It's one of the most popular marine fish in the hobby, but the Yellow tang has so far evaded attempts to breed it successfully in captivity. Now researchers at Hawaii Pacific University's Oceanic Institute may have cracked it.
The research at HPU has been ongoing for more than a decade but very few of the fish hatched from the tens of thousands of eggs have made it past the 50-day stage. The problem seemed to lie in getting the balance of food and water right for the developing fish.
But now the team of scientists working on the FinFish Program at HPU’s Oceanic Institute have finally succeeded in raising a group of Yellow tangs past the critical larval stage.
"While this is now shown to be technically possible, we still have a lot of work ahead to make this commercially feasible," Chatham Callan, director of the FinFish program and leader of the Yellow tang breeding project told the Hawaii Tribune Herald. "The important thing is that, with continued support, we believe it is possible to achieve this."
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