Breeding marine fish?

[SoonerFan732]

I recently cleared out my last freshwater tank (125 gallon) and I am considering trying to breed some sort of marine fish in the tank. Anyone have any suggestions of something that has been known to breed in captivity?

Thanks!

Kevin

 

[dugg]

So much to say and none of it fit for this forum lol.

 

[SoonerFan732]

I should clarify marine fish or invert that has bred in captivity related

I did just notice for the first time that the message board has a forum on fish breeding.

 

[Russ Braaten]

I would think that if your goal is breeding you need a smaller tank that allows you to interact easily. However one critter that you don't have to do much with to get to breed are different anenomes. although if you want to raise a number of them you have to do some cutting on them aswell.

 

[pwhitby]

I would have thought the best bet is to go with clowns, they seem to reproduce pretty well given the correct conditions. There was an article recently on breeding yellow watchman gobies in either reefkeeping or advanced aquarist.

Paul.

 

[Snprhed]

If you want it to be easy and make money, breed berghia nudibranchs. There is a guy who sells them on the livestock section and always sells them out in a day or two.

 

[SoonerFan732]

Russ and Paul,
I have thought about moving all my RBTAs to the tank and allowing them to reproduce in their own tank. I currently have nine or ten RBTAs in my reef tank. The anemones are starting to expand into the corals space. I could even keep a pair of clowns with the anemones and try get them to reproduce at the same time. This is most likely what I am leaning toward doing.

Is keeping more than one pair of clowns in the same tank a bad idea?

Snprhed,
Raising Berghia Nudibranchs sounds like a fun project. I need to look into them more. Do they only eat Aiptasia? Not sure if I could raise enough Aiptasia to keep them alive

Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[Snprhed]

You could probably get help from local club people with the aiptasia

 

[luvabunny]

I have heard PJ cardinals will breed in captivity. There's also the various shrimps, and of course, seahorses - tho a single 125g tank wouldn't be sufficient for them.

 

[SoonerFan732]

Just curious, how big a tank do you need to breed seahorse or do you mean it would require other support tanks also?

 

[luvabunny]

Depending on the species, it would require at least 2 other tanks, much smaller. The 125 could be a living, breeding, show area, but you would need smaller grow out tanks, and tanks for raising live foods.

 

[Russ Braaten]

Soonerfan, You could keep more than one pair of clowns in a 125, especially if they have a lot of rbtas to hide in and even better if you have different types of clown pairs. That is what I think I will be doing with my next tank.

 

[SoonerFan732]

Thanks for information April!

Russ,
That sounds like something I would be happy with keeping. I might give that setup a try.

 

[captbunzo]

From sort of a research perspective, I would love to see you try something other then clowns. (Mostly, of course, so that you can report your results here. )

Anyhow, here is a list of other marine critters I have heard stories of breeding:

1. PJ Cardinals
2. Banggai Cardinals
3. Peppermint Shrimp (I have several in my tank that get regularly impregnated by the local male)

I would check around in some different forums if you are interested in more variety - maybe find a fish breeding forum. The experts over in the Marine Depot forums would probably be helpful as well.

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

Check out these Forums and Web Sites and Threads for tons of information about the propogation of fish and invertebrates. It should keep you busy for a few weeks.

ORA Website - Look at there list of available fish. These are all captive bred. If they can do it, you can.
Anemones & Clownfish Forum - In this Reef Central forum, there are all sorts of scattered tidbits about propgation of Clownfish and even Anemones
The Fish Breeding Forum - Dr. Frank Marini does a fine job at guiding many aquarists in propagating fish. He personally breeds Bangaii Cardinalfish (P. kaudernii)
Seahorses & Pipefish - There is tons of scattered information concerning the reproduction of seahorse and pipefish in here.
Advanced Topics Forum - There is tons of information here about the reproduction of carious fish. It takes some good searching to find it, though.
Coral & Anemone fragging - techniques - An awesome thread that you might like
Mated pair of Copperband Butterflies - An interesting thread that shows good development
Marine Fish-Reproduction, Care and Husbandry - Another forum by Dr. Frank Marini. This forum has quite a bit of awesome information
Manual for the Production of Bangaii Cardinalfish, (Pterapogon Kaudnerni), in Hawaii - An EXCELLENT article in the care and reproduction of Bangaii Cardinalfish. This is a guide that I will be using once I get my Black and White tank running.
Marine Systems and Husbandry - A forum moderated by Anthony Calfo that is littered with all sorts of breeding projects and lists of aquacultured specimens.
Seahorse.org - A forum that has tons of information on the reproduction of seahorses and pipefish. Sorry that I don't have anything specific out of here
The Sea Slug Forum - A forum and website that has a bunch of information on the reproduction habits of many sea slugs such as Berghia Nudibranchs, Sea Hares, etc.
Acclimating Silver Mollies to SW - I don't know if this covers the care or reproduction of them, but I know that Mollies can be bred in marine environments just as well as they do in freshwater aquariums.
My Berghia Verrucicornis Nudibranch Breeding Tank Log *pics* - A great breeding log of Berghia Nudibranchs. Well worth the read.

 

[herpchat]

Since I am here I will post that right now I am looking at breeding 6 marine species by the end of the year. I am a fanatic or lunatic (depending on who you talk too) fish breeder. I keep about 70 tanks running in my home (FW however right now 6 have been converted to SW and considering converting a rack of FW tanks over to SW for rearout space.) So many fish and never enough tanks.

 

[cek1313]

Kevin--I know I Pm'ed you this but I thought I'd post it here:

As far as keeping many (more than 2) different species of clowns in a large tank, I wouldn't advise it from research, reading and plain experience. Even in such a large tank, clowns are well known to move from Anemone to Anemone if they have not paired or started to spawn and this could endanger some of your smaller ones. I might suggest placing a large school of a single species and this way it is more natural and more likely that you won't have any squabbles between species.

Of the species I may try placing in a large tank together--less agressive (no maroons or tomatoes and maybe even Clarkiis), possibly Ocellaris + percula, Ocellaris + skunks (orange, pink, nigripes etc).

Let me know how it goes--I'd love to see all those clowns swimiming around in such a large tank with all those RBTAs!

 

[herpchat]

CE, What clowns have you bred? What species do you currently have?

As to Clowns in a tank what about 2 pair from different species would that work?

 

[cek1313]

Herp--I've previously bred ocellaris, maroon, tomato and clarkii. Currently I have several pairs and a few showing spawning behavior but none that have laid eggs yet. It had been awhile since I was able to set everything back up to breed clowns but I have everything going for almost 1.5 yrs now. I acquire different pairs all the time. I currently have Allardiis, Akindynos, Nigripes, pink skunks, black saddlebacks, ocellaris, onyx and bicinctus pairs.