clownfish hormones

[Ron Popeil]

so i know that fresh water fish farmers often, if not always, use injected hormones to stimulate or induce breeding in their fish.

im assuming, fish biologists synthesized the chemicals the fish would naturally produce, increased the dosage and discovered that injecting the fish vastly increased the liklihood of breeding.

now to cross over to clownfish, is something like this possible or already in application? in more detail, it would be fascinating to hear from anyone with experience with these sexual hormones in fish, particularly clownfish, and discuss why or why not this same process is possible in clownfish....

are there any studies i can read on sexual hormones in saltwater fish, or even their synthesis and replication? is this an area of little study? or is it too much like cheating that it robs the standard fish breeder the challenge of using environmental factors to induce breeding?

 

[stykthyn]

you going to hop up your chrys so you can sell me a pair of babies????

 

[phender]

I know that they use hormones to stimulate spawning in saltwater food fish. They have been doing it for 20 years. I was talking to a guy this summer who used to do stuff like that. He said that it took them 1-2 years to come up with ability to chemically induce spawning in the fish he was working on (I think it was mullet).
You would think that some of the larger commercial hatcheries would have the money to fund some research like that, but maybe not. Or maybe it is not worth it to them, since ocellaris are their big money makers and they are not that difficult to get spawning under the hatchery's conditions.

I wonder if messing with the hormones of a fish that changes sex during its life (which I assume would also be hormone related) would make the process more difficult.

 

[stykthyn]

wonder if messing with the hormones of a fish that changes sex during its life (which I assume would also be hormone related) would make the process more difficult

that's a very good point

 

[WDLV]

I'd like to give this old thread a "bump." Anyone out there with knowledge of this?

 

[Whip316]

want to get your Thiellei a boost to start breeding?

 

[WDLV]

I want to keep all my options on the table.

 

[Ron Popeil]

i would still very much like to know this. i imagine there are many lessons to be learned from the mass production of saltwater food fish....that can be applied to difficult to spawn clownfish.

my tricinctus for example....they just adamantly refuse to do anything but eat.

 

[WDLV]

My tricinctus were tricky little devils as well.
Based on this little information I've been able to dig up, it doesn't look like anyone has succeeded (or probably tried it) with the Amphiprion genus. Given that I'd have to inject my fish, I'm not so sure it would be worth the risk of infection or injury.