| ARTICLE INFORMATION: Author: Ed Katuska Title: Breeding Marine Species in the Home Aquarium Summary: Tips on how to start breeding marines, followed by a list of some of the marine animals that fellow hobbyists have been known to breed successfully in the home aquarium. Contact for editing purposes: email: President, Ed Katuska: EDKAT3@aol.com Date first published: Publication: Wet Pet Gazette, Norwalk Aquarium Society http://norwalkas.org/links Reprinted from Aquarticles: August 2003: Posted by Jesse B. Hunt, of Mississippi, on his Aquarium Information Source Fall 2004: Colorado Aquarist, Colorado Aquarium Soc. |
ARTICLE USE: Internet publication (club or non-profit web site): 1. Credit author, original publication, and Aquarticles. 2. Link to http://www.aquarticles.com and original website if applicable. 3. Advise Aquarticles Printed publication: Mail two printed copies to: Norwalk Aquarium Society, P.O. Box 84, South Norwalk. CT 06852 USA And one copy to: Aquarticles.com #205 - 5525 West Boulevard Vancouver, British Columbia V6M 3W6 Canada |
Breeding Marine Species in the Home Aquarium By Ed Katuska Unfortunately, in most cases, captive breeding of marine animals is not on the priority list of most breeders or aquarium society breeder programs. Why? Where would the aquarium hobby be today if it were not for captive breeding? There is more information than ever available on the bookshelves at your local pet shop or public library on propagation of marine life. Just taking a quick look on the World Wide Web offers an outstanding amount of literature on most species being tank raised in the hobby today. Not long ago, almost all marine fish being captive bred were in the large public aquariums. Thanks to the many years of research more and more hobbyist are successfully spawning salt water species. Most marines are a challenge to even the most advanced hobbyist to successfully spawn and raise the young to adulthood. In most cases the first food for the fry must be cultured and raised as well. Not all fishes are large enough to accept newly hatched brine (artemia). Marine infusoria, copepod nauplii, and rotifers are some examples of foods for very small fish. These foods are easily available from other breeders around the globe. In most cases fellow hobbyists are more than happy to send you a starter culture (and hopefully offer some breeding tips as well). But don’t be discouraged by the difficulty rating. It’s definitely a challenge worth pursuing. To make life a little easier for you many reputable aquarium shops have access to mated pairs of marine fish. In some cases tank raised mated pairs are also available. If possible that is the way to go. Sometimes you pay more for captive-bred tank raised species but the extra is money worth it. In my opinion your success rate would be much higher than with wild caught species. I have seen mated pairs of clownfish, mandarins and gobies in dealers' tanks for sale in my travels. This makes for a good start for anyone pursuing this breeding adventure. Below is a list of some of the marine animals that fellow hobbyists have been known to breed successfully in the home aquarium: Tomato Clown- A. frentus |