With all the recent success breeding pelagic spawners (Yellow tangs, hippo tangs, purple tangs, angel fish, etc) I am hoping to throw my hat in the ring over the next few years, stand on the backs (and research) of giants, and take a real swing at breeding the Gem tang... or at least growing a successful broodstock for others to hopefully take the next step. Maybe someday attract the attention of Rising Tide Conservation, or maybe even get interns! all the cool labs have interns.
Phase one of my crazy plan(code name money pit), is establishing, and growing out a healthy broodstock of about 8-10 tangs, and with that I am putting some serious thought into what that would look like.
After reading a few research papers, 7-8 ft ~4ft deep round livestock tanks seem popular, they are cheap, and make eventual egg collection easy. My issue with these tanks is they are not the most efficient use of our available space, and they are also hard to install windows into to allow viewing. I feel having such a large investment in such pretty fish, we need to be able to enjoy the growing broodstock along the way when in the workshop.
I am thinking about building a 5 x 8 x 48" deep plywood tank as my first broodstock tank. This size would allow me to minimize seams, and allow for a full acrylic front panel. Would such a setup be big enough? or should I stick with the tried and true circular setups? I wonder how much the tank shape plays into fish swimming/spawning habits? Anyone on the forum have any experience with Zebrasoma species spawning? any research folk browsing these parts? I hope to pick as many brains as I can.
Phase one of my crazy plan(code name money pit), is establishing, and growing out a healthy broodstock of about 8-10 tangs, and with that I am putting some serious thought into what that would look like.
After reading a few research papers, 7-8 ft ~4ft deep round livestock tanks seem popular, they are cheap, and make eventual egg collection easy. My issue with these tanks is they are not the most efficient use of our available space, and they are also hard to install windows into to allow viewing. I feel having such a large investment in such pretty fish, we need to be able to enjoy the growing broodstock along the way when in the workshop.
I am thinking about building a 5 x 8 x 48" deep plywood tank as my first broodstock tank. This size would allow me to minimize seams, and allow for a full acrylic front panel. Would such a setup be big enough? or should I stick with the tried and true circular setups? I wonder how much the tank shape plays into fish swimming/spawning habits? Anyone on the forum have any experience with Zebrasoma species spawning? any research folk browsing these parts? I hope to pick as many brains as I can.