- Location
- North Carolina
As many folks already know over the past 2 years LRS food blends have been used as a diet to help successfully breed many species of marine fish. Currently LRS provides foods to many researchers working closely with the Rising Tide Conservation Project which has the long term goal of increasing sustainability of our hobby. Most recently the Tropical Aquaculture Lab at the University of Florida has been experimenting with LRS for the blue hippo tang breeding efforts which is very exciting. LRS ?Reef Frenzy? and our other blends continue to provide positive results which are viewable on our website Testimonial Page.
You may have caught this recent posting about the melanurus wrasse being captive bred. Reef Frenzy? was given a shout out as one of the staple foods for the broodstock.
http://risingtideconservation.blogspot.com/2015/04/breaking-internet-check-out-our-wrasses.html
LRS recently invested hundreds of dollars to have additional lab tests conducted on our foods so we could gain insights into exactly why our foods were performing so well in aquaculture trials. Particularly interesting were the results of our Fatty Acid Profiles which outline the DHA and EPA fat levels of our blends. These can play an important role in a broodstock diet, and LRS has a very positive Fatty Acid Profile.
With the encouragement of prominent marine biologists and aquaculturists in the industry we were asked to ?tweak? our food recipe to advance it to the next level to be a high quality frozen food for spawning pairs. The end goal would be to produce a food which not only gets the metabolism of the broodstock to a level where spawning would be consistent but also to maximize the viable egg count and increase the robustness of the larvae post hatch.
So how does one do this? Well we started with our original ?Fish Frenzy?? blend which contains fresh California blackworms and marine fish eggs, both of which are recommended by many clownfish breeders to boost nutrition. We then sought additional ingredients from whole food sources such as the new PE Calanus pods, as well as a couple ingredients not yet named. The recipe was then boosted with some costly supplements borrowed from the aquaculture industry which increased the DHA fat content, protein, and vitamins/minerals in the mix. Lastly, we sourced two additional strains of probiotic bacteria as well as pigmentation enhancers.
A few weeks ago 60+ samples of this food blend were packaged and shipped to several prominent clownfish breeders, aquaculture facilities and a marine biology lab for evaluation and testing. The results have begun to filter back to us and ALL the feedback has been positive.
Reviewers are reporting immediate acceptance of the food by fish during feedings, larger nests (up to 100% larger) as well as higher hatch rates. The color of the eggs has been reported to have increased and the hatch larvae seem to have increased vigor. After all the feedback over 8-10 weeks is collected we will make adjustments if required and produce a ?final version? of the ?Broodstock Conditioning Diet.? Packages of this food will be sent to the lab for testing of the protein, fats, moisture, fiber and ash as required with the results compiled on a data sheet.
We are really excited about the possibilities this new diet could have for the hobby. This food will contain ingredients and supplements never before seen in a commercially produced frozen food. With the freshness of the staple ingredients and the proven track record of LRS foods we suspect this blend will produce unprecedented results for home breeders and commercial facilities. At this time we don't have a scheduled release date for retail distribution. We intend to have commercial breeders and aquaculture facilities help us get the food to get it dialed into perfection before we have final labels printed for retail sale.
We welcome your comments if this is a product which interests you.
Thanks for your support as always,
Larry
Here a few screenshots from Facebook of folks using our foods for breeding purposes:
You may have caught this recent posting about the melanurus wrasse being captive bred. Reef Frenzy? was given a shout out as one of the staple foods for the broodstock.
http://risingtideconservation.blogspot.com/2015/04/breaking-internet-check-out-our-wrasses.html
LRS recently invested hundreds of dollars to have additional lab tests conducted on our foods so we could gain insights into exactly why our foods were performing so well in aquaculture trials. Particularly interesting were the results of our Fatty Acid Profiles which outline the DHA and EPA fat levels of our blends. These can play an important role in a broodstock diet, and LRS has a very positive Fatty Acid Profile.
With the encouragement of prominent marine biologists and aquaculturists in the industry we were asked to ?tweak? our food recipe to advance it to the next level to be a high quality frozen food for spawning pairs. The end goal would be to produce a food which not only gets the metabolism of the broodstock to a level where spawning would be consistent but also to maximize the viable egg count and increase the robustness of the larvae post hatch.
So how does one do this? Well we started with our original ?Fish Frenzy?? blend which contains fresh California blackworms and marine fish eggs, both of which are recommended by many clownfish breeders to boost nutrition. We then sought additional ingredients from whole food sources such as the new PE Calanus pods, as well as a couple ingredients not yet named. The recipe was then boosted with some costly supplements borrowed from the aquaculture industry which increased the DHA fat content, protein, and vitamins/minerals in the mix. Lastly, we sourced two additional strains of probiotic bacteria as well as pigmentation enhancers.
A few weeks ago 60+ samples of this food blend were packaged and shipped to several prominent clownfish breeders, aquaculture facilities and a marine biology lab for evaluation and testing. The results have begun to filter back to us and ALL the feedback has been positive.
Reviewers are reporting immediate acceptance of the food by fish during feedings, larger nests (up to 100% larger) as well as higher hatch rates. The color of the eggs has been reported to have increased and the hatch larvae seem to have increased vigor. After all the feedback over 8-10 weeks is collected we will make adjustments if required and produce a ?final version? of the ?Broodstock Conditioning Diet.? Packages of this food will be sent to the lab for testing of the protein, fats, moisture, fiber and ash as required with the results compiled on a data sheet.
We are really excited about the possibilities this new diet could have for the hobby. This food will contain ingredients and supplements never before seen in a commercially produced frozen food. With the freshness of the staple ingredients and the proven track record of LRS foods we suspect this blend will produce unprecedented results for home breeders and commercial facilities. At this time we don't have a scheduled release date for retail distribution. We intend to have commercial breeders and aquaculture facilities help us get the food to get it dialed into perfection before we have final labels printed for retail sale.
We welcome your comments if this is a product which interests you.
Thanks for your support as always,
Larry
Here a few screenshots from Facebook of folks using our foods for breeding purposes:
my fish love your food!
