How would someone with no experiance, participate in the MBI?  Most of the journals that I see are from people who have already had success with breeding and are tracking their newest venture.  Is there room in the MBI to include people who are taking this on as a first time effort?  I'll use myself as an example and say that I currently am just working on being able to culture the food neccesary to rear the "easiest" level of fish breeding!  Is it worth my effort, from your guys perspective, to create a journal at this point or should I wait until I am a seasoned breeder?

Yes, we are happy to get input from anyone, at any level. The MBI was set up so everyone can participate on whatever level they want to.

You could start by telling everyone what you're doing now and what you'd like to do in the near future.

Save a Reef... Frag Your Own! Save a Fish... Breed Your Own! www.fishtalpropagations.com

Gomo, think of it this way:

Even if you've raised 10,000 clownfish fry, outside of Martin Moe and a couple others, I'd bet you'd be hard pressed to find someone who has been raising marine ornamentals for more than four or five years.  

The point is that every is still new at this and who knows, you might even find a new and better way to do it

Good luck, and take lots of pics!

b

Gomojoe
Is it worth my effort, from your guys perspective, to create a journal at this point or should I wait until I am a seasoned breeder?

Start with your very first effort.  I've found that starting a journal gets you in the good habit of keeping notes, and those notes are something that you personally can go back to at any point to review.  Taking notes online is just one of the easiest ways to do it - no scribbling on paper

From the MBI standpoint, everyone started with zero points.  Our first Grand Master Breeder will have started with "zero points".  Better to start now, and participate in the MBI program now, rather than start 2 years from now and try to enter in for your past 2 years of successes from your notes (and if you don't TAKE notes / start a journal for your efforts, you won't have anything to go back to anyway!)

Arc's comments reveal something very telling about Marine Breeding.  It is still a field where the unknown far outweighs the known, and even the real "experts" know but a small sliver of the total possible knowledge.  What that means is that even all these "seasoned breeders" have far to go in the grand scheme of things....or as the way I like to put it, being an "expert" in the field of hobbyist-based marine breeding is largely a matter of relativity.  If you're the one in the room who has the most successes and experience, you are the defacto "expert".

Good luck, start now!

Matt

Thank you for the replies!  Matt your briefing at ReefEd is what has drove me towards investigating the possibility of breeding fish!  I think you directly disspelled a few myths that I was clinging to, which was that it was too expensive, required far too much time, and was worthless because large coorperations are alreadly doing it all!  Following your brief, my research has confirmed that those are all myths and that many of us in the hobby can take this on, and help to contribute to our hobby!

Gomo,

Like Matt and the others have said.  Start with something simple.  Document your beginnings with your food culture.  Then it will lead to something else.  It almost always starts with one tank.  I started breeding clownfish just over 3 years ago with one tank in the family room.  I am now expanding again and will have 43 tanks in the clownhouse within a month or so.  There is such a wealth of knowledge in this group that everyone benefits when we all share.

Dave 

David,

Theres a mated pair of bar gobies at seascapes that might make a pretty fun start, they dont require a whole lot of space and theres information out there.  such as this

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=563151

You'd have to do a classification request for Ptereleotris zebra but this would be a great start to see how the process works.  Basically the classification request form allows us to request a species to be added to the MBI it will require a few informational links (such as the one I plopped above there) as well as some basic species information.

As far as food culture and getting started, theres a plethora of information and methods for rotifers which is where I would suggest starting.  I can tap you off a starter culture anytime.

Because it's all about the plankton!
~J      

I just started breeding with no prior experience last week and started a journal

My Kole Tang is EATING nori!