Beghia breeding (Aeolidiella stephanieae)

[Jmp998]

Looks like you are making great progress, congratulations. That pic is for sure a baby nudibranch.

 

[kilnakorr]

Thoughed I check for more babies after lights out, as they are nocturnal.
Results:

Looks like quite a few babies, attacking the small aiptasia in groups.
Very exciting to see!

 

[kilnakorr]

Looks like you are making great progress, congratulations. That pic is for sure a baby nudibranch.

Yes. Easy to spot with those eyes once you know what to look for

 

[kilnakorr]

Sorry about the quality, but bad light, handheld and cheap microscope doesn't get the best results. Still fun to see.

Baby berghia eating:

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Does the aptasia grow just a well in a bare bottom take like your photo aaa if you used crushed coral or substrate?

aiptasia do just as well in bare bottom tank - do NOT need sand or coral

EDIT: bare bottom does mean aiptasia likely injured during scrape or whatever method used to relocate into breeder tank. I use tweezers. It squishes them, and while they are able to recover, it does take days.

I swear I read somewhere about someone who was propagating aiptasia for berghia purposes by putting them in a blender for half a second and then dumping the slurry into the water. Ever try that?

I've done slurry made by scrubbing for grow out (not that I need given the zillions of aiptasia ALL sizes I can work with from my main tank). Aiptasia seem to need food source so I did bit of Reef Roids with phyto to help them reform, though if they'd have had light that might have been sufficient. You've given me an idea for another aiptasia test. I have not done (and would not do) slurry directly into berghia tank, as I don't want to chance another contamination and crash of my berghia breeding tank.

EDIT: if slurry is just to feed baby berghia more safely then agree this is great approach. If I have no tiny aiptasia handy for berghia breeder tank, I injure aiptasia more purposefully with tweezers so aiptasia unlikely to eat baby bergias.

I have tried cutting the top of, and it works well.
A new top will be fully grown in a weeks time. However, as the aiptasia retracts quickly, cutting the top is pretty hard to do.
I tried cutting one down the middle, and it seems bith half also regrow without issues.

I'm unsure how or when pedal laceration occurs. I see plenty aiptasia move, and leave behind new aiptasia, but also have one in the same place, and small aiptasia just form around it and moves away.


A small update on the 'project'.
I lost one of the Adults - the remaining is still laying eggs continously.

The egg clusters I move to the first aiptasia tank, seems to have hatched.
It is very hard to spot babies as they a very tiny, and only visible on the front glass.
I caught this little fellow:

I hope to see a bunch more in a weeks time.
Food is not an issue in this tank, with hundres of aiptasia in various sizes:

I'm new at berghia breeding and I'm now following along and appreciate everyone's info here!!

 

[Jmp998]

Sorry about the quality, but bad light, handheld and cheap microscope doesn't get the best results. Still fun to see.

Baby berghia eating:

You are too modest, your pictures are fantastic given how tiny and translucent these larvae are. Again congratulations on your success.

 

[kilnakorr]

Just a quick update for anyone interested.
The babies are either slower growing, or newer ones that have hatched. I don't see more and more of them, but can only search on the same end side, so there are probably many more in there.
It looks like several smaller aiptasia on the bottom are rectracted, which could be because they are being annoyed by hungry berghia babies (I hope).

Not going to cheat you of some pictures

Retracted aiptasia, as several berghias are eating of it. A few of them looks like pre feeding stage. One clearly full of aiptasia goodies.

Baby with cerata buds formed. Also been feeding well.

This one, I spotted with the naked eye.
Starting to look like a berghia, but not much bigger than a juvenile copepod.

I should have a better idea on the amount of berghia babies in a week or two, when I should be able to see how many are crawling around not just on the front panel.

 

[Jmp998]

Looking good, great pics as usual. I have seen a lot of variability in larva yield and development time for reasons that are not entirely clear to me. Temperature does make a big difference, 68F/20C vs 77F/25C takes about 50% longer. However even from one cohort of eggs all in the same container, sometimes it seems like I am still seeing new larvae/tiny juveniles a month after the first ones.

 

[kilnakorr]

Looking good, great pics as usual. I have seen a lot of variability in larva yield and development time for reasons that are not entirely clear to me. Temperature does make a big difference, 68F/20C vs 77F/25C takes about 50% longer. However even from one cohort of eggs all in the same container, sometimes it seems like I am still seeing new larvae/tiny juveniles a month after the first ones.

I think there where 4 egg spirals, and I have no clue when they where layed, so hatching could be a week+ apart.
Untill I have a few that can easily be spotted, it is impossible to say how many might be in there (or if the small aiptasia starts disappearing)

 

[Not an IT guy]

Take my money

 

[kilnakorr]

I posted a picture on Jan. 11 of a baby berghia with a couple of ceretas.
After beeing advice to seperate eggs from the adults, I decided to move this baby also.
I was not sure if thus an instant transfer from one box to the other would effect the berghia, but saw this last night.

Picture just taking with my phone, so I good size already.
It is somewhere between 2-3 weeks old.

 

[kilnakorr]

The smallest aiptaisia seems to be disappearing pretty fast.

There seems to be a few larger berghias, and plenty smaller ones.

With USB microscope and normal phone camera. They really do 'hunt' in groups.

A few larger ones, that are easy to see with the naked eye.

I started another 4-ish gl. tank, with some eggs and added a few tiny aiptasia.
I think I need to beg 'local' reefers for aiptasia in the near future.

 

[kilnakorr]

A little update.

The first batch of small nudis are going into the DT.
I still have a few in the breeding container, as getting them all in first try is impossible, and some need a little more grow time.
I didn't get as many as I hope for but got 15 or so:

I cannot get any pictures, from my newly hatched ones in the new tank, but judging by the small dots surrounding the aiptasia and rate the aiptasia disappear there should be a lot. Hopefully I'll be able to see them better in a weeks time.

I also finally put together a small aiptasia test.
Just chopped up an aiptasia into several tiny pieces and want to see how many new aiptasia that will produce - if any:

 

[Jmp998]

Looks like you are doing great! They look nice and plump and healthy for juveniles that size.

 

[Not an IT guy]

So when I can buy some? Looking good.

 

[kilnakorr]

So when I can buy some? Looking good.

Not sure they'll survive a trip to the US

 

[kilnakorr]

A quick picture from the new tank and batch.
An aiptasia had moved to the front glass, and some of the small berghias followed:

I do believe I have quite a few this time, as I see many small specs around the aiptasias, and aiptasia seems to vanish daily.

Just to compare how small they are. Here is a tiny aiptasia and berghias at the tip of a small carbon granulate:

 

[Not an IT guy]

Do they eat the bigger aptasia or just more or less their size

 

[kilnakorr]

Do they eat the bigger aptasia or just more or less their size

Well, I'm not really sure.
For now I have only seen the small ones, eat the pedal lacerations of bigger aiptasia.
In my current setup, they seem to eat and go for the smallest ones, but could just be a coincident, or the nearest ones.

Once I have plenty of them for my own use, I might try hatch some with just a single large aiptasia as an option and see how it goes.

 

[Jmp998]

Do they eat the bigger aptasia or just more or less their size

Groups especially will eat Aiptasia much bigger than they are. However they usually eat smaller Aiptasia first. Easier? Tastier?

I am not sure if larvae/small juveniles could eat a full grown monster Aiptasia though.

I think I read someone (?Sabellafella) posted that they had success feeding minced large Aiptasia to baby Berghia, but I have not ever tried that