The Antibes Marineland scored another captive breeding success, successfully raising the common and popularPseudanthias squamipinnis,也称为Spotfin Anthias。这项成就不是第一次成功提出的Spotfin Anthias，而是长岛水族馆raised some larvae collectedfrom their massive reef exhibit.
However this is the first time thatP. squamipinnishas been captive bred deliberately, and in larger, commercial quantities which is the objective of the Marineland breeding program. The very popular Spotfin Anthias is a very common reef tank fish, its only weakness being that it can be hard to feed, and needs constant small quantity feeding. This hurdle could be a lot easier to overcome with Captive Bred specimen.
Eggs of spotfin anthias were collected from exhibit placing an egg collector on the tank in the evening. In the morning eggs are sorted and placed in a prepared 800 l (200 gallon) mesocosm – a living soup of phyto and zooplankton. A few thousands eggs were collected over 3 days while the mesocosm was filled with good density ofNannochloropsisandIsochrysisalgae together with some copepods of the speciesArcatia tonsaand supplied by Cfeed.
然后幼虫在孵化后55至65天之间变形，仅使用copepods作为饲料。第一批次只有四块，但是下一批已经开始进行，并且正在调整原始批次以增加生存，因为这只鱼需要由成千上万的鱼产生。
There is nothing more spectacular than a large school of these colorful basslets swimming together in a reef tank so hopefully schools of captive bred and farmed specimens of the spotfin anthias will be more common in the future.
All photos courtesy of Jérôme Gillet.
