Propagating Berghia Nudibranch - A Trial Series

[ReefSharkBuilder]

This thread is to chronicle the propagation of Berghia Nudibranch. To begin the Nudibranch do not need an extensive amount of care. They need stable salinity, a steady supply of Aiptasia, and a sheltered area to grow.
For this experiment I am using an 800 ml caped container I got from IKEA. I added a acrylic airline into the container to provide adequate oxygenation. I also provided a shorter acrylic airline as a blowoff valve.
I started with six .25 inch juvenile nudibranch and a large culture of aiptasia growing in a 5.5 gallon tank with an adequate heater and no light.

The setup is as follows.

the 5.5 gallon aqueon tank was purchased at petco for $14
the container for the nudibranch cost $2.99 I bought two.
The airline and air-pump I had laying around from previous tanks
I used regular rustoleum paint and primer spray paint I had from working around the house.
rocks filled with aiptasia were donated (or traded for dry rock I had laying around)

I painted both long sides and one short side of the tank. Filled it with saltwater at 1.025 specific gravity.

I drilled two holes in the cork stopper for the air inlet and outlet.

I cut two pieces of acrylic. The first one I cut so that I would have approximately an inch above the cork and 3/4 of the way down the container. The second I cut so it was an inch above the cork and just peeking out below the bottom of the cork.

I used a heat gun to heat up one end of the longer acrylic rod and push an airline connector into one end. This is to be able to attach the air pump to for a small amount of airflow.

After finishing up the brood container, I built a little stand so that the bottom of the cork will remain approximately 1/2 inch above the tank's waterline. After this I hooked up the airline so that 2-3 small bubbles escape per 1 second of time. This will provide adequate flow and oxygen exchange for the nudibranch to thrive.

Before adding the nudibranch, make sure the flow is turned off. These are very delicate animals and shouldn't be blown around by the flow. When you add them it is best to use a baster with a large enough opening to suck them up without damaging the cerata (spines on their back). Place them inside the container after it has been put inside of your tank. After the nudibranch settle in, add a smaller aiptasia for every 2 nudibranch. You can add these on a smaller rock that can be easily removed after the nudibranch have eaten the aiptasia. When Adding aiptasia to the container keep in mind that the nudibranch can still be stung or even eaten by the aiptasia so be careful when adding them individually or on a rock.
I personally razor cut the aiptasia off of the rock and place it in the tank with tweezers.

After having ran this for a total of 8 days I have 14 egg spirals inside of the container at the moment of writing this post. We will see how they progress as I continue to document this endeavor.

I will post images and videos as I move through this project.

 

[Billldg]

This is interesting. I just purchased a book on how to breed them. Curious to see how this turns out.

 

[drawman]

Following! I did this many years ago but had too many other things going on to keep it going at the time.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Cool! Following!

 

[tehmadreefer]

Well it’s pretty easy since they propagate in peoples tanks... feed em aiptasia and provide normal parameters and voila, babies. Not hard.

assitionally they can withstand some pretty intense flow, they are not as delicate as you may think.

 

[Cstar_BC]

Following - I’ve been thinking of a desktop tank specifically for a specialized invert

 

[sixty_reefer]

Will be following with interest as am doing something similar but from eggs, can I ask you what you doing in relation to media/filter also how you intend to propagate the aips to keep ready available food for the nudis?

 

[andrewkw]

So I've had my berghias for 1 week. In that time 5 have grown substantially and 1 has shrank down quite a bit. I'm just going to assume something is wrong with the 1 and he will probably pass away which is why I got 6 instead of just 3.

They appear to be eating about half an aiptasia per day depending on the size of them. I have them in a tiny critter keeper sitting in a 10g tank that is 1/3rd filled up for aiptasia culturing - this is above the water line but shares the heater.

My question is now that they have laid at least 2 egg rings should I eventually move the adults to a new container? I understand when they initially hatch I won't be able to see the babies. It will be even harder since there is a slight algae film on my container. I did a major water change yesterday and have just been swapping a bit of water from the aiptasia farm to the container holding the berghias. While the volume is tiny, I doubt the bioload of eating a few aiptasia is anything to be concerned about. That being said there is still detritus forming on the bottom ect. Once the eggs hatch I'm not going to do water changes since I won't know if I'm scooping the babies. I also understand the babies are going to need tiny aiptasia which I do have, but without moving the adults I would have no way of knowing who's actually eating them. The other option would be to move the eggs to a small container, perhaps what the berghias came from and keep it out of the light so algae doesn't grow around the container and I can examine it closely.

