Storytime again for us fish nerds... Southern Japan and Guam dive/fish trip 2012 :)

Frank at RCT is not doing captive bred fish anymore, atleast not for sale. there are others waiting to fill his shoes :)

John, you need to find me a pair of debelius! I've been trying for years..but goose egg !
 
For some of the rarer angelfish, do you feel that the key to their availability in the hobby being large scale captive breeding?

It's different reasons for each species... but every species has a reason it's rare in our trade... and so "availability" usually means in very small numbers and for very high prices... usually higher than most Americans want to pay... the best way for those to come down would be through captive breeding...



Frank at RCT is not doing captive bred fish anymore, atleast not for sale. there are others waiting to fill his shoes :)

John, you need to find me a pair of debelius! I've been trying for years..but goose egg !

Well you must be talking about the coolest person on Oahu... Mrs. Karen Brittain! :beer: For those who don't know her you could read this here...

http://glassbox-design.com/2010/captive-bred-amphiprion-latezonatus/

And a video of something more recent she just did... :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZqBpBcC-zY

Copps
 
I'm not a part of MASA, as such, but honestly if you ever even think of coming to Australia please let me know, would be glad to help out in any way I could :)
 
I'm not a part of MASA, as such, but honestly if you ever even think of coming to Australia please let me know, would be glad to help out in any way I could :)

Thanks Charlie... I'll let you know.

i think copps was in Oz...he went to Lord Howe for dive...

Nope... no Oz yet... especially Lord Howe... definitely on the bucket list though!

Copps

More pics coming...
 
This next tank in the doctor's office was amazing... kept very cool... low 60s I believe... should have taken notes but am going off memory... the tank was custom built and is double paned to prevent condensation... some INSANELY rare fish... deepwater... some VERY deep water... the tank only was lit with blue light to not startle the fish.

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Notice the two panes of acrylic... a tank within a tank...

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What a collection in this tank... starting with a fish pulled from 600 feet with hook and line... this fish was huge with insane coloration... what a fish!!

Odontanthias chrysostictus taken with hook and line (very slowly) at Okinawa at 180 meters!

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Another Okinawa deepwater beauty... this one from just over 300 feet... huge stud male Cirrhilabrus lanceolatus

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Plectranthias sagamiensis, collected at 225 feet at Izu Peninsula... between Osaka and Tokyo... my apologies for some of the poor quality pics but some of these fish were very skittish... man this guy has a collection!

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The Holy Grail of Plectranthias... although relatively common compared to its tankmates... this is Plectranthias pelicieri... a collected pair from Japan also... a fish I just added to my collection last year...

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More coming... :)
 
More beauties from 200 feet plus off Izu...

Tosanoides flavofasciatus Are you freaking kidding me!? :D Stunning!

The pair...

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The male...

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Another Izu Tosanoides...

Tosanoides filamentosus

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Another Plectranthias... this one undescribed from over 300 feet in Okinawa...

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Japanese cherry anthias... Sacura margaritacea

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Odontanthias fuscipinnis... deepwater beauty from Hawaii...

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I'm a huge Bodianus fan... it was a pleasure seeing this beautiful Japanese true Bodianus masudai... every once in a blue moon one of these enters the trade from Indo...

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And another Hawaiian endemic beauty from the deep... Bodianus sanguineus...

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Copps
 
The seemingly pedestrian Belonoperca pylei he had in QT... also known as Dr. Seuss... from the Marshall's...

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And some beauties from Curacao collected deep by submarine...

Decodon puellaris

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Hemanthias vivanus

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Pronotogrammus martinicensis

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And here is a very special fish for me... what a treat to see this... I'm a fan of Liopropoma... especially the Atlantic species... I own pairs of L. carmabi, eukrines, and rubre... but this species is EXCEPTIONALLY rare to see... the species is Liopropoma aberrans... I'd read about this species for many years... and saw grainy photos from a submersible... in 2001 the well known South Florida collector Eric Reichardt was killed diving his rebreather off Pompano Beach in South Flordia... he either drowned, and was subsequently attacked by a shark... or drowned as a result of a shark attack... ask anyone who dives a rebreather and they'll tell you that sharks have much less fear of you... as you are not making noise blowing bubbles... you are just another animal swimming the depths... you can read one of the many articles here...

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2002-04-09/news/0204090250_1_shark-dive-site-technical-divers

Angelfish nerds will appreciate that Eric collected the only documented rock beauty/ blue angel hybrid ever documented... in the article you'll see that it mentions that "Reichardt told his father that he had seen a rare fish at the wreck recently and wanted to catch it." Well... the fish that Eric was targeting that he said he'd seen at that wreck was this Liopropoma... now for the first time collected via submersible in Curacao... and in this doctor's tank... meet Liopropoma aberrans...:eek2:

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Copps
 
Wow, how big was that lanceolatus? Also, what is the hose hanging down on the left side of the tank?

Huge for a Cirrhilabrus... probably between six and seven inches from what recall... maybe over seven... don't know about the hose... perhaps to add water for water changes or top off...

this doc seem to have taken up every uber rare fish came to his way....:deadhorse:

Yes... but were it not for collectors like this we'd NEVER see these fish alive!

Copps
 
OMG, what a tank!!!! Those are all $2k+ fish, except for the Sacura and pelicieri... Correct me if I am wrong, but I can pinpoint 2 fish that are probably the only ones in captivity!! Can't wait for the other tanks!
Thx again for this great thread!!
 
I love Liopropoma genus fish. Too bad they don't get along well. I might try a couple night dives deep with a slurp gun when I'm in the keys just in case. I have a buddy who has seen them at around 75-85 feet. Great pics, fantastic story!
 
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