ORA Announces Availability of Rare Japanese Kamohara Fang Blenny

ORA has set the bar really high for 2015, and we’re just a dozen days into it. They announced on Friday via their blog that they will be shipping out their latest addition to the captive bred fish lineup, the ORA Kamohara Blenny (Meiacanthus kamoharai). This stunning fish is a Japanese endemic normally found in shallow waters off the country’s southern coasts. While it is common in the wild, it is surprisingly absent from the aquarium community here in the US, though ORA obviously hopes to change all of that. In their blog post, ORA describes the Kamohara blenny has having a tolerance or a wide range of water temperatures.

ORA Hector’s Goby is the Latest Conquest of Captive Breeding

No sooner than we wrap up our coverage of all of ORA’s 2014 captive bred fish and aquacultured frags, the famed fish breeders announce one more entry for the year. Yesterday, they revealed tha they had bred the Hector’s Goby (Koumansetta hectori), a nifty little fish that is as strikingly beautiful as it is peaceful. This tiny fish measures just 2″ long at its maximum size, and it spends a majority of the day hovering hear the rocks while grazing on various types of algae. Thought to be the first time this fish has ever been captive-bred, ORA had some difficulty getting this fish to market, so to speak. This was due in part to the fish’s extremely tiny size, unreliable spawning amongst broodstock individuals, relatively long larval stages, and overall fragile larvae. Thankfully, ORA’s experience with the Priolepis genus translated flawlessly to the Hector’s Goby and they were eventually able to overcome those barriers.

ORA Fish and Frags Roundup from 2014

A continuing theme in the aquarium hobby over the years has been that of captive bred fish and aquacultured corals, and as each year passes, the list of conquered species just grows and grows. The efforts are obviously from the cumulative efforts of several individuals and organizations, though companies like ORA are at the forefront of the awesome and unexpected breakthroughs. Last year, we celebrated ORA’s long list of captive bred fish and corals, and just as they continue to crank out new livestock this year, we will continue to cover and applaud their efforts.