Stocking captive bred/sustainably caught tank

[TJ Merrells]

So I just finished cycling my 55g tank that will be a mixed reef setup.

Dimensions are 36x24x15.

My main focus of this setup is to stock it with only captive bred or if necessary sustainably harvested fish and corals.

For example I do want some bangaii cardinals but am only willing to keep captive bred species as their numbers are suffering in the wild and are on the endangered species list.

So besides fish like clowns that are easily found captive bred. Can anyone recommend some other species to keep??

And as it's hard to find info online I'm also open to suggestions of fish that have populations in the wild that are thriving and are sourced responsibly and are fully regulated. For example if I could find some type of documentation showing that firefish numbers are doing very well in the wild and are regulated and sustainably sourced then I'd be willing to keep them.

Here's a list of fish that I'm interested in getting more info on and are on my stocking list:

-2 clown fish (captive bred)
- bengaii cardinal (captive bred)
- yellow damsel (captive bred)
-mandarin dragonet (captive bred or sustainably sourced if possible)
- firefish (captive bred or sustainably harvested)
- wrasse (captive bred or sustainably harvested)
- type of tang (yellow or tomini) that are captive bred or sustainably harvested.
-angel fish such as flame angels or coral beauty that are captive bred or sustainably harvested.
- types of gobies that are captive bred or sustainably harvested.
- types of blennies that are captive bred or sustainability harvested.

This is just a list of some of the fish I'm interested in but I prefer to source captive bred, if not some type of documented source where I know that they are a regulated fish that has a thriving population.

Any advice helps. Thx

 

[Ayden0314]

you should ask your lfs because my local petco will only bring in aquacultured or sustainability harvested so that makes it very easy to do a tank like that

 

[TJ Merrells]

you should ask your lfs because my local petco will only bring in aquacultured or sustainability harvested so that makes it very easy to do a tank like that

Yes the my lfs does try to bring in as much captive bred as possible (on their online store they even have a "captive bred" section that's specifically for online shopping of captive bred fish) and I have asked before and all their wild caught livestock are from registered distributors that are federally regulated etc.
But he also does sell wild caught bangaiis which is not something I want in my tank as my online searches shows from at least what I can find their numbers are suffering in wild.

I'd like to find a way to do my own homework so that I know the fish I'm buying do have healthy populations and I'm comfortable putting them in my tank

 

[TJ Merrells]

I'd be comfortable purchasing this fish from a regulated and registered exporter seeing it's population status is of least concern

 

[Suohhen]

The leaders in captive breeding are ORA and Biota. They both have good websites detailing everything they breed and that covers most but not all of your list. There are many other breeders but they mostly focus on clownfish and there is very little else I've seen that doesn't overlap with the two I mentioned.
Regarding wild caught I don't know of any go to sources of information on sustainability, you can research each individual fish but I would recommend that you don't go too far down the rabbit hole for your own sanity and fish health is hard enough without limiting your options especially in this time of covid hampering supply.

 

[Zionas]

Kudos to your Petco!

 

[Zionas]

No CB Tomini Tangs as far as I know. ORA mostly does blennies of the genus Meiacanthus. You could get a Captive Bred shrimp goby from ORA and pair it with a Pistol Shrimp.

Tank is too small for a Tang IMO but ORA does Captive Bred Cherub and Flameback Angels, Coral Beauty too. Biota breeds Coral Beauties.

