Buddy found new fish in his tank. New never before captive breed or hybrid?

[slingfox]

Please keep us updated!

 

[Fish Styx]

Tagging along. This is super cool.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following for updates! This is really interesting!

 

[1112-425XL]

Following!

 

[luis angel]

Following!

 

[Kzang]

Anthias larvae are much more specialized than clownfish when it comes to feeding/ rearing requirements.

My money is on it being a clownfish. Which I think is still unprecedented in a reef display. Does he dose rotifers to the tank?

He doesn’t dose rotifiers to the tank. Just frozen and pellets.

 

[Kzang]

Definitely true about the feeding - clownfish larvae would be much more probable; the links below have pics of larval Ocellaris clownfish to compare with (days ~3-10 post hatch ocellaris larvae look pretty similar to ~3 weeks post hatch lyretails):

https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/d85a962a-bd68-4c4b-917f-bf9dd8511124/dvdy46-fig-0007-m.jpg

https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/cms/asset/b524a61c-a5ff-4ff8-ab5b-9cd795b3a1fa/dvdy46-fig-0009-m.jpg

Either way, it'll become apparent in a few days what kind of fish it is for sure, and - while not completely unheard of - it is incredibly rare (like lottery winner rare) to have pelagic larvae survive in display tanks.

So, clowns or anthias, it's super cool either way.

Edit: Adding the source the pics are from:

https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dvdy.46

Wow that’s awesome resource. Thank you! It looks more anthia than clownfish from that resource to me.

They are flurry clownfish. Here is a pic of some babies from it. These are a bit smaller than the 8 that he has of the unknown species.

 

[Kzang]

If its an unprecedented hybrid please convince your friend to give it an obnoxious name.

Its name will be $20k

 

[Kzang]

Only other possible thing could be delayed metamorphosis (clownfish) from what I gather. Researching it, thyroid hormone levels can delay or speed it up. However, that doesn’t answer how they would survive to that size in a reef tank, and not be eaten by fish/corals, sucked in by powerheads, dumped in sump, and question of food.

Even if he dosed rotifers in the tank at feeding time with frozen and pellets, they would just be taken by filtration. He uses filter socks and a fuge.

From my understanding from him, he need constant feeding, especially early after hatching. First rotifiers then powdered food.

 

[Sophie"s mom]

My buddy raises clownfish and he found these in his tank. No new fish added for years.

Stock is sailfin, tomini, yellow wrasse (I think Cori’s), ornate leopard, 2 pajama cardinals, 4 lyretail anthias, foxface, and a goby.

It doesn’t look like a pajama. Did he just captive breed a lyretail or a hybrid wrasse/tang?

Only pairs of anthia, tang, wrasse, and pajama cardinals.
So it is either anthia, hybrid tang, hybrid wrasse, or pajama

Currently eating small crushed TDO.

wow! interesting, can't wait to see what it becomes

 

[GlassMunky]

theres absolutely ZERO chance its a hybrid of any kind. none of those fish he has are even remotely closely related enough to hybridize.
Its either an anthia or a clown.
Still super neat that it survived as long as it has in a display tank.

 

[NotReefsafe]

wow

 

[Kzang]

He is trying to get better pictures currently. I’ll add when he does.

Let’s assume it is a clownfish. If that’s the case, and it didn’t get fished out when hatched. It avoided the sump and filter socks. It had to eat something. Whatever it ate to survive caused abnormal thyroid levels to prevent metamorphosis and not get colored, but still allow it to grow. It could explain why all 8 are the same?

Edit: scratch this. The pics are 3 weeks of growth. I thought the pictures were from display, but he caught them tiny specks at night by noticing the anthias acting strange.

 

[Kzang]

Haha, if it is, I'd love to know more about their tank and what the larvae have been feeding on.

Sorry I missed this. From what I know he feeds frozen brine, and pellets. He may dose rotifers but I don’t know for certain

He has mixed reef with two large BTAs, leather corals, RFAs, zoas, pipe organ, gorgs, and various lps like blastos.

It is a SCA 150g external overflow with a 40g breeder sump. He uses 3 filter socks and fuge for filtration. Total water volume is approx 140g.

Update: they weren’t this size when he found them near the weird acting anthias. He has had them for 3 weeks. He said they were tiny specks when he got them out of the display.
Current pics are 3 weeks of growth.

 

[RickSanford]

Following!

 

[Pneumatic_Addict]

Following

 

[blecki]

That's pretty neat. They do look like the anthias. On the other hand they also look exactly like my molly fry... As I understand it they aren't like tangs in that breeding them is particularly difficult, it's just that they are imported in such vast numbers that it's not economically viable.

It's actually not unprecedented for clownfish fry to survive in a reef tank - you just need the right mix of microfauna. In nature they don't hatch into a cloud of rotifers, they hunt down in the little holes in the rocks. So if your friend picked up a population of rotifers as a hitchhiker at some point (or contaminated the tank from one of his grow out tanks) and they've survived it's very possible for a few fry to make it.

 

[Kzang]

That's pretty neat. They do look like the anthias. On the other hand they also look exactly like my molly fry... As I understand it they aren't like tangs in that breeding them is particularly difficult, it's just that they are imported in such vast numbers that it's not economically viable.

It's actually not unprecedented for clownfish fry to survive in a reef tank - you just need the right mix of microfauna. In nature they don't hatch into a cloud of rotifers, they hunt down in the little holes in the rocks. So if your friend picked up a population of rotifers as a hitchhiker at some point (or contaminated the tank from one of his grow out tanks) and they've survived it's very possible for a few fry to make it.

I misunderstood. The pics are 3 weeks old growth. Originally got them out 3 weeks ago as tiny specks among the anthias at night when they are normally asleep.

 

[BubblesandSqueak]

following. post future growth pictures.

 

[Kzang]

He said he didn’t have any clutches it could be from potentially. Recently he has been getting fewer eggs in clutches. Not too long ago he said he noticed a large money cowrie at night was near it and might be eating it. However, it is possible they just bulldozed it off the rock and it hatched off the rock. But from my understanding the male has to basically constantly fan the eggs.

He said they don’t act like normal clowns. No color, seem to be a bit longer for their age, and swims a little differently. He also noted they seem to be more stationary than other babies that are younger.