Never thought I'd say this...

[asylumdown]

Originally Posted by mikeclarke

I've got three aptasias....
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=93767
Would you use berghias or peppermint shrimps?

Peppermints are hit and miss. They work for some people, don't work for others. They never worked for me, while other people have had them clear an entire tank in a couple of weeks.

I like berghia because they're obligate aiptasia predators, it's the only thing they can and do eat, whereas peppermints can change their mind if something more tasty is available. Berghia, by weight, are probably the most expensive substance in existence however.

Whichever you do, pick one and do that. Peppermints will eat berghia, so if you put the peppermints in and they don't eat the aiptasia and you want to try berghia next, make sure you take the peppermints out first or it will be a lot of wasted money.

[mikeclarke]

How much are the beghia? I am coming to Calgary. Would you start out with peppermints? Are any of the sorta-reefsafe butterflies good too? I think that it might be good to hit it from multiple predators.

Originally Posted by asylumdown

Peppermints are hit and miss. They work for some people, don't work for others. They never worked for me, while other people have had them clear an entire tank in a couple of weeks.

I like berghia because they're obligate aiptasia predators, it's the only thing they can and do eat, whereas peppermints can change their mind if something more tasty is available. Berghia, by weight, are probably the most expensive substance in existence however.

Whichever you do, pick one and do that. Peppermints will eat berghia, so if you put the peppermints in and they don't eat the aiptasia and you want to try berghia next, make sure you take the peppermints out first or it will be a lot of wasted money.

[asylumdown]

I don't know if they're available locally anywhere. I ordered mine from Salty Underground, which is in the states and is the only online store I know of the both routinely breeds them, and ships to Canada.

The smaller ones are around 10 bucks US each, plus shipping. They'll only do priority international, and they now require that you go and pick it up from the Fedex depot (which here in Calgary is up by the airport). Shipping to Calgary was $86.90 for me, and based on the size of my tank, I ordered 20 nudibranchs, so the order total $276USD. Considering that they're less that I don't own a scale that is sensitive enough to weigh one, it's crazy, but they work.

You can also buy bigger nudibranchs for like 15 bucks a piece, but I didn't seem to have a problem with the little ones.

And I wouldn't try peppermints again, but that's just my opinion and others will have different, and equally valid ones on the topic. Peppermints didn't touch a single aiptasia in my last tank, and I'm pretty sure they're responsible for the berghias that I bought after the shrimp failed not working as well. I spent over a grand on berghia over the course of... maybe 6 months (can't remember exactly) and they went in, and vanished immediately. I also never saw the peppermints, and was never successful at catching them until I broke the entire tank down. For that reason, knowing that I could never get them out of this tank if they didn't work, I went straight to the nudibranchs, and lo and behold, it's working like a charm this time. Again, some people have great luck with peppermints, but the ones I bought were eating aiptasia in the store, and then not a single one in my tank, so take that for what it is I guess.

I have also added a Copper Band butterfly. I bought him when I didn't think the nudis were doing their job, and kept him in quarantine after I realized they were in fact working famously as I was afraid the fish would eat the nudibranchs. I put him in the big tank a couple of weeks ago though, and he will only eat the tiniest of aiptasia, like less than a mm across. He won't touch the bigger ones, and he won't touch the ones that are growing on the glass or overflow higher than he normally swims. So far he hasn't bothered the nudibranchs either, I've watched him cruise past several on the rocks at night and not even notice. I'm sure there are Copper Bands out there that would happily devour a berghia though. My hope is that once the nudis clear out the bulk of the aiptasias, the copperband will eat any new ones that pop up before they can grow big enough for him to ignore them.

I should also add that for the first month and a bit that the nudibranchs were in my system, the tank was fish less (yay ich), so they had no predators of any kind to contend with. It might have helped, but there's not that many fish that are known for sure to eat berghia, just a bunch that are suspected to maybe do it.

[Dearth]

I have had good luck with Peppermints I have had 3 so far the first one I got went on a feeding frenzy with the aptasia however he met an unfortunate end when a rock moved and crushed him the second one I got wouldn't touch aptasia got the third one and it went to town on the aptasia I am now close to 2 months free.

Plus shrimp are generally fairly cheap $5-11 per shrimp