Berghia breeding questions

[marv1111n]

Hello, I'm very new to this forum, but I joined here hoping to get some advice from experienced breeders of berghia nudibranchs.
I couldn't find any sufficient information online regarding my question.

I'm thinking of purchasing some berghia nudibranchs in the near future to combat the growing aiptasia population in my nano tank.

But the thing is, I also keep a coral banded shrimp in there. I love that little guy, but he would most likely view them as a tasty snack the second I introduced them to my tank. And since berghias only live for a very short time, I thought about breeding them. I know the breeding process isn't all that complicated in theory, but I like to complicate things.

I was wondering if anybody had experience with breeding them in a hang on breeder box or something similar. My idea is that it would be an even more inexpensive way of breeding them, since I wouldn't need to buy an extra tank, heater, etc. (And I already have an air pump I don't use).
But those readily available breeding boxes don't seem to fit my specific needs. They are usually designed for fish and not for inverts and their larvae. The larvae could easily leave the box and settle in the main tank. And who knows if they could survive there. So a controlled development inside a box would be ideal.

Could I babyproof one of these with some filter matt/mesh? Or does anybody have ideas or suggestions for breeding berghias in such a setup? Or if someone could share their experiences or direct me to a post that deals with something similar, that would be great.

 

[Tahoe61]

But they have to have access to Aiptasia, wouldn't a breeding box type of isolation prohibit them from eating?

 

[Jmp998]

If you want to breed small scale, you can easily use a 5 gallon salt bucket with some cycled sand/rubble and an air pump. Heater is not needed for Berghia as long as your house temp is >65F (generation time will be longer but they will grow and reproduce fine). They are tolerant of poor water conditions.

If you prefer to do something that hangs on your tank, you could just use one of those specimen containers that LFS use when they are bagging guppies etc. Hang it on your sump, once a day swap out half the berghia water with tank water. Use the smallest air pump you can find to keep the water oxygenated.

There is only one thing that is challenging about breeding berghia-providing enough Aiptasia. Whatever strategy you decide on, you need to be able to supply the Berghia with plenty of Aiptasia.

Amazon product


Some people have done a more complicated setup with a flow through container in their sump, but I would probably flood my floors if I tried that.

 

[William Bruckmann]

Raising Berghia is easy. They reach adulthood in about 45 days, and spend their time hiding in the rockwork and making little Berghia by the 100's. Keeping them fed is the hard part. They mow through the Aiptasia faster than you can grow it. If they go more then 5 or 6 days without eating they die. I have been breeding them for about 2 years and I never consider myself just a Berghia breeder. I am first and formost an Aiptasia farmer. I spend about 2/3 of my time tending to my Aiptasia tanks, and 1/3 with the Berghia. For real estate I would guess my Aiptasia tanks have my Berghia beat by 4 to 1. My advice to anyone thinking of raising Berghia is to start your Aiptasia tanks first and then get your Berghia once they are established and giving you new Aiptasia every day.

The Berghia Farm

 

[allenk4]

The “Science Guy” at Top Shelf Aquatics has recently become an Aiptasia Farmer. I think he stole your line.

 

[William Bruckmann]

The “Science Guy” at Top Shelf Aquatics has recently become an Aiptasia Farmer. I think he stole your line.

Lol…I have used it in other posts so maybe he did.

 

[William Bruckmann]

 

[William Bruckmann]

 

[William Bruckmann]

I can usually find about 5-10 "baby" Aiptasia a day in this tank. It is one of 3 and I am starting a build on #4.

 

[OrchidMiss]

The problem is finding them for a reasonable price. :confused-face:

 

[ROCK reefer]

I just got some listed on e-bay. They came from saltyunderground. 85$ for 10 including next day air shipping. Saltyunderground was great to work with and the berghia came looking healthy today. lets hope they do their thing.


I did have a question about breeding. Do pods eat the berghia eggs spirals?

 

[Jmp998]

IME the typical common copepods we have in our tanks-like you would buy to seed your tank/feed your mandarin/etc-do not eat the berghia eggs. Anecdotally I get better berghia larva hatch/survival when there are copepods present, but I have not attempted a controlled experiment.

I do not have experience with large amphipods, because I could not ever get them established in my system. Amphipods don’t last in the aiptasia tanks, and I don’t think there is enough food to sustain them in the berghia tanks.

 

[ROCK reefer]

I've never seeded pods into my tanks. The main tank has been up since 2008 and the pods just appeared. The pods are really small to be eating much. If I get Berghia spirals I hope the pods don't touch them. My Aiptasia are getting out of control. I guess I'll know in about 2 months.

 

[ihateSpirorbids]

@William Bruckmann

What size tank is in that video? How did you cram so much aiptasia in :astonished-face:

 

[William Bruckmann]

I just got some listed on e-bay. They came from saltyunderground. 85$ for 10 including next day air shipping. Saltyunderground was great to work with and the berghia came looking healthy today. lets hope they do their thing.


I did have a question about breeding. Do pods eat the berghia eggs spirals?

Yes! Out of the 100-500 eggs in the spiral, only about 20 will make to adulthood in my experience. Even if I place them in beakers with no pods I may only get 50. They seem to have a high mortality rate.

 

[Harpo]

I tried to farm them over 10 years ago and failed miserably.

 

[William Bruckmann]

I tried to farm them over 10 years ago and failed miserably.

It seems so easy, but in the end it is a major undertaking. If I were no retired I would not be doing it. Between my main display, Aiptasia, and Berghia tanks, I am doing something for over an hour every day.

 

[marv1111n]

Thanks for all the replies. I ended up buying two berghias and threw them into the built-in filtration chamber… I keep chaeto there, and with the additional light, quite a lot of aiptasia settled there as well. It hasn’t been a week, and they already laid some eggs in there. The little nudis can just enter the tank when they hatch from there. I figured my CBS will probably just ignore them, since they don’t eat aiptasia either. My only issue will be to provide enough aiptasia once they mow it all down in the display and to keep it alive long enough to make sure that they got every single trace of aiptasia.

 

[Amstar]

Raising Berghia is easy. They reach adulthood in about 45 days, and spend their time hiding in the rockwork and making little Berghia by the 100's. Keeping them fed is the hard part. They mow through the Aiptasia faster than you can grow it. If they go more then 5 or 6 days without eating they die. I have been breeding them for about 2 years and I never consider myself just a Berghia breeder. I am first and formost an Aiptasia farmer. I spend about 2/3 of my time tending to my Aiptasia tanks, and 1/3 with the Berghia. For real estate I would guess my Aiptasia tanks have my Berghia beat by 4 to 1. My advice to anyone thinking of raising Berghia is to start your Aiptasia tanks first and then get your Berghia once they are established and giving you new Aiptasia every day.

The Berghia Farm

What’s the trick that you have found to help grow /reproduce aiptasia to get to higher numbers?

 

[William Bruckmann]

What’s the trick that you have found to help grow /reproduce aiptasia to get to higher numbers?

I just take only the heads so the base grows back. I never lose an Aiptasia that way. Feed them frozen rotifiers every couple days and you will start to see new “baby” aiptasia popping up everywhere. Feed them a powder like Reef Roids. When you think you have enough Aiptasia, try to double that number lol.