Morgan Lidster at Inland Aquatics introduced me to the Orange-line Chromis, or Spiny Puller (
Acanthochromis polyacanthus) a few years ago at his facility, saying that he had found juveniles of these fish in one of his larger tanks and that we should try them and see what happened. We sourced some broodstock, allowed them to mature, and waited for a spawn. These fish spawn similarly to clownfish except that this fish exhibits direct development (lacks a larval phase), which makes rearing in captivity very easy. The parents care for the eggs
and the young post-hatch. They remind me of freshwater cichlids in some ways.
First two pictures are of the parents with the free-swimming young:
Acanthochromis polyacanthus1.jpg
Acanthochromis polyacanthus2.jpg
Here are some young and late-stage juvenile fish in growout:
Acanthochromis polyacanthus3.jpg
Acanthochromis polyacanthus4.jpg
Acanthochromis polyacanthus5.jpg
Acanthochromis polyacanthus6.jpg
These fish lay large adhesive eggs (I've been unable to get a good shot of the eggs but will keep my eyes open for another spawn). The newly-hatched young can be fed live brine from the first day after hatching and are quickly weaned onto non-living frozen foods and then onto commercial dry preparations. Survival is nearly 100% because of the large young, intensive parental care, and ease of feeding. The juveniles look somewhat like a blue-green chromis -- beautiful blue color and with a yellow stripe. The broodstock do seem more comfortable in larger tanks (
30g+) due to aggression during spawning, but rearing is easy and can be done with the parents (although they will spawn again more quickly if the juveniles are moved to another tank). The only downside is the larger size and dull coloration of the adults when they mature. This could still be an interesting species for new breeders as a "confidence-building" fish along with the Banggai cardinal. Success makes the hobby more enjoyable for everyone(!) We have only one variant, but there are many localized geographic color variants of this species (the lack of a pelagic larval phase limits the dispersion of young and allows for isolated populations) that might make interesting aquarium animals.
Link to Fishbase article:
http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?id=6655Matt C.
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