I have. I do know adults can eat a small aptasia per day, but I don't know how well they will reproduce in a reef tank. I had them in a dedicated "dish" for about a month and although they laid hundreds of eggs, I saw no recruits. I think you'd be lucky to have the reproduce at all in a typical reef tank. If all was perfect, you could expect one or two new berghia per month--so says Larry O. (berghia.net breeder).
That means you'd have to buy enough to directly remedy the problem. That will end up being a few to 20 (~$15 per) or more depending on how fast your aptasia are spreading and other factors (tank size, predation, filtration, etc.). Some tanks have just a few aptasia that produce one or two new anemones per week. My tank, on the other hand, had hundreds, if not over a thousand--at the last they were literally floating in the water for lack of a place to settle. Game over, pretty much.
You have to get a handle how many you have and how fast they are spreading. That will determine what course to take (including the possiblity of breaking the tank down). Putting four peppermints in a tank with 100 aptasia will get you nowhere. Putting four in with 10 aptasia will solve the problem in a few days (assuming they eat them at all).
I talked to Morgan L. of Inland Aquatics about the problem and his first suggestion was peppermint shrimp. Pretty much any of the caribbean/gulf/atlantic "wurdemanni" complex will work. You'll want adults, and depending on the magnitude of the aptasia problem, you'll want to house them in a separate tank and put one infested rock in there at a time. Peppermints will eat aptasia, but they far prefer other foods which are usually quite abundant in a typical reef tank.
Another option is butterflies--several will work including raccoon, copperband, and klien's. Same issues as with peppermints and they might nip your corals.
I've been forced to break my infested systems down and am trying to make the best of it by experiementing with peppermints, butterflies, berghia in dedicated tanks. I just set up a 10g with 30 peppermints and am studing how they handle "a rock at a time". Too early to tell, but I'll keep this thread updated. I might be willing to sell some, but probably not this month. I got them from Dana of cramers carribean critters.
Good luck, brother! Fight the good fight!
