The center has solved the problem by providing live bait and also micro-organisms, such as rotifers and copepods, to suit the needs of the fry. Pellet diet is only fed to the fry after they are 20 days old.
Baby clownfish are also more vulnerable to disease in the winter when the water temperature is low, and the center will install a water heating system this year to solve the problem.
“Clownfish could be one of the easiest fish species to breed if you can master those core technologies,” Ho said.
Having mastered the process, the center plans to hand these technologies and the planning and management of the farm model to 10 selected breeders next year, and Ho estimates that the breeders will each be able to produce 200,000 clownfish and generate NT$10 million in revenue annually.
The many years of research by Ho’s team also culminated in the opening last month of the world’s first aquarium devoted solely to clownfish adjacent to the center.
The Aquarium of Anemonefish will soon house the center’s basic clownfish breeding program as it recently has shifted its focus to raising ornamental fish with added value, concentrating on two new approaches, Ho said, adding that one involves breeding “hybrid” species while the other emphasizes selecting unique fish within the same species, such as those with more exotic or brighter patterns, and trying to reproduce them after repeated trials.
Andrew Fang (方祖豪), executive director of saltwater ornamental fish exporter Taikong Co, said saltwater ornamental fish are more prized than freshwater species because of their bright and beautiful colors, but fish harvested from the wild often succumb to weakness when kept in tanks, making them dicey commercial propositions even if they are highly sought after.
“The captive bred fish could easily make inroads into [EU] markets,” he said.
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