Controlled breeding and larval rearing techniques of marine ornamental fishes

International trade of marine ornamental fishes has been expanding rapidly in recent years, and the fact that nearly 98% of the species traded are collected from reef habitats is of vital concern for the conservation of the fragile coral reef ecosystem. Hence, it is widely accepted that the ultimate answer to a long-term sustainable trade of marine ornamental fishes is only through the development of hatchery production technologies. The techniques for broodstock development, breeding and seed production of three species of damsel fishes viz. the three spot damsel, Dascyllus trimaculatus, the humbug damsel, Dascyllus aruanus and the blue damsel, Pomacentrus caeruleus, were developed and standardised, which can be scaled up for commercial level production. Broodstock development was done in one-tonne Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) tanks with biological filter and by feeding with natural feeds. The size range of broodstock fish of D. trimaculatus, D. aruanus and P. caeruleus were 9-10, 7-8 and 7-9 cm, respectively. The number of eggs per spawning ranged from 5000 to 15000. The interval between two successive spawnings ranged from 3 to 14 days. The eggs were attached either on the sides of the broodstock tank or on the substratum provided in the broodstock tank. Parental care by the male was noted. Hatching occurred on the evening of the fourth day of incubation. The larvae were altricial type with no mouth opening at the time of hatching for D. trimaculatus and D. aruanus. The larvae of P. caeruleus were with mouth opening at the time of hatching. The length range of newly hatched larvae was 1.5-2.5 mm and the range of mouth opening was 150-200 µ. Larviculture was done in five-tonne capacity FRP tank by employing greenwater technique. Copepod nauplii were used as the starter feed and after about two weeks when the mouth opening of the larvae had reached around 450 µ, newly hatched Artemia nauplii were supplemented. The metamorphosis period ranged from 20 to 40 days. Several batches of the three species were hatchery produced, and the technique can be scaled up for commercial level production for ornamental fish trade.