Have you noticed a jump in aiptasia after a lights off period?

[ReeferKimberly]

Say you were turning them off for a period to reduce algae, or had a power outage and had to conserve energy and just use a bubbler but not lights.

Have you noticed an increase in aiptasia after this?

I am attempting to breed Berghia Nudibranch. They are eating it faster than I can breed the aiptasia and people are flakes on here (sorry people, but please don't make an offer to help unless you plan to carry through with it (maybe some of you still were, this is not directed at everyone who offered))...

Anyways. So several sources of info have mentioned that they go into survival mode with lights out for a long period. Is this true? Other sources say leave the lights on 16 hours. I am just trying to make these things reproduce as fast as possible and there is conflicting information.

Thank you :)

[CanuckReefer]

I just found a bunch in my sump and they dont seem to like the light. As soon as i shine a flashlight on them, they start to hide. So this leads me to believe they like the dark better.
My sump also never sees light...

[maroun.c]

Thats the tough part with breeding Berghias.
In all honesty if people were able to get the aptasias out to give them to you they would have taken it out a long time ago. Of course there are a few aptasias here and there that can be plucked out but that's not enough for a colony of Berghias. I tried breeding them a year ago and failed miserably. I was literally going to lfs and offering them money to scrap aptasias from their overflows and give it to me, I also traveled with Aptasias I had picked from reefers abroad to try to sustain the colony.
So for now I have couple of tanks I'm letting aptasias grow in (spot feeding them and also doing minor vinegar injection close tot hem or somemtimes on them to incite them to reproduce from stress...) when Ill get my hands on some Berghias I'll just have them in a empty glass tank with maybe a couple of rocks for them to hide in and then feed them a couple of aptasias as they consume them. I'll also reduce the colony if they endup spawning a lot (better be able to sell a few fed ones then for all to starve to death)

[ReeferKimberly]

Oh tell me about it, for sure! They are little eating monster machines! I rented a couple out to a friend...or just "gave" because we probably won't be able to find them again. I have a few adults left and lots and lots of eggs. I have been collecting aiptasia rocks from anyone I can find. They are starting to get more and more. I am feeding them so much it's obsene! And a little gratifying TBO lol. When you actually WANT aiptasia it becomes cool that they do grow so fast. I posted this a few days ago and wasn't going to try the dark thing but little ol lovely me dropped my LEDs into my tank.....so.....no light for a bit! Maybe it was fate telling me that yes I should give them a dark period.

Did you find vinegar sufficient to stress but not kill them? I always used it to kill them...of course I was injecting them directly though. I have been using a toothbrush on them and jabbing them with this and that.

I am meeting up with someone here who is selling me some of his PVC with a good number on them as well in the next few days. With that I should have at least 100 aiptasia or so. The berghias could probably power through them, little gluttons. But I do what you do, keep them separate and control how much they eat. I find if I let them eat and eat and eat that is exactly what they will do, and they will just lay eggs like every day. Less feeding, less eggs, less chance of starving. I have found 3 days to be the point at which they begin to die of starvation without aiptasia.

I doubt I will make any money, not really why I started. It just peaked my interest when I could not catch my coral banded shrimp who eats peppermints. So I ordered them and just seeing the eggs....well I couldn't NOT attempt to breed them, they are just too interesting :)

And yes, I just had my LFS scrape some off for me today :o

[maroun.c]

I actually tried injecting them with diluted vinegar (not a direct injection) smashing them on the rock ran a few through a powerhead. Unfortunately never had the time to assess the results and all my aptasia stock got consumed way to fast. I think you need to have a tank with at least 500+ Aips to start a small Berghias colony and be abel to sustain it for a long time. wan't raelly looking for the money behind but Berghias are really hard to get here so wanted to share them with fellow reefers.