FIRST SUCCESSFUL CAPTIVE SPAWNING AND LARVAL CULTURE OF THE COPPERBAND BUTTERFLYFISH Chelmon rostratus

The copperband butterflyfish is a popular saltwater aquarium fish and is only available from wild collection . W ild specimens are  commonly  collected but are fragile and difficult to transition to  artificial  feeds.  Thus development of captive culture methods is justified. This presentation will document the first successful captive spawning and culture of copperband butterflyfish larvae to  the juvenile stage.

Copperband butterflyfish form monogamous pairs that spawn pelagic eggs. The eggs  were  collected using a surface skimmer made with 500 µm mesh. Eggs were harvested in the morning and quantified before being stocked into 29 L tanks.

The newly hatched prolarvae  were 2 mm total length and lacked pigmented eyes and mouths. The larvae were robust and transitioned to exogenous feeding around 3 dph and  were fed  exclusively copepod nauplii Parvocalanus crassirostris for 50 days . At 10 dph , the larvae began to develop characteristics of the tholichthys stage; long spikes  formed on the edge of the operculum and bony head plates began to form. Flexion occurred at 20 dph . Around day 38, incidental adult copepods that had escaped predation and matured in the tank began to disappear from the water column as the larvae continued to grow.  The transition from tholichthys to settlement occurred rapidly around day 51 post hatch, when the first striped larva was identified. Artemia nauplii were introduced around 60 dph.  The successful settlement of this species represents a significant step for ornamental aquaculture and the scientific community. Documenting this species'  embryo and  larval developmental  and first successful culture protocols sets the foundation for  future  research and commercial aquaculture production efforts.