aptasia control

[Instar]

There is no question about mature peppermint shrimp eating aiptasia. They do that, and they will clear a tank out once they get going, but, they are not a target predator and that means they are not desirable for people who enjoy adding a lot of biodiversity to their reefs. In many reefs living in too close quarters can mean some people will loose their favorite LPS, tunicates, cucumbers or anemones and other things to their peppermints. They work well for some people who have highly specialized reefs or complex structures but not for everyone. They also work pretty well in a clearing tank just for cleaning rocks of aiptasia so the shrimp are kept out of the reef this way. Another exception though, 9 times out of 10 with the more porous rock, once the peppermints are gone, the aiptasia are back in places that make life difficult. Like everything in this hobby, both up and down side.

[ratboy]

I also saw a few aptasia explode into hundreds in my 380. I attacked some of them with joes juice, kalk paste, lemon juice, etc and while it often worked (or appears to) I would often see tiny ones in the area days later. I bought peppermint shrimp but they never seemed to make an impact. My next to last resort was to try some of instar's berghia. It cost me almost 200$ after shipping for 12 - it stung a bit but I ordered them anyways. They go to my house and OH MY GOD! They were tiny!! After aclimation I counted all 12 and carefully placed each animal onto a rock with several juicy aptasias. After 2 hours of patiently waiting for them to walk off of the plastic spoon onto the rocks I had them all in my tank and they vanished thinking "I hope this works....".
I didnt notice any changes for the first week but by week 2 I noticed some of my biggest aptasias were missing from a zo rock and the zos were opening up again for the first time in a long time. Last night before the lights went out I noticed an aptasia didnt look so good (when do you ever see that??) and careful inspection showed 2 or 3 FAT berghia munching on him. By this morning that aptasia was gone and Im noticing fewer and fewer aptasia on the rocks where I released my colonies.
I highly reccomend instars berghia they were flexible with my entire order bagging a specific number in each bag, provided quick communication and most importantly the animals were all in excellent shape and appear to be doing their job!

--Erik

[TroyPham]

Erik.. no doubt Larry is a great guy.... he just needs to find something that will eat mejano and he will be the greatest guy... haha

[GaryP]

Erik.. no doubt Larry is a great guy.... he just needs to find something that will eat mejano and he will be the greatest guy... haha

Racoon Butterfly. Yes, Larry taught me that.

[Bug_Power]

lol MAAST needs to have everyone pitch in and get some natural pest control items, then just swap them around

[Bug_Power]

Ok just an update. I picked up a Raccoon butterfly yesterday. I usually feed 3x a week, but held of Monday's to see if I could get him started on Mejanos. Well I got an email today from my mom saying that she saw him eating "the bad brown things" All looks good. Now how do I keep him on the chosen path? I usually feed 1 cube of brine 3x a week for my fish.

[GaryP]

Great, I'm glad to see you are having success!

Butterfly usually need to eat a couple of times a day. I would rethink your feeding strategy if you want to keep him long term. I'm not sure if a steady diet of majanos will keep him alive. Most butterfly eat a pretty wide variety of things. The wild caught CBB I have had took a long time before I could get them to eat frozen food. I've never had a Racoon though, so I am not sure what problems you may have there. From what I know about them, they are not that different in their feeding habits then a CBB. When all else fails, PM Instar. I would go ahead and try to feed him frozen to see if he will eat. Here is some more info.

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...cfm?pCatId=299

[Bug_Power]

The CBB has been eating brine, and my feather dusters. I have probably 1000's of them now. The CBB has never even taken a second look at the Aptasia or Mejano's. However has been feeding pretty well on brine and the dusters. ;)