I went to look at them, I saw nothing but maybe some blobs. I couldn't tell if they got washed over, or just died and turned to mush.

V
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9524862#post9524862 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by darcitananda
I bred them for a while in a 10 gallon tank. They have very short lifespans so putting them in your main tank means that unless you're very lucky and they find each other and mate AND the eggs don't get eaten, you're throwing them away. What I did is added my aiptasia infested rocks one by one to the small tank and my half a dozen turned into many many berghia. I put some of the them in the main tank, but always kept some breeding in the small tank. They're really fun to watch!
Click to expand...

Hey Darcy, did you get rid of all the aiptasia? Or you got sick of tending them (berghia) and let them die off? I had the same idea as you, but I was too slow to move them to a bigger place. I thought my sump would be a good place to let them breed.

V
 
The berghia tank crashed at some point because of an unplugged cord that powered the heater and powerhead. I now use peppermint shrimp to control aiptasia. They do an excellent job and I don't have to worry about saving eggs, or moving rockwork around. The idea of a sump to grow them is cool, but you need a constant supply of aiptasia. It's fun to breed them, but is kind of a full time occupation. With peppermints, you can train them to eat aiptasia in a similar manner, basically put them in a holding tank with aiptasia ridden rocks and don't feed them. They'll start eating the aiptasia and then you can introduce them to the main tank. I've had 2 peppermints completely eliminate aiptasia from 100 lbs of rock in just a week or so. I guess peps wouldn't work for someone who has fish that find them tasty....
 
I also tried kalkwasser - injecting them into the aiptasia, but within 2 weeks they were back - just like before.

Now I heard about injecting them with calcium instead of kalkwasser. I"m willing to give it a try, but I think the peppermint shrimp is a better idea.

Anyone heard of injecting calcium?
 
If you don't have a lot of aiptasia, the easiest method is to make a kalk paste. Fill a baby Tylenol syringe and squirt and seal off the hole the aiptasia retreats into. Don't remove the kalk paste. Just let the coralline algae grow right over it. Unless there is a hole in the rock for the aiptasia to escape to (which has happen to me before), it's a goner. When I first tried this, I removed the kalk paste after about a week or so. The little bugger popped right back up the next day.

This method works every time.

Best of luck,

Roy

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9597857#post9597857 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bronxer
I also tried kalkwasser - injecting them into the aiptasia, but within 2 weeks they were back - just like before.

Now I heard about injecting them with calcium instead of kalkwasser. I"m willing to give it a try, but I think the peppermint shrimp is a better idea.

Anyone heard of injecting calcium?
Click to expand...
 
From what I heard from a breader, the best way to ensure aptasia will proliferate and spread in your tank is to use kalk paste. So if you don't have an outbreak, it might be best to just leave it alone.
 
From my experience, they only spread if they have been injured in the process of trying to get rid of them. The nice thing about kalk paste is that you seal them up in a tomb. They can't reproduce if they can't get out.

Best of luck,

Roy

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9601794#post9601794 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by andyman
From what I heard from a breader, the best way to ensure aptasia will proliferate and spread in your tank is to use kalk paste. So if you don't have an outbreak, it might be best to just leave it alone.
Click to expand...
 
To racrumrine - thanks for your input. Unfortunately, they're deep inside the live rock.

I never thought of leaving the kalk paste where it sits - I thought it looked nasty but didn't realize that it would stop the aiptasia from growing back.

I'll try it. And thanks to all for your input.
 
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