What would be a kewl fish to breed in the home aquarium?

[LiquidShaneo]

Just wanted to get some ideas thrown out there! :) I'm looking for something that would be somewhat of a challenge and a species that not many people are doing right now. Many people are doing Banggai's and clowns. What others are people raising in their home tanks?

liquid

[FMarini]

Hi:
So I take it you've scanned the Breeders registry?? http://breeders-registry.gen.ca.us/
This site has many if not most of the reorts of breeding saltwater fish, and many of them are extremely difficult to raise.
http://breeders-registry.gen.ca.us/species.htm

Since you don't want fish which are easy to breed, lets try fish that have planktonic free swimming fry. hummmmm
So let me tell you what people are breeding or attempting to breed.
all the psuedochromis's. clownfish, small gobies (gobiodons, and gobisomas), marine bettas, some cardinalfish (beside the bangais the orbic, pyjame, blue eyed, etc have free swimming planktonic fry), seahorses, royal gramma, and a host of many others.
Personally, a fish i would like to try is dwarf fuzzy lionfish, as these appear do-able, they will breed in the home aquarium, and stay small.
Does this help???
frank

[LiquidShaneo]

Thanks for the reply. :) Heh, yup that pretty much answers my question! How does one typically get pairs anyhow? With banggai's and clowns it's not too hard, but what about other fish like Royal Grammas and such? Are there places online that sell pairs or do you need to just sex them appropriately in the LFS? Also, what about a Ecsenius midas (midas blennie)?

liquid

[FMarini]

Hey:
Since 99.99% of these fish are NOT sexually dimorphic...
essentially you get a few of these fish, and hopefully a pair forms.
i suspect midas blennies same deal...get 4 or 5 and hopefully a pair will form.
good luck
frank

[LiquidShaneo]

So are you saying that in general most of these fish are hermaphoridites (sp?) (including Midas blennies) in general and will they do as clowns do when removed from a group? (the largest fish morphs into a female and then takes a mate that's smaller than itself) If this is true, could I not get two fish -- one bigger than the other -- and be pretty sure that I would get a pair eventually?

liquid

[FMarini]

Hi:
Actually what I'm saying is that fish are normally one sex or another -w/ little abilty to switch back and forth. The hermaphordite (which is someone who possess both sex organs) concept is a great one for fish populations, but i don't think its is a plentiful concept. (someone please correct me if I am wrong).
There are certain species (like clowns and anthias) where this holds true, but banggais-no, psuedo-no lionfish-no, tangs -no
Sexual dimorphism means that the sexes have distingushable differences,
So I have no clue about midas blennies.
Hopefully scott michaels book (vol2) will appear soon and maybe can answeer this question...
So back to your original Q?
iMO you'll ned more than 2 fish, unless you get lucky
frank

[LiquidShaneo]

Ah, ok. Gotcha. :) Thanks for the advice and the help! :)

liquid

[reefluver]

I purchased two small tank raised male Steenes Dottybacks (Pseudochromis steenei) in hopes of creating a pair. In eights weeks time one of the males had become a female and they had their first spawn. Since then they have spawned every 12-14 days. This species is definitely sexually dimorphic and hermaphroditic, here's a pic of my pair.

http://www.thereefshop.com/dottys.jpg

Rick