After all the “R&D” to develop angelfish culture techniques, why change directions just when you've reached the taking off point? If you're the only operation in the world with a culture technique on a popular aquarium fish, why would you decide to work on something else?

Any chance it might be due to lack of success? That would be disappointing-there's no doubt aquaculturing marine fish is going to be VERY difficult and probably needs to be loaded up with grants and other monetary help, but certainly a worthwhile endeavor regardless of success…lots of failure is just the building block for later success, but maybe I'm off point here anyway.

I don't think it's about money guys, I think Frank does it for the science. I think he'd rather achieve another 'industry first' and rear some fish that haven't yet been captive raised. Between the US and Asia, we all know his fish would sell out before they were even offered for sale!

Also Nicholas, I don't think it costs him much money to get going. I believe I read he kept most of his spawning pairs in 55 gal. drums. From what I understand it's the time involved to do it. I was told the baby angelfish need to be fed every 5 hours around the clock which is a pretty big commitment in itself…

Im sure what ever he has up his sleeve for 2010, it'll be news…

does Frank publish his breeding efforts ? I think it was kept as proprietary information to RCT. Can't remember if he does or not.

Hubert- if you search glass-box you'll find the paper he published about breeding Centropyge Debelius

I hear what you're saying Ian, but that money could even be used to hire some help for all those types of monotonous chores. I wish I could find someone locally doing these types of hugely important things with aquatics as I'd volunteer to help in a second. I apologize if that sounded like I thought he was doing it for financial gain…I meant that monetary help in the form of grants or backing would probably help him get to those scientific breakthroughs and I just feel like with all the money that flies around in the world, these efforts are the ones that are really deserving of any help that can be provided. I definitely don't question his good intentions though.

I'm just thinking, whats the point of good intentions if you dont follow through? Great, now he knows how to breed pygmy angels. What good is that if you dont DO IT though? Simply KNOWING HOW to captive breed fish doesnt save any fish from the reef – you have to actually make them available for there to be any point in this.

Mike, keep in mind Frank is a scientist. He cracked the life cycle on Angels and published scholarly articles on doing so. He is now attempting a new species.

In my opinion it is now up to others, who can learn from Frank's success and failures, to breed these angels. He is a leader and pioneer, not a mass producer.

Exactly. While I understand Mikes point about “follow through”, mass production for the hobby isnt it. Instead, why not tackle the HUGE number of other genera and families that have ZERO captive bred representation in the hobby, such as butterflies, tangs, triggerfish, etc etc etc?

However, bear in mind, such operations are not free to run. They require income to allow such operation, as well as blood, sweat, tears, elbow grease, and grey matter. As such, RCT does sell some animals.

Exactly. While I understand Mikes point about “follow through”, mass production for the hobby isnt it. Instead, why not tackle the HUGE number of other genera and families that have ZERO captive bred representation in the hobby, such as butterflies, tangs, triggerfish, etc etc etc?

However, bear in mind, such operations are not free to run. They require income to allow such operation, as well as blood, sweat, tears, elbow grease, and grey matter. As such, RCT does sell some animals.

From what I understand (and admittedly it's not as much as many in our hobby), aquaculturing 95% of the creatures we use in our tank is a daunting task as well as a venture that has had limited years “up and running”. ANY attempt at captive breeding, I believe should be celebrated and encouraged by our hobby, whether it is for strictly scientific purposes or financial gain. I know some will argue, but as marine hobbyists, we all operate under the possibility that there may come a time when wild collecting is simply banned, so if we're at a point where we've only captive bred a handful of species (at least on the retail level), a majority of us may end up as freshwater aquarists. Just my own opinion, but because of this, all attempts at captive breeding, whether it be by a home aquarist or a scientific institution should be considered pioneer-type efforts that deserve our support and kudos. Not all will be successful, but the hope is that by sharing information, it might spark an idea from another source that might help turn the corner. I'm not sure whether our discussion is about which species Mr Baensch works on or what his intentions are financially vs scientifically, but to me, as long as he is trying to further the world of marine aquaculture, he gets my kudos. I also certainly believe that just having the ability to know how to successfully breed such and such species allows the recipe to be in the book, whether mass produced or not. It at least it puts that option on the table.

From what I understand (and admittedly it’s not as much as many in our hobby), aquaculturing 95% of the creatures we use in our tank is a daunting task as well as a venture that has had limited years “up and running”. ANY attempt at captive breeding, I believe should be celebrated and encouraged by our hobby, whether it is for strictly scientific purposes or financial gain. I know some will argue, but as marine hobbyists, we all operate under the possibility that there may come a time when wild collecting is simply banned, so if we’re at a point where we’ve only captive bred a handful of species (at least on the retail level), a majority of us may end up as freshwater aquarists. Just my own opinion, but because of this, all attempts at captive breeding, whether it be by a home aquarist or a scientific institution should be considered pioneer-type efforts that deserve our support and kudos. Not all will be successful, but the hope is that by sharing information, it might spark an idea from another source that might help turn the corner. I’m not sure whether our discussion is about which species Mr Baensch works on or what his intentions are financially vs scientifically, but to me, as long as he is trying to further the world of marine aquaculture, he gets my kudos. I also certainly believe that just having the ability to know how to successfully breed such and such species allows the recipe to be in the book, whether mass produced or not. It at least it puts that option on the table.

[...] as Reef Culture Technologies. Some angelfish are on the short list, but as we previously reported, RCT angels will not be available in 2010. That said, Frank now has some very exciting Angelfish [...]