Pictured above are Halichoeres melanurus, captive-bred and shown here, fully settled and in juvenile coloration, at 36 days post hatch. Back in mid February, Kevin Barden, a member of the current Rising Tide Conservation program working at the Tropical Aquaculture Lab at the University of Florida, announced their success in breeding the well-known Melanurus or Hoeven’s Wrasse, Halichoeres melanurus.
Today, the team updated and filled in some of the missing pictorial gaps which further prove the success (this is also a new run, at the TAL lab vs. a home setting…so a repeated success). Who knew it would only take 36 days for these fish to reach settlement; that’s comparable to the larval durations of some commercially-produced Dottybacks. This accomplishment is further evidence that new foods are breaking down past breeding barriers!
Considering that these wrasse also represent the first intentional rearing of any tropical ornamental wrasse species (Bali Aquarich “accidentally” co-reared the Cleaner Wrasse prior), this is groundbreaking in several ways. Often times, what follows an early success such as this are breeding successes with additional species from the same genus, typically because these relatives often have similar breeding and rearing requirements. Learn how to do one..and you can often times do many others. So which Halichoeres spp. do you think the breeding world should try to tackle next?!
View the full update (and watch some videos) at the Rising Tide Conservation Blog.
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