Questions about Berghia Nudibranches

Hello everyone,

So i'm thinking of buying a Berghia Nudibranch for my reef system. My tank has always been infested with Aiptasia, however i've never been able to eradicate them. I've used peppermint shrimps, didnt work since they ate my frogspawn. I've tried using Aiptasia-X and it only delays the issue. Berghia Nudibranches are in my country (Denmark) pretty expensive, costing almost $43 each! I'm thinking of only buying one though. I have LOTS and LOTS of aiptasia, so they can survive for a long time in my system. But i do have some questions about these creepy things. Do they eat anything else than aiptasia? Do they eat corals or inverts? Or do they ONLY eat aiptasia? Also, do you think that any of the following fish would eat them?: Sleeper Striped Goby, Bicolor Dottyback, Blue Chromis, Small clarkii clownfish... Just wanted to know if anybody has some good experience with these creatures, since i've never really had the chance to buy any before now.

 

I placed them in my tank because after I moved the aptasia exploded. Salty's underground sends info on acculamating them. It will take them about 3 weeks or so to clear the tank of 75 aptasia. Now that being said you still have them in the over flow, sump and so on, or I did. So once the tank was clear I moved a couple to the sump and overflow. They do work just I missed putting them in the inside part of the HOB overflow and now I have 7 back. I'm just gonna order a few more. and do it again.

 

Oh just do the 1/4" ones I did and my aptasia had quarter size heads on them, in just a week or so you can turn over a rock and they will be 1/2".

 

The Berghia Nudibranch ONLY eat aiptasia. They are nocturnal hunters and have the ability to expand and contract, enabling them easy access into the cracks of rocks where they can get right to the base of the aiptasia. They are non-toxic to corals and fish and are considered completely reef safe. The downside is that they have heaps of predators which are common and wanted: most wrasses (except fairy wrasses), long nosed hawkfish, peppermint shrimp, camel shrimp and large crabs (Sally Lightfoot, Green legged hermit....).
Hope I helped

 

So after they eat all the aiptasia what do you feed them or do they just die unless you find them another tank?

 

I think they would just die unless provided with more aiptasia because they don't eat anything else.

 

But do you guys think that Bicolor Dottybacks will eat these guys? Because i've heard that some dottybacks eat them. My bicolor dottyback eats bristleworms and amphipods, but he has never eaten any of my stromatella snails, or baby turbo snails. Do you think he might pick at a Berghia? He doesnt hunt at night, he only hunts at daytime, and he looks all over the liverock to find food. I just want to make sure that he doesnt gobble them up when they are so expensive.

 

As a general rule if your fish spends a lot of time "hunting" your reef on a regular basis, especially at night, it is suspect for hunting Berghia. Some dottybacks are considered threats to Berghia Nudibranches but all fish behave differently and have individual personalities, so its not definite that your dottyback will go after it.

 

I guess i'm lucky then My dottyback sleeps at night in a small cave that he found. He only hunts at day, but only after bristleworms it seems. The basis of his diet consists on pellets, that for sure. He also eats my big amphipods and copepods sometimes. But guess that pretty normal.

 

I read this post somewhere on an NPS setup where the system included a sump intentionally full of aiptasia to keep the berghias healthy, so they can keep the bloody things out of the main tank. I personally think it's ingenius.

EDIT: This is not that, but an entire article on breeding berghias: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-01/ac/feature/