Berghia Nudi Breeding

[Twistedpro]

I am trying to breed some berghia nudi's for my aiptasia problem. I have built a dedicated system and have 3 adult berghia. I have read the book by Dene Banger however i am struggling to get the eggs to develop. On average i am getting 1 egg mass per day, however when inspecting the egg masses under microscopes they are not developing. By day 8 they have gone milky and started to degrade. I have been carrying out a small water change every other day to maintain levels and nutrient export with only bioballs in the sump

I was wondering if anyone has experienced this problem and whether anyone has any suggestions to help stop this and get the eggs developing properly

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

@Sabellafella

 

[Sabellafella]

I am trying to breed some berghia nudi's for my aiptasia problem. I have built a dedicated system and have 3 adult berghia. I have read the book by Dene Banger however i am struggling to get the eggs to develop. On average i am getting 1 egg mass per day, however when inspecting the egg masses under microscopes they are not developing. By day 8 they have gone milky and started to degrade. I have been carrying out a small water change every other day to maintain levels and nutrient export with only bioballs in the sump

I was wondering if anyone has experienced this problem and whether anyone has any suggestions to help stop this and get the eggs developing properly

Ive never had an eggsack not develop before but lets see some photos of the setup! I can give you some advice on breeding them as well, almost at my 2 year mark with breeding now.

 

[Breadman03]

I know just a very little bit about berghia. There's a certain population density that one should have in order to promote reproduction. Basically, there has to be enough that they can find each other. I don't know whether they will lay infertile eggs or not.

Do you have these three in a small area, or do you have them in a large system?

 

[Twistedpro]

Hi @Sabellafella i have posted some pictures of the setup. I have 2 main chambers connected to a sump with bioballs and auto topup its quite a simple setup.

i am getting plenty of egg masses however they are not developing i am not sure whether i should be running rowa and carbon on this system or just continue with the water changes

 

[Twistedpro]

This is the stage my latest batch of eggs have developed to which is the Veliger stage. I have not had any develop into larvae or into adults that i have found. Do i need to adjust the system or change the food? This has been running for 5 months now without any new adults.

 

[Sabellafella]

Hi @Sabellafella i have posted some pictures of the setup. I have 2 main chambers connected to a sump with bioballs and auto topup its quite a simple setup.

i am getting plenty of egg masses however they are not developing i am not sure whether i should be running rowa and carbon on this system or just continue with the water changes

Oh wow, you got a whole setup there. I use 4 small containers to do mine. No heater, no air bubbles, no pump. Ive seen unfertile eggsacks before, im not sure why they get like that.

Takes 10 to 15 days for the eggs to hatch, from what ive found when you have water movement, the eggs hatch as larva opposed to comming out a tiny berghia.

Ive tryed many different ways, but recently what ill do is keep 6 parents in a container containing about 2 cups of water. Once i see eggs, i give it about a week to transfer the berghias into a new container. Fill the egg baring container with a few.tiny tiny aiptasia, and wait for the eggs to hatch. After about a month(feedings every other day) theyll get to about 3 mm, then ill transfer 30 to each container. Otherwise if i had more then 30 in any givin container, some may starve because they eat the aiptasia so quick.

This time around i kept a bunch to stock my tank because i had aiptasia pop back up. But i stock my lfs with them in return for ALL my supply needs to run my tanks.

I dont do anything other then feedings and water changes every 2 days. Other then that, transfering the parents back and forth from containers every so often.

 

[Sabellafella]

Transfer containers for egg sacks.

 

[Sabellafella]

30 stock berghia containers

 

[Sabellafella]

Just keep them in my sump, only have 2 small containers now. My last yield was over 100 berghia, so i got rid of the parents to spend their life in my tank.

 

[Twistedpro]

Thank for the advice @Sabellafella, do you leave the lids on the pots? I am yet to get any yield from maybe 100egg sacks

 

[Sabellafella]

Thank for the advice @Sabellafella, do you leave the lids on the pots? I am yet to get any yield from maybe 100egg sacks

Half off the top to get somer air

 

[Sabellafella]

Thank for the advice @Sabellafella, do you leave the lids on the pots? I am yet to get any yield from maybe 100egg sacks

I tryed once in a 3 gallon tank, had over 20 egg sacks and after a few weeks, never had one baby make it.

Usually about 5 or 6 sacks, will turn out to be about 70 healthy grown berghias for me

I yielded over 100 off of 1 egg sack back in january, and at the time i used a very small 100ml container. So from my experience as of now, the smaller the container the better

 

[Twistedpro]

Thanks for your observations, i have taken some egg sacks and placed them into cups. they have been developing so fingers crossed i can get them to juveniles where i can place into the main system to grow

 

[Sabellafella]

Thanks for your observations, i have taken some egg sacks and placed them into cups. they have been developing so fingers crossed i can get them to juveniles where i can place into the main system to grow

Im sure itll work out, just have to be ontop of it for a little over a month. Once they hit like 4-5mm, theyll start to triple in size withen someodd 2 weeks

 

[JaimeAdams]

how do you get enough aiptasia to feed all the berghia?

 

[Twistedpro]

I have been culturing aiptasia in a 3'x 1' x 1' system, annoying the hell out of them to make them divide

 

[Sabellafella]

how do you get enough aiptasia to feed all the berghia?

Its tuff, usually feed about 6 or 7 a day (for each container) once they reach 1/2 inch. My nano tank has aiptasia everywhere, including all in and out of my macro algaes. So when i prune stuff, ill throw it in a bucket with saltwater. And theyll usually latch on the bucket, working their way up. trying to find light.

Bigger aiptasia ill just use a razor

 

[Twistedpro]

so i have tried the cup method with 15 egg sacks, i have had larvae however when they have gone from the shell phase they have all died and i am still not getting any going through. Do you have any further tips on what i should do? @Sabellafella

 

[Sabellafella]

so i have tried the cup method with 15 egg sacks, i have had larvae however when they have gone from the shell phase they have all died and i am still not getting any going through. Do you have any further tips on what i should do? @Sabellafella

They died in the sack? Your using a scope right?