Berghia Nudi's

[gcantu]

How much do they generally go for??? (Price per nudi????)

[GaryP]

Drop Instar a PM. It depends on how many you want.

[gcantu]

I ask because I think I have around 4 that hitchhiked on some stuff I purchased and did not know if I should try and sell them or keep them.

[Reef69]

Are you sure they are Berghias???

[gcantu]

Are you sure they are Berghias???

What else could they be?? Is there another that looks just like it but non reef safe??

I was able to catch one with my net while it was wandering around the rock and placed it in a dish with some tank water. I got a magnifying glass and took a closer look at it and then looked it up on berghia.net to see if it was the same as those in the pictures. All four are just hanging out in one spot at the moment under some zoas. At first I thought they were eating the zoas but after watching them for a couple of days they just seem to be moving around in the same spot.

[Instar]

There is a very dangerous nudibranch that looks exactly like a Berghia v. except that it will eat many polyps and anemones. Those are normally the hitch hikers because they thrive on zoos, amoung other things and are very commonly inported with rocks and frags. The more beneficial Berghia v. that eat Aiptasia are very rare. To have 4 of them hitch in on something would be something extremely, extremely rare. I would beware, they probably are not Berghia v. that only eat Aiptasia.

[gcantu]

Would you have a pic of it or a name for me to look up? I will keep an eye on them to see if they behave or not.
Thanks,
George

[gcantu]

Well, I guess to be on the safe side I took them out and flushed them back to the ocean. I found the ones in question on the internet but could not find the associated round circular pattern of eggs on the zoas. Maybe I caught them in time before they had a chance to reproduce. I'll keep an eye out for any more this week.

Thanks for the heads up!!!

[Instar]

I tried to find a decent picture but didn't. They are pretty small and eggs would be hidden underneath something or under the rock. You would probably need a strong magnifying lense or dissecting scope to see them. The egg strands are primarliy circular or irregular concentric ribbons, crystal clear except for the developing embryo. Nearly impossible to see the tiny clear "spots" as you can see right through them. There may be no pigment in the eggs at first and maybe not at all until they hatch and eat. Hatching larva will be microscopic. A very difficult task to get rid of them if those survive. In this case, flushing was a good choice on your part.

For the inquiring minds; The eggs of zoo eating nudibranchs can be terminated with a 10 second dip in 10% formalin but if there are zoos on the same substrate, I am not sure what that would do to the zoos. It would have to be well rinsed to keep residual out of your tank too as its very toxic and you have to handle with care. Formalin is significant health hazard to humans.

[gcantu]

Are zoa's the only thing they eat or should I be worried about other inhabitants in my tank? And if there are no zoa's, will they simply starve to death?

[GaryP]

There is a biological term for this called "Mimicry." In other words one species will imitate another species that may be an undesirable prey item for a predator. I'm guessing a Berghia nudi with a gut full of aiptasia is probably not a very good tasting meal for most predators. Another species that looks just like it is probably going to be passed over as a meal as well. Butterflies often do this as well.

[Instar]

Most nudibranches in the family are not obligate to one particular species so all zooanthid family polyps would be in danger as well as yellow polyps. They may also feed on Bryarium or Gorgonia, swifti zooanthid, Palythoa. Some species can move on anemones too and others any of the corals. Without an exact species ID, it's impossible to know. And even with a species ID, it's possible to error because so little totally complete information is really available. You will have to keep your eyes open for a couple of months at least and be suspect of this. There were some nudibranches running around that that looked very much like the Berghia and they were eating Tulip and other anemones too.