On the weekend before my birthday (Sept. 28th) I got a sun coral which had a tiny rock chip stuck to the base. On it was my very first Aiptasia hitchhikers. I detached the chip and placed it in a Spice Islands spice jar. On Monday, the 28th, I fed it two drops of microvert. I couldn’t help but think of Dr. Carrington in The Thing From Another World. Yes, I’m a mad scientist, but I didn’t go as far as he did. It’s predatory enough without getting a taste of human blood.

Thus, begins my “Aiptasia Island” experiment. From what I’ve read, Aiptasia is zooxanthellate, but can survive in low light, sucking any nutrient it finds out of the water column. It’s so well adapted to surviving and multiplying and colonizing that it’s the bane of the marine aquarium world. But maybe it is, like a weed, simply misplaced. It’s said that the only difference between a weed and a wildflower is that a weed is a misplaced plant, something growing where it isn’t wanted or doesn’t belong, often “weed” is applied to something invasive. Plants—and animals like Aiptasia—aren’t inherently good or bad: that is a judgement humans make about them. They are what they are. By all accounts Aiptasia may be a candidate for the hardiest marine animal out there. It doesn’t belong in a typical reef aquarium where it will run amok, but what about a species tank? Octopus don’t belong in typical reef aquariums either. They tend to wreak havoc and eat the other inhabitants. This doesn’t mean they’re bad; it just means that they need a tank to themselves. I’m thinking Aiptasia—if kept in a tank by itself—may be the perfect beginner marine animal. Small tank, poor water quality, little or no filtration, spotting feeding by the aquarist, neglect…this would kill almost any marine animal. Would it kill Aiptasia? How bad can conditions be and still maintain the Aiptasia? That’s what I want to find out.

Greetings From Aiptasia Island!

Rock chip with tiny Apitasia in a Spice Islands spice jar on top of egg crate over mini-reef.

Hair algae sprouts on Aiptasia Island

I have added no nutrient to the bottle since Sept. 28th. There is no filtration. The bottle is kept capped, so there’s very little oxygen exchange. Once a day I upcap it and swirl the water around just a little bit. This is both to facilitate a bit of oxygen exchange before I recap it and to stir up nutrient and particulate into the water column so the Aiptasia can feed on anything that had settled to the bottom. I replace about 1/3 of the water every other day. I did the first partial water change the day after adding the microvert, let it go for two days, then settled into the every-other-day routine. I over-filled the bottle today, filling it all the way to the top, instead of 3/4 full, so I had to pour a little water out after I’d done the change.

A couple of days ago I noticed that hair algae had started growing on “Aiptasia Island”. I was surprised as I didn’t think there would be enough nutrient and light for algae. So, now I’m wondering: which is more invasive, Aiptasia or hair algae? Since algae may be a problem in a beginner tank, this question needs to be settled before all others regarding whether Aiptasia could be beginner animal for a single-species tank. The first challenge for my reef-in-a-bottle.

I’m tagging all posts related to this and if the experiment continues for very long I may convert the tag to a menu item category.)