High Tide Aquatics

Make $$$ breeding Berghia Nudibranchs!

SupraSaltyReefer

SupraSaltyReefer

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I used to breed Berghia Nudibranchs just for the challenge to see if I could do it or not. I was pretty successful and was able to breed and give away/sell a few hundred Berghia within the 1.5 years that I was breeding. Sometimes $500+ a month. Good side hustle if you are up for the challenge. Not much effort or maintenance needed. I still get people asking me monthly if I have any Berghia for sale. Toughest part is growing enough aiptasia to feed the Berghias.

I want to give away some of the equipment I have left over to 1-3 Supporting Members that wants to learn how to breed Berghias. I will be your mentor.
****My only ask in return is you sell Berghia back to BAR Supporting Members at a discounted price.****

Requirements:
1. First and foremost, Patience! Believe it or not, it'll take months to propagate enough aiptasia. You need hundreds of aiptasia!
2. You'll need space for three 10g tanks running three air stones and three 25w heaters. (Full disclosure: Your electricity bill will go up!)
3. Two of the aiptasia tanks will need to have a light with a timer.
4. Salinity checker.
5. At minimum you'll need to buy 2 Berghia as your initial brood stock.

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Fastest Practical Setup and Techniques
1. Start with a dedicated culture system
Use a separate small tank, sump section, or shallow tray/container (e.g., 4–10 inches deep water) to avoid contaminating your main reef. Many people use plastic trays, small buckets, or 5–10 gallon setups with gentle flow. Place live rock rubble, ceramic plugs, or PVC pieces for attachment surfaces—Aiptasia love settling on rough surfaces.
2. Induce rapid propagation via damage (the single biggest accelerator)
Regularly cut, shred, or lacerate them:
• Use scissors, a razor blade, or forceps to slice adults in half/quarters or chop tentacles/upper portions weekly.
• Rip some off rocks (leaving bits behind)—damaged bases and floating fragments regenerate fast.
• Prod/stab near the mouth to trigger spore-like release or laceration.
This turns 1 into dozens quickly, as every viable tissue fragment can form a new anemone. People report explosive growth from weekly cutting in nutrient-rich setups.
3. Optimize conditions for maximum speed
• Temperature: Raise to ~82–86°F (28–30°C). Higher temps boost metabolic rate, feeding, growth, and reproduction frequency. (Many reefers note much faster multiplication at 30°C vs. cooler temps.)
• Feeding: Overfeed heavily—Artemia (brine shrimp) nauplii are excellent and commonly recommended for max biomass/propagation. Add flake food, mysis, or other particulate foods daily/every other day. Excess uneaten food = nutrients → faster spread. High nitrates/phosphates help (intentionally “dirty” tank conditions).
• Light: Surprisingly, darkness or very low light often wins for fastest asexual propagation. Studies show continuous darkness significantly increases pedal laceration rates (nearly double in some cases), and many practical farmers/cultures use dark or minimal light to prioritize cloning over photosynthesis. Moderate/low light works too, but avoid intense lighting if speed is the goal.
• Flow/Water quality: Gentle to moderate flow (e.g., airstone or small return line) to distribute food/particles without blasting them off. Skip heavy skimming/water changes—let nutrients build.
• Stocking: Start with a few, then keep densities moderate-high once established; higher densities can produce more small juveniles faster.
Expected Timeline and Tips
• With weekly cutting + overfeeding + warm temps, you can go from a handful to hundreds in weeks to a couple of months.
• Regrowth on cut bases often takes ~7 days to full size in good conditions.
• For a “farm,” harvest half periodically (e.g., cut tops for use, leave bases to regrow).
• Avoid predators (e.g., no peppermint shrimp, Berghia, or filefish in the culture).
This mirrors how research labs and Berghia breeders maintain Aiptasia cultures—damage + food overload + warmth + low/dark light is the combo for explosive numbers. If you’re farming for a specific purpose (like feeding nudibranchs), this should get you there quickest.
 
Invictus said:
I would be in. I have a 5 gallon tank dedicated to intentionally growing Aiptasia right now, and they’re not growing as fast as I would have expected. Started feeding live baby brine at @JVU’s suggestion.

I’d be interested in what you have and the knowledge.

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Many different ways to propagate aiptasia. On top of @Turkeysammich AI suggestions (which are spot on, gotta love and embrace AI!!!) here are some of my tips that will help train AI for future prompts, lol

- Use curved scissors like this below to cut the heads off the anemones. Be quick before they retract. The heads will float around and attach. The base will grow a new head faster. Repeat weekly. You can even use a majano wand to melt a few aiptasia so it releases spores. I've even poured boiling water over some of the aiptasia in a separate container and poured them back into the tank lol.

- Feed the tank often. Brine shrimp babies are great. Pellets, flake or even Reefroids will work. I added a couple fish in the tank to remind me to feed the tank.

- Ideal livestock would be Six Line Wrasse so they eat the bristle worms. Arrow crab is good too. I also add a Dragonet so they eat the copepods. Copepods will eat Berghia eggs and babies.

- Higher the temp the better. I keep temp at 80-86. Stay on the low end if you keep fish in the tank.

- I grow my aiptasia on glass panels so its easier scrape off.

- I don't use live rock rubble because its easy for copepods to hide and eventually get into your Berghia tank. They will eat your egg spirals and Berghia babies.

- MOST IMPORTANTLY: DO NOT get Berghia or egg spirals back into your aiptasia tank. They will grow and eat all your aiptasia. You'll find tons of Berghias in your aiptasia tank, but now you won't have enough aiptasia to feed your main Berghia tank. This is why I recommend two or more tanks dedicated to aiptasia propagation.

Probably more advice I’m forgetting but will add them as questions arise.

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I should have done this and given away my setup to someone in the club. I sold everything for basically nothing plus a ton of work to someone already doing it, and then he stopped.
 
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