Thinking of getting some berghia......

[Timbits]

Getting fed up with the aptasia, I think I need to get some berghia.
I know that peppermint shrimp will eat the berghia but how about cleaner shrimp? I have one in my tank. My tank is a 40 breeder. Live stock is 2 clowns, starry blenny, tail spot blenny, bangaii cardinal, mandarin dragonet, and cleaner shrimp. I'm worried about the cleaner shrimp and mandarin dragonet might eat the berghia? Any thoughts? Also how many berghia should I get? I wouldn't say the tank is completely overrun by aptasia but there's a fair bit. Thanks.

[monocus]

2-3 berghia for a 40 if you have about 50 aptasia.the start up is slow,but in a few months they will clean out the problem.fish will not eat them as they taste bad to them.i've seen my lunar wrasse attempt to eat one and then spit it out right away.the good thing about berghia is they are reef safe-all they eat is aptasia;so once you have no aptasia they will starve to death

[Timbits]

Do cleaner shrimp eat berghia?

[monocus]

not sure-most shrimp eat anything including each other.i've had a problem with arminia eating berghia eggs-but i never seen them eat berghia themselves

[input80]

Need some berghia too , just a few though

[Timbits]

Aww man guess I should take him out just to be safe...

[Frankly Canadian]

I got about 10 and they work great! I was going to trade for some corrals.

[asylumdown]

Salty Underground (the most reliable source of Berghia that I've seen online) state on their FAQ page that cleaner shrimp are compatible with berghia. They're not something they'd normally eat, so unless your shrimp were starving I doubt they'd be a problem. I had cleaner shrimp in my tank at the time I was using Berghia and they didn't seem to have any effect on the population.

[daniella3d]

peppermint shrimp will eat berghia but I don't think cleaner will do that. Anyway berghias only come out at night in total darkness and the shrimp are sleeping usually at night so they don't really interfear with each other.

I bought 5 berghia put them in my 75 gallons and never saw them again. Still have tons of aiptasia but seem some are disapearing from time to time so I am guessing that some berghias are still alive.

Don't put them near any aiptasia as the aiptasia will eat the berghia if they can touch it. Don't ever handle berghia with your hand, you need a large pipette to sort of suck it in the pipette than push it out with the flow. They are very fragile. don't put them near any pump in or strong flow.

Acclimation should be minimum of 3 to 4 hours with drip.

If you add only 3, your chances of them breeding and multiplying are very small. 5 will be more likely. They are freeking expensive and really not that efficient. I still have tons of aiptasias after a few months of having put 5 berghias in my tank. I have nothing that will eat them either. No wrasse either.

[Wheelman76]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

peppermint shrimp will eat berghia but I don't think cleaner will do that. Anyway berghias only come out at night in total darkness and the shrimp are sleeping usually at night so they don't really interfear with each other.

I bought 5 berghia put them in my 75 gallons and never saw them again. Still have tons of aiptasia but seem some are disapearing from time to time so I am guessing that some berghias are still alive.

Don't put them near any aiptasia as the aiptasia will eat the berghia if they can touch it. Don't ever handle berghia with your hand, you need a large pipette to sort of suck it in the pipette than push it out with the flow. They are very fragile. don't put them near any pump in or strong flow.

Acclimation should be minimum of 3 to 4 hours with drip.

If you add only 3, your chances of them breeding and multiplying are very small. 5 will be more likely. They are freeking expensive and really not that efficient. I still have tons of aiptasias after a few months of having put 5 berghias in my tank. I have nothing that will eat them either. No wrasse either.

Don't give up hope yet, I added 8 berghia to my 90 gallon when I had 40 to 50 berghia in the display ,and a bunch in the sump as well. After 3 months it was only getting worse , I must have had 80 to 100 berghia in my display. Then a couple weeks later they quickly started to disappear , two weeks after that they were all gone. I've read that its the babies that are the real ferocious eaters. I would check every couple nights with a flashlight when the lights were out, and never saw a single berghia for the first three months. I had completely given up on them , finally one night I spotted three at once and couldn't believe it lol.