Will my copperband eat Berghia Nudibranch's?

[lespaul339]

My tank is over run with aiptasia and I was wanting to pick up some Berghia Nudibranch's to help rid the problem. Just worried my copperband butterfly will enjoy them as an expensive treat. Anyone have experience with this?

My copperband used to eat aiptasia, but he doesn't touch them anymore. My matted filefish picks at them once in a while, but not sure if he is eating them or just picking at them. Have tried peppermint shrimp in the past and had luck with them eliminating the smaller aiptaisa but no the big ones. The peppermint shrimp don't seem to live long either in my experience. Haven't had luck with kalkwasser paste. Figure the Berghia Nudibranch's are the next logical thing to try since they only eat aiptasia. I really wish they would invent something that is reef and fish safe that the aiptasia would think is food, but once it's inside them it dissolves and kills them. Wish it could be that easy.

 

[steallife904]

I had 2 wrasses in my tank when I added berghia.... in about 2 months all aiptasia was gone. I think if I got by with wrasse in the tank you should be fine. Berghia are mainly nocturnal so chances are when they are out the copper is sleepin . I also have a 150 and I added 5 berghias which already had 3 or 4 egg swirls in there vials (my LFS had them). once in tank I never saw them again but they took out all the aiptasia

 

[lespaul339]

Awesome thats good to hear! I was thinking about getting five of them as well. I probably have like 200 aiptasia in my tank. How many did you have for them to wipe them out in 2 months?

 

[alton]

Berghia's are fine with CBB's, just remember to watch for egg strands so not to disturb. Once they multiply it doesn't take long. If they don't then it will take a while.

 

[jd371]

My tank isn't over run yet, but I need to stay on top of them with Aptasia-X. Because there is hard to reach places I know I'm not getting them all and it's a losing battle. I have a CBB in QT that's going into the DT this weekend so hopefully he'll take care of the problem. If the CBB doesn't work out I'm ready to lay down the $ for Berghia.

I had 2 wrasses in my tank when I added berghia.... in about 2 months all aiptasia was gone. I think if I got by with wrasse in the tank you should be fine. Berghia are mainly nocturnal so chances are when they are out the copper is sleepin . I also have a 150 and I added 5 berghias which already had 3 or 4 egg swirls in there vials (my LFS had them). once in tank I never saw them again but they took out all the aiptasia

What type of Wrasses did you have? My Melanaurus concerns me, he's a pest eating dynamo, constantly picking at the rocks...never misses anything. He wasted no time in taking out some Peppermint I bought for the Aptasia. He's the reason I never tried Berghia.

 

[lespaul339]

I ended up ordering 5 - 3/4" Berghia Nudibranch's and they come with 3 egg whirls. Hoping this does the trick.

 

[lespaul339]

Berghia's are fine with CBB's, just remember to watch for egg strands so not to disturb. Once they multiply it doesn't take long. If they don't then it will take a while.

Thanks for the advice. Definitely need to keep an eye out for egg whirls when I'm doing my tank maintenance!