Culture Journal, Species: Aiptasia Sp.

General
Species:  Aiptasia sp.
Species description: Small brown/gold colored anemone. approximately 3/4" tall - 2" tall
Culture source (link if possible):  Seascape Studio, www.seascapestudio.net
If algae, CCMP # (Optional): 
http://ccmp.bigelow.edu/
Culture Establishment Date:  10/29/2011
Continuation Date:  01/29/2012

Culturing Vessel Details
Salinity:  1.024
Temperature:  78F 
pH:  8.0

Vessel description:  20 gallon tank
Lighting description:  two 18" fluorescent light fixtures standard bulbs
Lighting cycle:  on 1030 off 2130
Aeration description: None

Methodologies
Split methodology:  not split yet. going to propagate.

Culture medium description: 
Just going to let it eat leftovers from the clown feedings
Cell count: 10 or more
 (if known)

Reference links:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aiptasia; http://aiptasia.ca/

Additional Information
(No Pictures or Videos in the Section Please)
Notes: 



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RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

 

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

Dude, PLEASE tell me that Seascape Studio is your LFS, and this just came in on some live rock!
 
I'm guessing you're contemplating Berghia breeding?  If so, it is most definitely a good idea to have a VERY LARGE supply of Aiptasia before you even think of getting your Berghia.  Some have suggested having at least a very full 40 Gallon breeder's worth of Aiptasia before starting your Berghia breeding project.  Having had Berghia annihilate my Aiptasia food source in no time before I even noticed them doing so, I'd agree!
 
Good luck with getting the Aiptasia to multiply!  Feed them well and often.  Darkness will make them asexually reproduce through pedal laceration.

That's exactly what I'm doing. Seascape is my LFS and they only had one Aipstasia in all their tanks. It was a small rock with just the one anemone on it. I'm going to give it its own tank shortly. I'm sure I'll have more than one tank of them as time goes by. I've been doing a ton of research on them. google scholar is amazing!

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

awesome,
 
love to see people focus on berghia... but as Jim pointed out be afraid... be very afraid... lol they will eat a *ton* of aptasia in a very short amount of time.  I jumped the gun early with only a 10 gallon packed with aptasia and found myself needing to farm from my sumps to keep the broodstock fed.  Inevitably this resulted in cross contamination of amphipods and the whole thing went down the tubes.
 
You may want to separate that aptasia from the rock and get it in a bare vessel for propagation.  Amphipods will chow down on berghia eggs and ruin the best laid plans very quickly.

Pelagically yours,
~J      

man these are growing fast! I have about 20 or so now scattered throughout the tank. On the bottom, sides, the rock is just covered. They are in a lighted tank, little flow, not being fed, just what ever is extra that I feed my one baby clown. Amazing little creatures! One will stretch out to about 3" tall.

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

Oops, see below.

How do I get them off the rocks? My aips seem to prefer rock to the bare plastic tub surfaces.

Is it rock you really care about? Hydrogene peroxide dip should kill it. Or cover them in Kalk paste. That's always been a sure way to do it.
 
I have an extra bag of it if you need any. It's hard to find sometimes.

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

No I care about the aiptasia, Ha ha. I am growing aiptasia on purpose. I don't want to kill anything.  I want to remove the rocks from the tub.  They are small, but they are covered in aips, so I can't remove them without losing the aips.

If the rock isn't too porus and concave, in other words, if it has somewhat solid, convex areas where the Aiptasia are growing, I've been able to scrape them off with a putty knife before.  That's how I got a lot of those that I sent you and your friend earlier this year, Kathy.  Otherwise, I've read somewhere that plunging the rock into cold salt water will make them let go, but haven't ever tried that.

You can always chisel the rock like you would when fragging softies. That way a little of the rock stays on the bottom of the nem when it's removed.

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

It may be worth giving points to people who culture aiptasia as these are just as essentially as rotifers for Berghia breeding.

Kathy here's a study on cold shock to remove them
http://www.int-res.com/ar..es/meps/77/m077p233.pdf

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

Glen, thanks for trying, but this isn't a study on aiptasia and release from rocks. 

ah dangit!!!! I copied the wrong one. I can't find it!

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8

We do similar with removal via cold.  I put the rock in a bucket of saltwater and set it outside (during the winter) overnight but don't let it freeze.  At low temps 30ish most all of the aiptasia will jump ship or if you shake the rock can fall off

And do the aiptasia recover after they are warmed up?
 

RLTW

180 Gallon Mixed Reef

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?" And I said, "Here am I. Send me!" Isaiah 6:8