Unpopular Opinions (fish related)

[Stan510]

Wooden stands?
Otherwise,where else to post an observation?

btw- It had handles on the wooden doors that added to the coffin look.

 

[Stan510]

How about..why do so many reefers set up mega tanks..and almost none try to get fish to spawn? There is a whole lot of "One of these and one of them" to the collection. Can't remember the last time somebody raised those tiny sea bass in the big tanks. Plenty of small fish protect their spawns. But when its just one...

 

[Colin_T]

How about..why do so many reefers set up mega tanks..and almost none try to get fish to spawn? There is a whole lot of "One of these and one of them" to the collection. Can't remember the last time somebody raised those tiny sea bass in the big tanks. Plenty of small fish protect their spawns. But when its just one...

Part of the problem with breeding marine fishes is the size of the newly hatched fry. They are smaller than most freshwater fish fry and require smaller foods. With some freshwater fish, the babies can be fed powdered fry foods, newly hatched brineshrimp and microworms. Whereas virtually all marine fish fry need green water, infusoria and small species of rotifer as their first foods. Then they can go onto newly hatched brineshrimp and other foods.

Another issue when breeding marine fishes is a lot of species tend to spawn in open water and the eggs float around and get sucked up by filters and protein skimmers. Whereas freshwater fishes tend to fall into two categories.
1) They lay eggs on surfaces like plant leaves or rocks. Some eggs are cared for and others aren't.
2) They scatter eggs in plants and the eggs either stick to plants or sink to the bottom.
This means freshwater fish eggs are less likely to be sucked into filters.

Some marine fish eggs hatch at night. Anemonefish (clownfish) eggs hatch shortly after the sun goes down. The larvae then float up to the surface and mix in with the plankton. In an aquarium, anemonefish eggs are attached to rocks and it is usually the biggest rock in the tank so they can't be moved to a hatching tank. The aquarist then turns the tank lights off, goes to bed and wakes up the following day to find the eggs have hatched and the babies are all gone.

I bred a number of marine fishes back between the 1980s & 2015 but never managed to rear any up. Blennies and gobies would breed prolifically, cardinalfish would always have a mouthful of eggs or young and you can rear them easily on newly hatched brineshrimp. My anemonefish would spawn all the time but the fry always got picked up by the filters. Wrasses would spawn in the tank but again the eggs got sucked into filters. If I set up tanks for breeding marine fishes today, I would use air operated sponge filters and have simple set ups with a single species of fish in. This is how I set up my anemonefish and cleaner shrimp tanks when I was breeding them and I got a heap of babies but never managed to get them to metamorphose and settle to the bottom. I have theories on that and assume it was diet related but haven't had fish since then.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

That's why i like stewed cat and human, but bake children and babies

Uh oh

 

[Stan510]

Wouldn't you think with reef keeping being much more technical nowadays and much larger home aquariums that they would be past the aqua zoo stage and get fish to spawn like never before? Yellow Tangs..why hasnt anybody even said they are trying to breed one of the most popular and hardy reef tank fish like that?
btw,Is it true that because of covid and shortages Yellow Tangs have skyrocketed in price? $200? That can't be right.

 

[Colin_T]

Yellow tangs have been $200 each in Australia for the last 20 years

There are companies breeding yellow and blue tangs, as well as other marine fishes.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

Yellow tangs have been $200 each in Australia for the last 20 years

There are companies breeding yellow and blue tangs, as well as other marine fishes.

My lfs was selling one for 450 AU money.

 

[Stan510]

WOW!..Last time I bought a yellow tang..it was under $20. In the 1990's. Even accounting for inflation I had no idea they zoomed into the stratosphere. In fact EVERY marine tank I set up had a Yellow tang. I haven't paid any attention to prices at the LFS for marine fish on sale. IF,i set up a marine tank ever again it would be macroalgae and the hardiest soft corals. The kind you sniff a year later "Its grown so much I have had to prune it a few times"...like that.

 

[Obsessed with fish]

WOW!..Last time I bought a yellow tang..it was under $20. In the 1990's. Even accounting for inflation I had no idea they zoomed into the stratosphere. In fact EVERY marine tank I set up had a Yellow tang. I haven't paid any attention to prices at the LFS for marine fish on sale. IF,i set up a marine tank ever again it would be macroalgae and the hardiest soft corals. The kind you sniff a year later "Its grown so much I have had to prune it a few times"...like that.

That's a bargain!

 

[PheonixKingZ]

WOW!..Last time I bought a yellow tang..it was under $20. In the 1990's. Even accounting for inflation I had no idea they zoomed into the stratosphere. In fact EVERY marine tank I set up had a Yellow tang. I haven't paid any attention to prices at the LFS for marine fish on sale. IF,i set up a marine tank ever again it would be macroalgae and the hardiest soft corals. The kind you sniff a year later "Its grown so much I have had to prune it a few times"...like that.

That’s dirt cheap, lol. They usually go for $200+, but because Kentucky is land locked state, the ones at my LFS are $300.

 

[Stan510]

I think I need to see the price on them next visit to my local California store.. Might be a profit motive...

 

[PheonixKingZ]

I think I need to see the price on them next visit to my local California store.. Might be a profit motive...

Most of the reason why they are so expensive now is because of the ban of tropical fish imported from Hawaii.

 

[Donya]

why do so many reefers set up mega tanks..and almost none try to get fish to spawn?

For a long time it's because people didn't know how to get them to do it. It just kind of happened randomly in some tank or other and people went "huh." When most livestock is wild caught there aren't how-to books to follow on what triggers spawning or how to get fish to pair up, etc. A lot people did also set out doing breeding projects, but it is so hard to do with the way the newly hatched animals develop and how many things can eat them in a stable marine tank with live rock. I had chalk basslets spawn in one tank. I also had had a weird type of cardinals spawn in another (the small striped species...I can never remember the common name). But in both cases it was in a reef so anything that hatched was food for the corals in an instant. It's way easier for larvae to get eaten in a closed system that basically forces them past hungry tentacles, and if you move a breeding pair to a more protected tank, they may not do it again because you changed out the stuff they liked. At one point I made a more concerted effort with hermit crabs because breeding some marine shrimp is well documented but also never had success. Eventually I gave up, as many people do who have tried to salvage the results of in-tank spawns.

 

[Deleted member 149562]

Unpopular fishy related opinion...maybe...

Why is it that when looking for one of those nice, sleek, 120 litre and over aquariums on the multitude of websites must I have curb delivery?

Curb delivery is not convenient when...

I live alone & am disabled
Have no family to ask to help get aquarium and stand etc into the flat
My curb is 40ft away from the front door, over the grass and around 2 trees (no front garden just "communal land" on council estate)

If a three piece suite can be delivered by two blokes in a Ford Transit van to the room of your choice, unpacked and rubbish taken away...why can't courier firms have two blokes in a Ford Transit van deliver and aquarium plus kit to the front door?

I would have loved to have one or two large 150 -200 litre aquariums instead of five under 100 litre ones.....its SO inconvenient and annoying

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I live alone & am disabled
Have no family to ask to help get aquarium and stand etc into the flat

Contact your local Age UK...they usually have at least a couple of blokes able to lend a little muscle, when required. Offer to make a donation, (it'll probably be declined).

If a three piece suite can be delivered by two blokes in a Ford Transit van to the room of your choice, unpacked and rubbish taken away...why can't courier firms have two blokes in a Ford Transit van deliver and aquarium plus kit to the front door?

Because a tank is expensive and, more to the point, breakable. Two guys carry it from your distant kerb (), you fill it and it leaks...who is going to get the blame?