Remove aiptasia WITHOUT killing it?

[SueAndHerZoo]

I'll try to keep this short and summarize. Set up a vessel for growing aiptasia and set up another one for raising nudibranches. The nudi's are laying eggs like crazy so I really want/need to amp up my aiptasia supply. Unfortunately in one of my display tanks it's reproducing like mad (probably from me attempting to eradicate it). One rock in particular is almost completely covered with aiptasia and I want them! But the rock is probably 18" long and very heavy, and my aiptasia breeding tank is only 6 gallons. How do I get some of the aiptasia off the rock and into my aiptasia breeding tank without killing the aiptasia or making it worse in the display tank? If I remove the rock and have it on my counter, is there a way to get them off? Does putting ice cubes on them cause them to "let go"? Or would running hot water over them into a bucket cause them to release the rock? Talk about frustrating. SO MANY in the display tank, so few in the breeding tank. Gotta love the challenges of this crazy hobby!
Sue

 

[IceNein]

I don't know how practical this is, but I have an aiptasia that was living on a rock, and some macro, a sort of thick red stuff that grows fast started getting in the way of its light, so it crawled through it, and now I'm going to pinch off the piece of algae it's on and throw it away.

So maybe if you got something dense-ish like chaeto and put it over the aiptasia, it would move onto it to get into the flow/light, and then you could just remove the chaeto, cut off the piece that has the nem, and then stick it back into your tank on top of another aiptasia.

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

That's not a bad idea! I have tons of cheato growing in both of my sumps and I have found aiptasia on that. Potential problem will be needing to turn off all the flow in the display tank and hoping the clean up crew doesn't spread the cheato all over the tank. Hmmmm, maybe cheato in a mesh bag?
Sue

 

[IceNein]

That's not a bad idea! I have tons of cheato growing in both of my sumps and I have found aiptasia on that. Potential problem will be needing to turn off all the flow in the display tank and hoping the clean up crew doesn't spread the cheato all over the tank. Hmmmm, maybe cheato in a mesh bag?
Sue

If the rock isn't the foundation for other rocks, you could simply rubber band the chaeto to the rock with the aiptasia.

 

[Dburr1014]

I'll try to keep this short and summarize. Set up a vessel for growing aiptasia and set up another one for raising nudibranches. The nudi's are laying eggs like crazy so I really want/need to amp up my aiptasia supply. Unfortunately in one of my display tanks it's reproducing like mad (probably from me attempting to eradicate it). One rock in particular is almost completely covered with aiptasia and I want them! But the rock is probably 18" long and very heavy, and my aiptasia breeding tank is only 6 gallons. How do I get some of the aiptasia off the rock and into my aiptasia breeding tank without killing the aiptasia or making it worse in the display tank? If I remove the rock and have it on my counter, is there a way to get them off? Does putting ice cubes on them cause them to "let go"? Or would running hot water over them into a bucket cause them to release the rock? Talk about frustrating. SO MANY in the display tank, so few in the breeding tank. Gotta love the challenges of this crazy hobby!
Sue

I only know of two ways to get them off without killing them.

1) lemon juice on the foot will make them let go. They will have to be in water and it's tedious.

2) hammer and chisel on the basement floor.

 

[Jmp998]

As stated above, if you cover part of the aiptasia rock then some aiptasia will crawl onto the cover especially if it is blocking light and most water flow. You could try black plastic-like a piece of garbage bag or something-and rubber band it to the rock.

If they are large aiptasia, you can cut off the top/crown with surgical scissors and feed to your berghia. Obviously this will not eliminate the aiptasia from your display but will provide some food for your berghia.

Realistically if you are trying to breed berghia long term, you need to have a very large and growing aiptasia population before you start raising berghia. I bred aiptasia for 6 months before starting to rear berghia.

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

I only know of two ways to get them off without killing them.

1) lemon juice on the foot will make them let go. They will have to be in water and it's tedious.

2) hammer and chisel on the basement floor.

I wouldn't mind putting in the work with this huge rock (could fill a 5 gallon bucket with saltwater and keep squirting lemon juice unless it takes a LONG time for them to let go? What if I dipped a piece of the rock in saltwater and lemon juice, would they let go? I know how hard it is to remove an anemone but these things are even worse since they're smaller and retract so fast.

I have used a hammer and a cement floor to sell an anemone to someone but this was a big, expensive rock - really hate to break it - it's so good for aquascaping.
Sue

 

[Dburr1014]

I wouldn't mind putting in the work with this huge rock (could dill a 5 gallon bucket with saltwater and keep squirting lemon juice unless it takes a LONG time for them to let go? What if I dipped a piece of the rock in saltwater and lemon juice, would they let go?

More like holding the anemone with a pair of tweezers in just squirting the foot. The foot gets irritated and eventually does let go. You'd have to do it in outside the tank though. I wouldn't want all that lemon juice in there. When I had two or three my system I would methodically squirt lemon juice and suck it up with a turkey baster the juice that float away. It was so tedious.

I know how hard it is to remove an anemone but these things are even worse since they're smaller and retract so fast.

I have used a hammer and a cement floor to sell an anemone to someone but this was a big, expensive rock - really hate to break it - it's so good for aquascaping.
Sue

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

More like holding the anemone with a pair of tweezers in just squirting the foot. The foot gets irritated and eventually does let go. You'd have to do it in outside the tank though. I wouldn't want all that lemon juice in there. When I had two or three my system I would methodically squirt lemon juice and suck it up with a turkey baster the juice that float away. It was so tedious.

So do I do this under water or out of the water? I believe your first post said in water?
Sue

 

[Omegared79]

Got 2 peppermints and it was gone in 2 days, well i only had a small break out , they still put work in

 

[SueAndHerZoo]

Got 2 peppermints and it was gone in 2 days, well i only had a small break out , they still put work in

You're one of the lucky ones..... my peppermints have never gone after the aiptasia.
Sue

 

[Dburr1014]

So do I do this under water or out of the water? I believe your first post said in water?
Sue

They retract when taken out of the water. So if you do it in water and they're still out it's easier to grab them and do it.

 

[kamitera]

Make your breeding tank the display, and your display is now the breeding tank. Easy. With the money you make selling the nudis, you'll probably be able to get another display tank soon enough.