[jimc]

My LFS has been receiving captive bred Hippo Tangs. They are just babies and beautiful specimens. I have passed on these fish in the past because I had heard they were a bit touchy and prone to disease (even more than other tangs). However, the salesperson is telling me they are having tremendous success with these. That they are very hardy because they have been in a tank all their lives. I trust this guy. In fact, he's the one who steered me away from them in the past.
I think it's great that more CB species are becoming available. Anyone have any experience with CB Hippo's? What other captive bred fish are available besides damsels and clowns? One part of this hobby that bums me out is the fact that so many of our pets are plucked from the wild (The other thing that bums me out is the fact that my wallet is always empty but that's another post).

[Ninong]

Hi jimc ~

I believe your LFS meant to say "captive-raised" Hippo Tangs instead of "captive-bred." I could be wrong, but I believe that these fish and some of the angels that are available are all captive-raised from larvae that is harvested from the wild.

There are several commercial breeding operations going on around the world right now. The two most successful locally are Oceans, Reefs and Aquariums, Inc. in Florida http://www.orafarm.com/ and C-Quest in Puerto Rico. As you can see from ORA's website, they are breeding 10 species of clownfish, 7 species of dottybacks, Banggai cardinalfish, and 4 species of gobies right now. I believe C-Quest has an even larger list of captive-bred species. Also, Tridacna clams, queen conchs (Strombus gigas), peppermint shrimp (Lysmata wurdemanni), and several species of snails are being captive bred. In fact, captive breeding of Tridacnids is getting to be pretty big in the tropics right now.

Ninong [img]/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img]

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Irrational Exuberance!

[M_Madill]

Yes Ninong is right on the money. The Hippo Tangs are caught in their planktonic stage and raised in captivity to saleable size.

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Matthew Madill

[jimc]

I am the one who probably got captive bred mixed up with captive raised. Is he still right about the increased hardiness of the 'captive raised' tangs?
Ninong, thanks for the web-site and info. Great to hear about the on going breeding programs.
Hey Matthew, were practically neighbors. Any good reef shops in the Syracuse area?

[Ninong]

Originally posted by jimc:

Is he still right about the increased hardiness of the 'captive raised' tangs?

This seems like a reasonable claim to me. The increased hardiness would come from the fact that the captive-raised fish are reared in carefully controlled environments and not subjected to the perils of the wild, such as internal and external parasites, pathogens, viruses, etc.

This claim is even more true when it comes to captive-bred species, because you can selectively breed for whatever traits you want to improve by choosing only the best stock for breeding.

Ninong [img]/ubb/smile.gif[/img]




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Irrational Exuberance!