captive bred - tank raised fish & corals

pitmindi · 03/29/2010, 11:32 AM

Hi everyone, After snorkeling in a coral reef on my cruise last week, I decided not to have any fish or coral that comes from the ocean. Initially I wanted a yellow tang and a hypo tang but I don't want to take fish that come from the vast ocean and put them into my tank. What fish, corals, shrimp, etc are tank bred or captive bred, or whatever its called? I love aquariums and have 3 freshwater (120gallons, 55 gallons, 20 gallons) and have a variety of fish and plants but none are wild caught. I want to try to do the same with my reef tank. It is 90 gallons with a 20 gallon refugium setup with eco-system miracle mud, and macro algae. I have 120lbs of live rock. I have a 7" deep sand bed. It was set up 2 months ago. I only have 2 small nemo clowns and some snails and I will have to wait longer to add more fish so that my DSB can become heavily populated with the many tiny critters necessaryfor a DSB. I would like a frogspawn for my clowns. Are they tank-raised? I also want colorful fish. Can I have 4 clowns? My current 2 clowns have been tank raised for gererations but they also have some (less vibrant colors) that are 1st generation from wild nemo clownfish. Can I add them? THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!! Also, just curious, but does anyone know how fish are caught and transported to get to our LFS? Do many die in the process? What about the corals???

mthomp · 03/29/2010, 11:35 AM

im going to say look for a local reef club, and buy frags, basically clippings of coral.

you can buy frags from your LFS as well which typically come from locals trading stuff in.

magikfly · 03/29/2010, 12:41 PM

A 90 gallon tank would be big enough for a dozen or so clowns.
I could go so far as to suggest buying different clowns

ctrl+f · 03/29/2010, 01:03 PM

There's a difference between captive bred and tank raised. Tank raised specimens were probably wild fry.

ORA is the obvious source of ethical livestock. The other is local reefers, especially for corals. I figure coral fragged from someone else's tank is almost as good as supporting the aquaculture industry directly.

cubsFAN · 03/29/2010, 01:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by magikfly

A 90 gallon tank would be big enough for a dozen or so clowns.
I could go so far as to suggest buying different clowns

This could end up bad, but wouldn't necessarily. I'd check out the 27 clowns thread or whichever that one was if you are thinking about this.

I'd consider clowns, cardinals (bangaii or spotted are regularly tank raised), dottybacks(i hear theyre mean), and some gobies. Mandarins are also in the works and Sustainable aquatics has tank raised hippo tangs which is different than tank bred, but maybe meets your criteria. Of course the hippo would become cramped in a 90. Dwarf Angels are sometimes tank bred, but I have not seen them in forever. Finding fish is the hard part. Look for ORA or sustainable aquatics.

Tank raised corals are pretty easy to find. Local Reefers and LFS will be able to get these for you. btw I once had a maricultured torch (euphyllia like a frogspawn) that was incredible. finding something like this out of a local reefers tank should be easy.

If you want to go all the way I'd consider making your own rock and building a tank raised cuc as well. Finding a tank raised cuc will be difficult but can be done. some snails and shrimps are tank raised.

I tried to go this route, but it never came together. I just wasn't patient enough. I eventually plan to try again.

cubsFAN · 03/29/2010, 01:27 PM

check the clownfish forum and responsible reefkeeping to help answer some of your questions.

ChadTheSpike · 03/29/2010, 01:28 PM

There are a bunch of true captive bred seahorses as well. If you do go this route, though, make sure you understand the difference between true captive bred and other options. A ton of seahorses are 'captive bred' in open to the ocean pens that have many of the same issues (health-wise) that wild caught specimens do.

BTW, clowns and seahorses are not really compatible, I am just adding to the list of captive bred species.

strangedingbat · 03/29/2010, 02:10 PM

You probably want to seed your system with copepods and rotifers as soon as you have it going, long before you add fish or corals, to help it settle itself.

I have found a way to keep a spare set of "bugs" to keep injecting into my system, PM me for details and any help.

03/29/2010, 11:32 AM	#1
pitmindi Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 262	captive bred - tank raised fish & corals Hi everyone, After snorkeling in a coral reef on my cruise last week, I decided not to have any fish or coral that comes from the ocean. Initially I wanted a yellow tang and a hypo tang but I don't want to take fish that come from the vast ocean and put them into my tank. What fish, corals, shrimp, etc are tank bred or captive bred, or whatever its called? I love aquariums and have 3 freshwater (120gallons, 55 gallons, 20 gallons) and have a variety of fish and plants but none are wild caught. I want to try to do the same with my reef tank. It is 90 gallons with a 20 gallon refugium setup with eco-system miracle mud, and macro algae. I have 120lbs of live rock. I have a 7" deep sand bed. It was set up 2 months ago. I only have 2 small nemo clowns and some snails and I will have to wait longer to add more fish so that my DSB can become heavily populated with the many tiny critters necessaryfor a DSB. I would like a frogspawn for my clowns. Are they tank-raised? I also want colorful fish. Can I have 4 clowns? My current 2 clowns have been tank raised for gererations but they also have some (less vibrant colors) that are 1st generation from wild nemo clownfish. Can I add them? THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP!!! Also, just curious, but does anyone know how fish are caught and transported to get to our LFS? Do many die in the process? What about the corals???

03/29/2010, 12:41 PM	#3
magikfly Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Netherlands Posts: 199	A 90 gallon tank would be big enough for a dozen or so clowns. I could go so far as to suggest buying different clowns __________________ Wind me up, put me down, start me off and watch me go Current Tank Info: RSR 425 XL

03/29/2010, 01:28 PM	#7
ChadTheSpike Reef Engineer Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Washington DC Posts: 1,526 Blog Entries: 1	There are a bunch of true captive bred seahorses as well. If you do go this route, though, make sure you understand the difference between true captive bred and other options. A ton of seahorses are 'captive bred' in open to the ocean pens that have many of the same issues (health-wise) that wild caught specimens do. BTW, clowns and seahorses are not really compatible, I am just adding to the list of captive bred species. __________________ ~Chad "Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies." Current Tank Info: 195 gallons of fun

03/29/2010, 11:35 AM	#2
mthomp Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Posts: 766	im going to say look for a local reef club, and buy frags, basically clippings of coral. you can buy frags from your LFS as well which typically come from locals trading stuff in.

03/29/2010, 01:03 PM	#4
ctrl+f Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Ontario, Canada Posts: 174	There's a difference between captive bred and tank raised. Tank raised specimens were probably wild fry. ORA is the obvious source of ethical livestock. The other is local reefers, especially for corals. I figure coral fragged from someone else's tank is almost as good as supporting the aquaculture industry directly.

03/29/2010, 01:27 PM	#6
cubsFAN Moved On Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: South Lake Tahoe Posts: 1,550	check the clownfish forum and responsible reefkeeping to help answer some of your questions.

03/29/2010, 02:10 PM	#8
strangedingbat Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Alpharetta, GA Posts: 51	You probably want to seed your system with copepods and rotifers as soon as you have it going, long before you add fish or corals, to help it settle itself. I have found a way to keep a spare set of "bugs" to keep injecting into my system, PM me for details and any help.