Every day is a good day when we hear of saltwater fish being bred in captivity, and Biota has announced that it has added not one but two new species to its growing portfolio of captive-bred fish.
First is the Herald Angelfish, Centropyge heraldi, a dwarf angel that originates from Sri Lanka and Bali to the Indo-Malay archipelago, but Biota bred at its facility in Palau. Also known as the False Lemonpeel angelfish, it’s one of the larger dwarves and like all members of the Centropyge genus, it is reef-safe with caution. It can develop some green and orange markings on the head and fins and black edges on the fins, and Biota says it is the first to successfully breed the species in captivity.
The Shortfin Pipefish, Cosmocampus elucens, are being bred at Biota North Carolina, and are being fed frozen copepods, frozen mysis, and frozen spirulina-enriched artemia. They naturally inhabit seagrass beds in the Western Atlantic and make good tankmates for seahorses. They get up to 6” long, and prefer it on the cooler side, at 74F/23.3C. The captive breeding of this species is also a first.
