macclellan
New member
I like black and fancy occies too. Picassos are pretty neat, but more white than that is goldfish sideshow bearded-woman freakish.
Way to go Matt!
- Thread starter vol_reefer
- Start date
EvilMel
is a serious goby fanatic
macclellan
New member
"Sustainable Island Tank Raised and fully acclimated to aquarium life Blue Tang."
Huh? Is that a typo? What's a "sustainable island?"
Huh? Is that a typo? What's a "sustainable island?"
EvilMel
is a serious goby fanatic
It's our project in which we bring in teeny fish from the wild (many of whom would have died in the wild), raise them in the hatchery, get them acclimated to living in aquariums, make sure they're healthy and then release them for sale.
The fish are collected from numerous islands, therefore...Sustainable Islands.
The fish are collected from numerous islands, therefore...Sustainable Islands.
Fishboy42
Premium Member
Most young fish in the ocean have very poor survival to adulthood due to predation and food availability (this has been documented by earlier endeavors to do the same project; I can post them when I am back). Postlarval swarms of thousands of fish are found certain times of the year in certain areas, and a portion of them can be collected and raised. One can imagine that if, for instance, a clownfish pair in the ocean spawned twice per month for a few years and all of the offspring survived, that the oceans would quickly become overrun, but survival is naturally low (this is one of the key tenants of natural selection, allowing selection for genetically-inherited variations within populations of organisms competing for survival). If we assume that fish populations are stable, then this pair of clowns simply replaces themselves in their lifetime of breeding (this would include deaths, predation, collection, etc).
It is an interesting model since the end-product of the project is a similar size to the normally-available fish, but free from the diseases, stresses, and costs of around-the-world shipping of larger fish (the "broodstock" are left in the ocean), acclimated to aquarium life and diets, and available to ship on-demand to domestic customers with little stress to the animals.
SI began with postlarval shipments from the Solomon Islands (where I'm typing from now
), but "Sustainable Islands" covers the fish from many different island chains where our aquarium fish are collected.
The project also sustains local collectors who continue working to collect these fish that are difficult to breed in captivity (rather than putting them out of business or forcing them to cut down trees to sell lumber and feed their families). Postlarval rearing has been done before with success, and we are optimistic about the beginnings of the project. More information will be available soon about this SA/SI development
It is an interesting model since the end-product of the project is a similar size to the normally-available fish, but free from the diseases, stresses, and costs of around-the-world shipping of larger fish (the "broodstock" are left in the ocean), acclimated to aquarium life and diets, and available to ship on-demand to domestic customers with little stress to the animals.
SI began with postlarval shipments from the Solomon Islands (where I'm typing from now
), but "Sustainable Islands" covers the fish from many different island chains where our aquarium fish are collected. The project also sustains local collectors who continue working to collect these fish that are difficult to breed in captivity (rather than putting them out of business or forcing them to cut down trees to sell lumber and feed their families). Postlarval rearing has been done before with success, and we are optimistic about the beginnings of the project. More information will be available soon about this SA/SI development
macclellan
New member
Dave, They'd die because the vast majority of wild organisms die before reaching sexual maturity. Hundreds of fish each spawn, maybe one survives. Nature's just cruel that way - survival of the fittest and luckiest.
Thanks for the explanation Mel. "Sustainable Island" wasn't self-explanatory.
Thanks for the explanation Mel. "Sustainable Island" wasn't self-explanatory.
vol_reefer
New member
SI began with postlarval shipments from the Solomon Islands (where I'm typing from now
Now *that's* what I call a deductible business trip!
Need a dive helper?
Jeff (vol_reefer)
