MASNA Live: What is MBI?

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This episode is about the Marine Breeding Initiative. Chad Penney and Tal Sweet join us to discuss the program, how it works and where it is going. If you have any questions or comments let us know.
We hope you will plan on joining us on Saturday at 6:00PM CST. Just follow the link below.
MASNA Live: What is MBI?

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RE: MASNA Live: What is MBI?

I want to thank everyone for attending tonight broadcast. I hope you found it interesting and if you are currently breeding marine fish and inverts we hope you will consider posting about you efforts with the Marine Breeding Initiative. Don't forget you can find more information at http://marinebreedinginitiative.org

The MBI
(Marine Breeding Initiative)

A) Purpose 1. To encourage spawning of marine ornamental fish and invertebrates. 2. To share knowledge of captive breeding techniques. 3. To enable more people to participate in captive breeding. 4. To recognize outstanding achievement in the captive breeding of marine ornamental fish and invertebrates. 5. To create a pool of information for hobbyists and professionals to use in breeding of established and untried species.6. To encourage the reduction in reliance on wild caught animals for the marine aquarium hobby by substituting tank raised specimens for wild caught specimens wherever possible.

B) Time The first Initiative will run from November 1st 2009 till December 31th 2010
C) Eligibility The MASM Breeding Initiative is open to anyone interested in captive breeding. MASM membership is not a requirement although creating a breeding log on the MASM forum is a requirement. This Initiative applies only to propagation via sexual reproduction. Specimens propagated via asexual means such as fragging or spliting are not included in the MBI.

D) General Species will be divided into classes based on difficulty. Classes are grouped generally as follows: Class A-Easiest species to breed in captivity Class B-More difficult Species but still regularly bred in captivity Class C-Species considered very difficult to breed in captivity Class D-Species never or hardly ever successfully bred in captivity You can find a complete list of all currently classified species at:
http://www.masm.org/MBI_species.aspx



A)
1.1: Purpose of Captive Breeding

Currently, under 10% of marine aquarium fishes that are available are raised in captivity, unlike 90% of freshwater species. Captive breeding offers a way to limit the stress placed on coral reefs world wide.



1.2: Why buy captive bred fish?
You might be wondering why one should consider choosing a captive bred fish instead of one that is wild caught.

There are several reasons, the main one being to limit the impact of wild collection in the world's reefs. Not only can over-collection be devastating to a particular area, it can also have an impact on the oceans in general. Collecting a particular species to the point of extinction is a worst case scenario.


Below are a few reasons that captive bred fish are a better option:

• Less aggressive (Growing up in a predator-free environment makes for a more docile fish.)
• More likely to accept prepared foods.
• No risk of wild parasites or infections. (A healthier fish)
• Since captive bred fish can be obtained locally, there is almost no risk of loss during transport.
• Fewer fish need to be collected from the wild.

1.3: Why should you consider captive breeding?

There are many reasons to get involved in captive breeding:

• It's fun and educational. (You'll learn a lot.)
• You can do your part to lessen the impact of the hobby on the world's reefs.
• It's very rewarding to see the entire life cycle from the beginning.
• It's something that you're passionate about. (It is work, so don't get involved unless you have the time and dedication required.)

A)
2.1&5: Sharing Knowledge

It is the goal of the MBI program to create a system that is easily accessible and easy to use, and that also consolidates the information for future reference.



Notes:

• Make sure that all areas of the MBI concept are relayed in an understandable fashion.
• The club had been looking for something really charitable for some time to do. Something that could make a difference. After a discussion one evening with Matt Pedersen the idea of trying to build a standardized Breeding award program came into being.
• We found a way to really make a difference in the hobby. We knew that we didn't want to see the same system of BAP that the freshwater world has where every club has different rules and if you move to a new club you have to start over.
• We also looked at other breeding sites out there and decided to keep the good and get rid of the bad which lead us to the hybrid system that is a combination of forms that are filled out for reports and thread on forums.
• You have the easy of targeted searching that you get from Report Forum, and the free flow of information and ideas that comes with a Forum.
• This system also lends itself to portability. You can maintain a central reporting and awarding body but have much of the activity occur at a local club level. So the system is scalable.
• Because everyone reports to the central body a Advanced Breeder in California is still an advanced breeder in Rhode Island. Just because you move doesn't mean you have to start over.
• The points and awards system was designed to reward people for taking on easy species getting their feet wet but also to challenge more experienced breeders.
• Most BAP's require that a breeder gets points only for fish that reach salable size. We knew that would never work here so we broke up the breeding cycle into 4 events, Spawn,Hatch, Settlement, & 60 DPS. By awarding points at each event we can start rewarding breeders early and get them to the first levels quickly. However it takes a combination of points and Complete successes to move up into the higher award levels.

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RE: MASNA Live: What is MBI?

MASNA is proud to announce that the Marine Breeding Initiative application is now loaded to the MASNA site. Currently you can only view and search reports. As soon as we get the journal area setup users will be able to submit reports from here as well as the Marine Breeding Initiative site.

The reports are located in the Public Area, under MBI. - http://www.masna.org/PublicArea/MBI...fault.aspx

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RE: MASNA Live: What is MBI?

The Marinelife Aquarium Society of Michigan is pleased to announce
The MASM Breeder's Workshop!

Please join us for an exciting afternoon with two of the brightest stars in the marine breeding realm...

Matthew Wittenrich


Matthew Wittenrich is a marine biologist who has been deeply involved with the aquarium world since the age of 15. He is currently pursuing his doctorate at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne Florida, with research projects centered in the Philippines. Matthew has successfully raised over 56 species of marine fish and shrimp. His research focuses on the development of feeding abilities in early stage larvae of coral reef fishes. Matt Pedersen


Matt Pedersen currently resides in Duluth, MN, and has been a marine aquarist for 23 years, and an aquarist for 28 years. Matt's current area of interest is marine fish breeding. He has currently spawned 17 species of marine fish, successfully raising five of them including one worldwide first (the Harlequin Filefish, Oxymonacanthus longirostris). Matt Pedersen is credited with starting MOFIB and writing for multiple publications. Matt was awarded "Aquarist of the Year" honors by both IMAC West and MASNA in 2009 in recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to the marine aquarium hobby.

In an effort to support and encourage captive breeding, MASM has designed a workshop that will both inspire and assist anyone that is interested in captive breeding.

This Workshop is part of the larger MASM Breeding Initiative: [COLOR=rgb(34, 57, 117)]http://www.masm.org/mForums/tt.aspx?forumid=88[/COLOR]


The Workshop will begin with presentations relating to the captive breeding of marine organisms by both speakers.

After a short break, attendees will have plenty of "one on one" time to ask questions and discuss their own, personal, breeding efforts.

The Workshop will be held at the Cranbrook Institute of Science on Saturday, March 13, 2010, starting at 1pm.
Admission is free to MASM members. Non-members can purchase tickets in advance for $5, or at the door for $10

Brought to you as part of the

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Visit http://www.masm.org/Events/...9 for more details