Getting our local stores to carry velvet and berghia nudi's

[discuspro]

Unless some of you know where I can get velvet nudibranchs and berghia nudibranchs dependably, in Austin, I think we should all start calling the shops and pushing them to carry some. If they start carrying them then newbies would have maybe less of a problem with getting them in thier tanks by buying from local LFS, and I've pretty much seen aiptasia or brown nudibranchs at all of our local shops so they need these guys as well.

[Ross]

The hard part about that is they have to have a tank to themselves, because for the most part there so small if they go in a big tank they will just get lost. On top of that not many lfs want to harvest aptasia to feed these guys.

PS i dont think you'll find any aptasia at Fin-Addict. ;-)

[discuspro]

Haven't been to that shop but would like to some day. Some places in Austin don't need to harvest aiptasia, they've got a farm going on in each tank. That goes also for the orange nudibranchs.

I know the lfs would be hard pressed to keep them but if we show the demand is good I'm sure they would get some in.

Do they have either of these at Fin-addict?

[Ross]

No, only place to get them is from Larry in Floresville.

[Viet-Tin]

Theres a lfs here in austin thinking about carrying them. Hes not sure if itll be worth it but if he can get enough interest then he may eventually carry them. Ill have to talk to him a little more and see if hell go for it.

[discuspro]

Do tell, do tell! Who is it? Which, are they thinking about berghia or velvets? Both would be good!

Who else would be up for buying either nudi's from a lfs in Austin?

[cpreefguy]

www.berghia.net

[discuspro]

There is shipping charges involved right? That's what I'm trying to get rid of, is that bad?

[Viet-Tin]

Steve at Horizon Pets was thinking about carrying berghia. Hes not sure if there would be enough interest to carry them though but I sure do know that I would need them.

[discuspro]

Maybe you and I could setup a little order with him, or maybe we could make a wanted list by the people on MAAST in Austin that need them.

Many people are saying berghia.net but I rarely go to S. Antonio, which I think is closer to Floresville than Austin, once every two or so years. I'm thinking I would have to pay overnight shipping cost, not sure what that would be for a Texas to Texas destination but I figure not far from $30-40. So driving down there would cost that much or more by gas expenses. A couple dollars added by a retailer in Austin might sound better to me than a 30-40 charge for animals that are kinda expensive already.

[Viet-Tin]

Yea Ill talk to him and see what hes going to do.

[GaryP]

I have ordered Velvet's through an LFS before. It was strictly a pick up upon delivery type of thing. They have no place to keep them and no way to feed them if they did. In addition, the supply of these guys is pretty tough at best. I was on a waiting list for months and never did get any. The same sort of thing applies to Berghia. I know Instar was on a waiting list for his first breeding pair for months. Berghia can be bred in captivity. To the best of my knowledge, Velvet's can not. In addition, Velvet's have a very short life span (~ 6 months). Just my luck, I would get some 5 month old Velvet's. I had some reasonable success with the Velvet's, but I think you would have to order a lot of them to have success in a large tank in controlling flatworms. I certainly wasn't able to wipe them out with velvets although I know that Fin Addict had good success.

I have had a lot better success with flatworm control with spot tail wrasses. I have tried just about every supposed flatworm eating fish ever mentioned and these guys did the trick. I have one in both of my tanks. One of them came from another MAASTARD after he had cleaned up his tank.

I got fltaworms several years ago from LS I bought from an LFS. Ever since then I have tried everything to get rid of them, including several heavy doses of Flatworm Exit. While I am not totally flatworm free, I am well on the way to it and am longer experiencing flatworm blooms.

I have tried Berghia as well and I just don't think I had enough aiptasia to provide enough food to establish a breeding colony. The aiptasia returned after the berghia apparently died off. I think that berghia are probably the way to go in heavily infested tanks, but I have had much better success with butterflies in tanks with just a few aiptasia.

[ratboy]

I bought a dozen berghia (6 for my tank) from Instar ~ months ago and so far so good. I dont think the average fish store worker could successfuly aclimated the nudis then remove them from the tank and get them into a transport container for a customer. Once you've sat with your hand in your tank for 45 minutes WAITING for a little 3/4 inch slug to crawl from a spoon to a rock you'd understand . If you want berghia just organize a group order (I may even get a few more for a friends tank). I do agree with Gary (and instar for that matter) that berghia are probably not the total solution and I will probably setup a separate tank for a longnose BF to take out some big ones on movable rocks.

--Erik

[ratboy]

Gary--
I noticed a small group of flatworms in my tank at home and want to crontrol them before they reach epidemic levels. I dont want to use FW exit until its a last resort because Im not sure how it would affect my nudis or other simple inverts. Is this the fish you use for flatworm control? If so I wonder how it will cohabitate with an 8 line wrasse (in a 400 gal).

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=2285&N=3

[discuspro]

In my tank the things that I would be concerned about having with the fish are my Christmas tree worms, and my teardrop maxima clam. I've got no fish in the tank at the moment. Would putting that wrasse or butterfly in attack these kinds of organisms?

[hammondegge]

Dustin and Erik, this guy may help
http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_Display.cfm?pCatId=386
i got one at Austin Aquariums and i believe they are frequently in stock. he is a small, friendly and very busy fish, always picking at the rock and sand. he will eat many frozen foods, inc mysis. i have never had the bad flatworms but i have seen the clear ones in my tank before, never very many. i have not seen a single one since introducing "rascal".

[discuspro]

It says that they may eat feather dusters, isn't that similar to Christmas tree worms? Maybe it'll come down to attempting to be pest free and having to get rid of the Christmas tree worms.