For one reason or another, there is no single perfect food organism for the culture of marine larval fish. Each species of fish has its own constellation of ecological and feeding requirements during its larval stage and is adapted for best survival in inshore or offshore waters with a particular combination of dominant ecological, physical, and chemical factors.…
Although some marine fish will breed and grow quite readily in captivity, others are more problematic. One of the major difficulties in breeding these fish is the supply of suitable food for the larvae.…
For the past months we’ve discussed culturing micro-foods to satisfy the three steps in the food chain required to feed our potential fish fry. To recap the past columns, we have grown greenwater (phytoplanktons) to feed to our rotifer cultures.…
Last month we dove into the home culture and production of “greenwater”, which are the basic food item for enriching prey items that will feed our new fish larvae. So now that we have our phytoplankton growing from last month, let’s start in on the next step in the food chain for fish larvae.…
This is the first in a series of microculture columns in which we’ll explore the culture of larval fish foods. In this month’s column, we focus on phytoplankton, the basic nutritional building block of our home fish breeding effort.…
In the movie The Medicine Man, Sean Connery portrayed a physician who is sent into the deepest rain forest in search of new tropical agents. His job was to comb through the endemic plant life in search of new drugs, particularly anti-cancer agents that could be used in modern medicine.…
“You and I know that captive breeding is the ultimate answer to current collection practices that are endangering the survival of too many species.”
-Terry Siegel
What a great statement to open a new column on fish breeding.…