Aiptaisia eating nudibranch (1 Viewer)

[t0mmy108]

these would be commonly known as Berghia verrucicornis, aka Aeolidiella stephanieae.
I ordered three from LiveAquaria.com and after only two days, they started laying eggs. I can see two spirals of egg mass. I want to know if I'm on the right track to successfully rearing these little guys.
My setup consists of a small breeder cage(

, three adult nudibranch and a 72 gallon tank full of aiptasia anemones. I placed three small rocks with small aiptasia in the breeder with the nudibranch and have the whole thing placed on the sandbed of my 180 gallon reef display tank. this was the best way i could think of to keep high water quality and still keep them safe from predators or losing them to power heads. the slits in the breeder are too small for the adults to squeeze through..... I hope. I'm expecting the eggs to hatch in about 10 to 14 days. I'll be replenishing the breeder with new anomones every couple days being carful not to export any nudibranch out of the breeder in the proccess. Any othe tips would be appreciated. Thanks..
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b373/t0mmy108/Reef Aquarium Pictures/DSCN5642.jpg
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[pernelf]

The critter keeper will be to large, they will be able to get out of the holes. The best bet is to transfer the eggs and adults to small nano like a 5.5 gallon with a low flow filter and plenty of rubble (with aptasia of course) In several weeks if the larvae survive, you should start seeing them. In a few months you should start to get adults and can start transferring them over to the main tank or transfer rocks with aptasia to the small nano.

 

[BrianPlankis]

Everything I've read about breeding Berghia involves a completely separate system. You then rotate your live rock into the tank with the adults to remove the aiptasia. If you actually want to raise the babies then you should start culturing aiptasia in a darkened tank that is fed with meaty foods to cause the aiptasia to have enough food, yet split. The babies require very small aiptasia to eat.

I setup a system very similar to Anthony Calfo's article and I was not able to raise the babies successfully. Of course it appears that my nudibranch (Spurilla sp.) is much harder to raise than Berghia sp.

It is possible your system is large enough to possibly let a few babies survive, but from what I read it is a low % chance of success.

Anthony's Article:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/ac/feature/index.php

I actually have a reefkeeping article coming out about my nudibranch experience, but it won't be out until May. But some of the references I found that talked about rearing the babies and care for the adults:

Carroll, D.J. & Kempf, S.C. (1990). Laboratory culture of the aeolid nudibranch Berghia verrucicornis (Mollusca, Opisthobranchia): Some aspects of its development and life history. Biological Bulletin 179: 243-253.

Eyster, L.S. & Eckelbarger, K.J. (1979). Reproduction in the nudibranch Spurilla neapolitana. Annual report – Western Society of Malacologists. 12: 9-10.

Internet Sources:

Borneman, Eric. (1998). The Berghia Training Program. Accessed at: http://www.reefs.org/library/article/e_borneman.html

Brian

 

[Guest]

I believe there is someone on MAAST who breeds them.

 

[Guest]

If you need i have a rock with tons of aptasia on it. You could let them eat it up if you like

 

[t0mmy108]

thanks arkight. I'll let you know if i run out. right now a have a 72 gallon full of them.

 

[bugpower18t]

try throwing some mejano's in there...if you can get them muching on Mejano's you'll be a millionaire

 

[Guest]

I got a culture from Rebecca Swenson - they grew, ate Aiptasia, laid hundreds of egg coils, and as in the past four times I have tried to culture them, got no viable juveniles from the hatched eggs. The first three times I tried, it was easy. Even careful controlled small tank cutlure with killed Aiptasia to prevent Aiptasia predation of setttling lecithotrophic juveniles did no good. I suspect at this point there is a lot of inbreeding depression and without a good source from the wild, it wil only worsen. I wish I had an explanation for the breeding failure, but I don't. I have heard the same from others, including Morgan Lidster from whom I orignally obtained specimens almost a decade ago, and from which I produced three articles - One in Aquarium Frontiers online, one in the Breeder's Registry, and the aformentioned link at RDO. I have the articles on my website at ericborneman.com for those interested. My recent protocols followed the small culture vessel method that Anthony discusses and is also the method Rebecca uses. It got me nowhere...I was very frustrated.

 

[BrianPlankis]

I wish I had an explanation for the breeding failure, but I don't. I have heard the same from others, including Morgan Lidster from whom I orignally obtained specimens almost a decade ago, and from which I produced three articles - One in Aquarium Frontiers online, one in the Breeder's Registry, and the aformentioned link at RDO. I have the articles on my website at ericborneman.com for those interested. My recent protocols followed the small culture vessel method that Anthony discusses and is also the method Rebecca uses. It got me nowhere...I was very frustrated.

Eric, are you talking about Berghia sp? Mine definitely weren't Berghia and from your articles:

Borneman, Eric H. 1999. Recent observations on Berghia (?) sp. nudibranchs. Aquarium Frontiers online August 1999.

Borneman, Eric H.1998. Successful rearing of the aiptasia predator, Berghia veruccicornis. Journal of Maquaculture 6(3): 49-54.

Mine also didn't look like Phidiana lynceus or Dondice occidentalis, similiar, but looked a lot closer visually to the Spurilla neapolitana.

The last time I checked with the breeder I sent the adults to the larvae were still only settling around and consuming Majano anemones, not aiptasia, even though the adults would eat aiptasia. If you did indeed have the same Nudibranch I had then that could possibly explain the inability to get them to reproduce.

Brian