 

[sixty_reefer]

So I've had my berghias for 1 week. In that time 5 have grown substantially and 1 has shrank down quite a bit. I'm just going to assume something is wrong with the 1 and he will probably pass away which is why I got 6 instead of just 3.

They appear to be eating about half an aiptasia per day depending on the size of them. I have them in a tiny critter keeper sitting in a 10g tank that is 1/3rd filled up for aiptasia culturing - this is above the water line but shares the heater.

My question is now that they have laid at least 2 egg rings should I eventually move the adults to a new container? I understand when they initially hatch I won't be able to see the babies. It will be even harder since there is a slight algae film on my container. I did a major water change yesterday and have just been swapping a bit of water from the aiptasia farm to the container holding the berghias. While the volume is tiny, I doubt the bioload of eating a few aiptasia is anything to be concerned about. That being said there is still detritus forming on the bottom ect. Once the eggs hatch I'm not going to do water changes since I won't know if I'm scooping the babies. I also understand the babies are going to need tiny aiptasia which I do have, but without moving the adults I would have no way of knowing who's actually eating them. The other option would be to move the eggs to a small container, perhaps what the berghias came from and keep it out of the light so algae doesn't grow around the container and I can examine it closely.

I would just leave them be, or you could also try and keep them in a 100ml to 200ml container for 30 days until they visible if you wish, you will need to do 10% water changes daily and keep an eye for evaporation.

 

[maleks.reef]

This thread is to chronicle the propagation of Berghia Nudibranch. To begin the Nudibranch do not need an extensive amount of care. They need stable salinity, a steady supply of Aiptasia, and a sheltered area to grow.
For this experiment I am using an 800 ml caped container I got from IKEA. I added a acrylic airline into the container to provide adequate oxygenation. I also provided a shorter acrylic airline as a blowoff valve.
I started with six .25 inch juvenile nudibranch and a large culture of aiptasia growing in a 5.5 gallon tank with an adequate heater and no light.

The setup is as follows.

the 5.5 gallon aqueon tank was purchased at petco for $14
the container for the nudibranch cost $2.99 I bought two.
The airline and air-pump I had laying around from previous tanks
I used regular rustoleum paint and primer spray paint I had from working around the house.
rocks filled with aiptasia were donated (or traded for dry rock I had laying around)

I painted both long sides and one short side of the tank. Filled it with saltwater at 1.025 specific gravity.

I drilled two holes in the cork stopper for the air inlet and outlet.

I cut two pieces of acrylic. The first one I cut so that I would have approximately an inch above the cork and 3/4 of the way down the container. The second I cut so it was an inch above the cork and just peeking out below the bottom of the cork.

I used a heat gun to heat up one end of the longer acrylic rod and push an airline connector into one end. This is to be able to attach the air pump to for a small amount of airflow.

After finishing up the brood container, I built a little stand so that the bottom of the cork will remain approximately 1/2 inch above the tank's waterline. After this I hooked up the airline so that 2-3 small bubbles escape per 1 second of time. This will provide adequate flow and oxygen exchange for the nudibranch to thrive.

Before adding the nudibranch, make sure the flow is turned off. These are very delicate animals and shouldn't be blown around by the flow. When you add them it is best to use a baster with a large enough opening to suck them up without damaging the cerata (spines on their back). Place them inside the container after it has been put inside of your tank. After the nudibranch settle in, add a smaller aiptasia for every 2 nudibranch. You can add these on a smaller rock that can be easily removed after the nudibranch have eaten the aiptasia. When Adding aiptasia to the container keep in mind that the nudibranch can still be stung or even eaten by the aiptasia so be careful when adding them individually or on a rock.
I personally razor cut the aiptasia off of the rock and place it in the tank with tweezers.

After having ran this for a total of 8 days I have 14 egg spirals inside of the container at the moment of writing this post. We will see how they progress as I continue to document this endeavor.

I will post images and videos as I move through this project.

Update?