All attempts at escape are futile...

gflat65 · Jun 23, 2009

A local reefer has given me a few Berghia nudi's, so I set up a 15 gallon to see if I can get them to breed. They are down tot he last Aip in the tank. It has been on the move for days, leaving little trails of basal lacerations. It's still in there (pics taken yesterday). Got some eggs today, too.

bamachamp92 · Jun 23, 2009

If you get those going Ill buy some Gary. If you can get them to eat xenia Ill pay double.

dbarker · Jun 23, 2009

Wow! Send some my way!! Debbie

KingRicky · Jun 23, 2009

gflat,

If you ever decide to part with them or sell some of hte babies, let me know.

nellahtes · Jun 23, 2009

gary, im also interested in a couple if you get them going.

jlinzmaier · Jun 24, 2009

Great pics of a wonderful way to rid a tank of apitasia!! Once the apitasia is eradicated you may want to find a new home for the little guys since they'll likely starve once their primary food source (apitasia) is gone.

Jeremy

condiman · Jun 24, 2009

I have always enjoyed taking a natural approach to pest removal.

gflat65 · Jun 25, 2009

I'll let everyone know if/when they reproduce enough to have some babies. The plan is to run the 1.5 gallon with small Aip covered rocks to see how they do their thing. There are three egg rings this morning, so I think they are getting fat and happy. They took care of that Aip yesterday, so I'm waiting on a friend to bring over some small rocks (should have them today). I contacted someone at Auburn Univ about getting some of their stock, too, so they are breeding some now. They just collected some new specimens, so have a fresh slate. At some point, their eggs become less viable, I think, requiring a change out of breeding stock from time to time. The ones I've got came from a local reefer with them growing out of control in their tank. The Aips are all but gone, so the nudis are out more often looking for food (making them an easier grab).

dbarker · Jun 25, 2009

I did not know Auburn had been growing them! War Eagle! Debbie

TritonsGarden · Jun 25, 2009

I love these guys. We had major aiptasia problems in our sumps last year. We put severel nudis in each sump. I never saw them again but 4 months later we had zero aips.

Jack

revhtree · Jun 25, 2009

Debbie this is a family friendly sight. Saying things like War Eagle can get you banned quickly!! LOL!

ROLL TIDE!!!

reefboy · Jun 25, 2009

will they eat the manjino's as well? if so I will be buying some.

jlinzmaier · Jun 25, 2009

reefboy said:
will they eat the manjino's as well? if so I will be buying some.

Mojano's are much easier to get rid of. Simply cover them with some rock rubble. The photosynthetic needs that mojano's have will require them to crawl their way up and on top of the rubble for some light exposure. You can then remove them by simply taking out the tiny bit of rubble. It's worked very well for me. In fact I left a few in the tank becuase I happen to like the little guys as long as they aren't causing trouble. It's so easy to remove them that I was confident that if they moved I would easily be able to move them out.

This little trick doesn't work so well for apitasia since their photosynthetic needs are so much lower than mojano's.

Jeremy

dbarker · Jun 25, 2009

Hey Gflatt! I have to tell you that both my sons are at Tuscaloosa! Oldest son graduated the school of law and the other is in the school on electrical engineering. Sooo....you see....I am now ROLL TIDE all the way!!!! Debbie

gflat65 · Jun 25, 2009

I've got to interject a Go Rebs! here

. We still didn't make it to the CWS, but football season is just around the corner. I think both the elephant and the eagle/puss better be ready this year

. If we can ride the momentum from the last five games last year, it's going to be a fun season for Ole Miss fans. If we hadn't given the games away in the last two minutes (namely Vandy and Wake Forest) that we did last year (and have the Alabama game stolen from us in the final seconds

)...

gflat65 · Jun 25, 2009

Sorry-got excited about SEC sports and trash talk

.

One of the coops last semester is dating a PhD student at Auburn who is studying Aiptasia. Her best friend raises Berghia. The guy that worked with me asked his girlfriend and they are supposed to be obligate eaters of Aips. The new rock I added this afternoon has both, so I'll let it go a few days after they get all of the Aips (probably close to a hundred on this rock) to see if they have any inkling of majano lust. It would seriously rock if they did, but I don't see that happening. I'd love to sit down with the PhD student and see if we can figure out something to cause Aips to die spontaneously

. Surely, there are links between the different anemones that give commonality.