Research Overview
The long-term goals of this research are to develop aquaculture techniques for raising reef fish and amphidromous fish and shrimp in captivity to increase our understanding of their ecological requirements, to preserve rare and endangered species, and to reduce harvesting pressure on natural populations. By controlling the concentration and ratio of different nutrients in the seawater, we intend to enhance the production of desirable size of phytoplankton, which in turn will produce desirable size of zooplankton that will enhance the survivor of newly-hatched reef fish. The impact of water quality on the survival of the larvae will be monitored. Water samples collected will be analyzed immediately for temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, nutrients (as nitrite, nitrate and phosphate), ammonium and turbidity. We expect to provide basic information about water quality and nutrient concentration in the cultivation, and also establish the database of the cultivation condition. There are numerous critical processes in early life history where deficiencies could represent a limiting factor in captive rearing. These include spawning in captivity, embryo development, and the transition from endogenous to exogenous feeding. Recent research activities have resolved some of the problems related to egg quality, proper embryo development, and hatching by developing suitable diets and technologies. A major problem remained is the optimization of feeding schedules and environmental conditions for successful larval rearing. The study will determine appropriate larval rearing techniques in captivity for the reef and amphidromous fish and shrimp. In addition, coral reef fish are collected from the wild and exhibited in aquaria worldwide. Some of the fish spawn in captivity; however the eggs are usually neglected. Therefore, in this study, we applied an inorganic fertilization method commonly used in freshwater fish culture in raising these coral reef fish larvae, and compare it to the traditional rotifer-fed culturing method. The results demonstrated that the inorganic fertilization approach can be successfully adapted for coral reef fish culture in an aquarium to achieve sustainable exhibits.