Cute 'Finding Nemo' clownfish could be rising star of Taiwan's aquaculture sector

After the eggs hatch, the next challenge is to prepare the right food for the larvae, Ho says, a potentially difficult step because the larvae are only about 0.4 mm in size at birth.

The center has solved the problem by providing live bait and also micro-organisms, such as rotifers and copepods, to suit the needs of the larvae. Pellet diet is only fed to the fry after they grow to 20-day-olds.

Clownfish larvae are also more vulnerable to disease in the winter when the water temperature is low, and the center will install a water heating system this year to solve the problem.

"Clownfish could be one of the easiest fish species to breed if you can master those core technologies," Ho says.

Having mastered the process, the center plans to hand these technologies and the planning and management of the farm model to 10 selected breeders next year, and Ho estimates that the breeders will each be able to produce 200,000 clownfish and generate NT$10 million in revenues annually.

The many years of research by Ho's team also culminated in the opening of the world's first aquarium devoted solely to clownfish adjacent to the center in mid-May.

Though it may be the smallest aquarium in Taiwan, it has nine exhibition areas and displays nearly 1,500 clownfish from 18 species -- including eight from foreign countries and five from local waters. Ho's center can now breed 13 out of the 18 species.

The Aquarium of Amenone fish will soon become the center's main remnant of its basic clownfish breeding program as it recently has shifted its focus to raising ornamental fish with added value, concentrating on two new approaches.

One involves breeding "hybrid" species while the other emphasizes selecting unique fish within the same species, such as those with more exotic or brighter patterns, and trying to reproduce them after repeated trials.

Ho cited as an example an Australian clownfish, which is black with two white bands, but its two bands are gradually approaching each other and will one day merge together.

Such a species, because of its rarity, could be highly prized and fetch 10 times or more the value of a typical ornamental fish, Ho said.

Andrew Fang, executive director of saltwater ornamental fish exporter Taikong Co., said the center's research and breeding efforts of clownfish and other saltwater ornamental fish has outstanding commercial potential and will help protect the species in the wild.

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