Captive Bred Dottybacks including the Orchid Dottyback (ORA). Captive Bred Royal Grammas- I’ve heard of them but not sure where to find them.


x2 Captive Bred Ocellaris Clowns (Any source)

x1 CB Bangaii Cardinal (Biota/ ORA)

x1 Tank Raised Yellow Coris Wrasse (I’ve seen Blue Zoo have them but not sure from which source)

x1 Biota Coral Beauty / ORA Cherub or Flameback

x1 ORA Yellow Watchman / Pink Spotted Shrimp Goby with Tiger Pistol Shrimp

x1 ORA Lemon Damsel

x1 ORA Mandarin Dragonet / Scooter Blenny

x1 Firefish (no CB as far as I know)

 

[laverda]

Like you I much prefer captive bred fish. Biota and ORA are the primary sources of captive bred reef inhabitants. There are others. The problem I have seen when looking at their web sites is only a small percentage of what they off seems to be available at any given time. Some of the online retailers seam to have better availablity of them. I am guessing they get priority over you and me due to the volumes they buy. Many hobbiest breed cardinals and some gobies. I did group buy a few years back from a private seller of neon, red headed and trima gobies. The seller also breeds cardinals, but did not have any available at the time.
Check out the breeding forum here and on other sites. There is a forum dedicated to people that breed fish and inverts, I can not remember the name at the moment.
A big grip I have is when a LFS puts captive bred fish in with wild caught. Captive bred fish have little to no immunity to the diseases and parasites often found in these systems!

 

[flyawaybirdie62]

I totally agree with your approach here, I'm in the process of building my 112 gallon tank but I can't justify taking something from the wild for my viewing pleasure, especially when they are threatened and many that are caught don't make it past collection, shipping, quarentine, etc. Not even touching unsustainable capture techniques and the rough state of wild reefs. Like I'd love any eel and honestly I'm going to add in PVC pipes to the sandbed even though they aren't bred in captivity yet. Maybe one day they will be....
I've also thought about getting fish through rehoming situations even if they came from the wild.

 

[Mark Gray]

I want to show off my pair of captive bred Singapore Angels

 

[Lowell Lemon]

Just realize every bred fish came from brood stock taken from the ocean. Without that important step there would be no brood stock. We all have to start somewhere on the road to fisheries management. Sustainable harvesting is still a great methodology and works quite well in practice.

 

[Weasel1960]

The LiveAquaria website lists the captive bred they sell in each category.

 

[drmdvl]

Algae Barn has a pretty good biota list going right now. https://www.algaebarn.com/shop/captive-bred/fish/

 

[TJ Merrells]

I totally agree with your approach here, I'm in the process of building my 112 gallon tank but I can't justify taking something from the wild for my viewing pleasure, especially when they are threatened and many that are caught don't make it past collection, shipping, quarentine, etc. Not even touching unsustainable capture techniques and the rough state of wild reefs. Like I'd love any eel and honestly I'm going to add in PVC pipes to the sandbed even though they aren't bred in captivity yet. Maybe one day they will be....
I've also thought about getting fish through rehoming situations even if they came from the wild.

Ya I've considered if I will take fish in through rehoming, but when it comes to lfs I'm only doing captive bred. My first fish was a wild caught was a chromis as it was the cheapest fish available $15 and I don't like to introduce $50 fish first after the cycling but moving forward its strictly wild caught. Even when it comes to corals I only want aquacultured or frags. Nothing directly harvested from oceans

 

[Tchung23]

6 of my 8 fish are captive bred and now that I’m totally submersed into fish and corals I think I will only be buying captive bred fish from now on.
I actually feel quite guilty about my last purchase and won’t be doing that again.

2 clowns cb
2 cardinals cb
2 Mandarin cb
1 yasha
1 bsjf

 

[OrionN]

Captive bred Marine Betta from one of our own, @ThRoewer.

 

[Tchung23]

Captive bred Marine Betta from one of our own, @ThRoewer.

Such cool fish!! My tank is full and is too small anyways but these are so cool

 

[laverda]

Captive bred Marine Betta from one of our own, @ThRoewer.

I have had one marine beta for years. I would like to find a mate for it. Can I ask who you got yours from"

 

[ChrisB4]

I have had one marine beta for years. I would like to find a mate for it. Can I ask who you got yours from"

He said he got it from one of the members: ThRoewer. If you click on the name, it will take you to that member's profile.

 

[laverda]

Ok thanks. I have been following his breeding threads. He sells them through one of the larger captive breeders if I remember correctly.