With all of my responsibilities at the Long Island Aquarium, I find my schedule lately lacking free time for aquaculture projects. However, I try my best to squeeze some “play” time into my routine. I set up some larval tanks, collect some eggs from our 20,000 gallon reef tank, and wait to see what surprise is in store. The last few times that I have done this it resulted in anthias. Of course that was very exciting but this time around I was hoping for something different. (Don’t get me wrong, I am also still trying to raise more anthias as well. One day I hope to perfect the process.) Lucky for me, this time the reef tank’s vast diversity has given me an angelfish! After raising marine ornamental species for 6 years, I can finally cross angelfish off my to-do list. Not only is it my first angelfish, but it is also a species first! With this article it is my greatest pleasure to introduce to you: the first ever captive-bred Genicanthus lamarcks!

I have been sitting on this for a couple of weeks but I wanted to wait until I could capture some quality photos. The tank that she was in prevented me from doing that and I wanted you, dear readers, to be able to take in all of her beauty. I finally got to move her and here are the results. I am looking forward to spilling the beans on how she came to be in an upcoming issue of Reefs Magazine. You can expect to see lots of development photos! I am working hard on the next batch right now and I hope to recreate this event. I’m looking forward to learning more about this genus and being able to share my findings with you! Keep an eye out for the follow up! Go forth: Eat. Sleep. Aquaculture.