Aquarium Aquaculturist Becomes First to Breed Rare Fish in Captivity
19.05.12
Using a system of tanks and specially designed filtering mechanisms, Gardner has managed to raise 12 fish, the oldest being just over 70 days old, from a batch of about 100 fish eggs. Reef basslet, a colorful fish that grows to be just 2 1/2 inches in size, is a prized addition to aquariums because of the difficulty in catching it. The fish tend to live in ocean waters as much as 200 feet deep, hiding in the small crevices of... These fish reached the "settlement" phase of their life cycle, signifying when they would drift from the open ocean onto a reef and begin life as an adult fish, Gardner said. "People have lost their lives trying to catch these fish," Gardner said. Since basslets had never been raised in captivity before, the only way to own the fish was to catch them in their natural habitat. Even though they are now adults, the surviving fish are still mostly transparent and are about one inch long.
Source: Patch.com