Talking Fish: Chalk Bass! The ULTIMATE Beginner Fish?

hi tros pin here and it's the end of a very busy production day here at TSA and I'm finally getting the opportunity to put my feet up sit down and enjoy one of the many wonderful display systems we have here at our at our retail facility you know we're going to be continuing our running Series today uh when it comes to understanding different types of fish but as opposed to talking about a whole big General fish family we're going to be continuing um in Exploration and the one of the ones we've already explored and discussed in a previous episode and we're going to be kind of narrowing down to one specific species that species today we're going to be talking about the chalk bass what in my opinion one of the most wonderful serranids available in the reef aquarium hobby today we'll be discussing a little bit about its biology what it shares with the rest of its uh family the serenity as a whole and then some things about its specific biology that in my opinion make it uh really appropriate and overwhel ly beneficial uh candidate for being an ornamental aquarium species so let's talk real briefly about the serenity something we discussed in a previous episode The groupers the SE bass in this case the basslets now there's two big General types of sanid we have let's say the Goliath groupers the snowy groupers think uh your food fish and your sport fishing groupers these are large large fish that can get over several hundred pounds pounds uh in size and grow over several feet in length um this is in contrast the other main sub family of the Serenity and that is the antheon we talked about them in a previous episode as well members of the antheus still serranids but in contrast of those big Goliath groupers they're much smaller in size generally uh exist in larger social groups than mostly the more solitary larger groupers and they have a very demanding uh feeding require Ms because in the wild they're essentially a canary and a treadmill constantly working in these upwelling zones eating a wide variety of high quality cobal pods and fish eggs and other live Foods so in general when it comes to Serenity we have kind of this dichotomy that if taken it face value can be a little unhelpful when it comes to selecting the right sanid for your aquarium we seem to have these large charismatic but way too large predatory fish like the Goliath groupers and the snowy groupers they're all fun for a while but after a few months let alone a year they're large enough to eat a wide range of Cleanup Crew another year they're big enough to eat a wide variety of fellow fish in the tank making them largely well more appropriate to fish only much larger aquariums uh you compare that to the antheus where you know they can be physically put into a smaller aquarium but they have such demanding water quality and feeding foraging requirements that you are really recommended to have larger aquariums with higher levels of flow and higher more continuous availability of live feeds to satisfy those sensitive antheus so in conclusion we kind of have big large predatory groupers that are easy to feed hard to house and then we have antheus which are hard to house and hard to feed now wouldn't it be nice if we could have a sanid that kind of reconciled and married the benefit icial attributes of both types of sandid long story short making a grouper in a very small package that stays small that still has a big old cardiac stomach that is very easy to feed and isn't nearly as finicky and isn't going to starve to death if it goes a few days without food and for that we really have the chalk bass to be a wonderful Hallmark example of something that fuses uh The Beneficial attributes of those other types of serranids while leaving some of the more undesirable qualities when it comes to keeping them conveniently in an aquarium leaving them behind the chalk bass or sanus torum was discovered and named after the Tortugas islands off the coast of the Florida Keys so this fish in contrast to a wide variety of other fish commonly available in the reef aquarium industry is not native to the Indo Pacific it is actually an Atlantic and Caribbean species so this fish can be seen and observed in the wild everywhere from Southern Florida and the Florida Keys all the way down through the Caribbean and even entering into Central and Northern South America it's a fish that can exist in a wide range of depths snorkelers can see this fish at 6 to 20 ft the majority of specimens are found under 20 ft but there have also been specimens that have been found as deep as over 200 ft down one thing that really makes them uh a superpower fish as far as being able to survive is that they share that same digestive system that same charismatic big cardiac stomach as let's say their cousin the Goliath grouper what does this mean in English why do we care well a large cardiac stomach and a relatively short intestine means that one of these chalk basslets can consume a large prey item or a few larger prey items such as Frozen micis or even a larger shrimp they can cook down that prey item and basically turn it into serranid tissue and chalk bass tissue relatively easily meaning that a single feed per day for these guys will provide more than enough energy to provide them with not only what they need to survive conduct normal metabolism but even have an ample abundant Surplus for continuing growth in the wild chalk bass could be found in silty environments on Rubble Rocky bottoms and often hiding in the shells of of mollusks and welks and conks uh this explains also the natural feeding habits in the wild as they are charismatic feeders of small fish small Crustaceans small worms and other small inverts uh they rarely exceed 3 in in length so for the most part the chalk Fass is a fish that stays relatively small stays within the structure of larger reefs and really enjoys feeding on things that are overwhelmingly not that big but at the same time doesn't necessarily need to eat cop pood and other really small forms of microf chalk bassets are considered very beginner friendly in the reef aquarium hobby because they are so willing and ready to accept a wide variety of commonly available Frozen and formulated feeds things that we've tried successfully at Top Shelf Aquatics include Frozen Peis Frozen thod enriched aremia brine shrimp but it should also be kept in mind that some of these Fish can be weaned on to higher quality pellets such as tdo and other higher quality formulated feeds but it should also be noted that these fish are invertebrate feeders and can and will enjoy a wild forage in an aquarium if certain things are available such as amphipods smaller Pollocks posum shrimp and isopods so being able to provide supplemental hunting opportunities for your Basset is a great way to make sure it's always looking plump and fabulous these biological attributes directly Translate to how well the average chalk bass does in the average reef aquarium it doesn't get over 3 in Long meaning it doesn't require 100 gallon plus aquarium to grow into it can adopt a wide variety of commonly available Frozen feeds right off the bat so it very often doesn't require specialized attention when trying to get it to start feeding though they can be a little bit territorial to each other at times for the most part they are relatively unaggressive fish and even though they are invertebrate feeders their small mouths mean that they pose a relatively minimal threat to larger members of the cleanup crew as well another fascinating attribute of the chalk basslets especially in contrast to some of the larger groupers that we also see in the Atlantic is that like Mo many other reef fish the chalk bass exhibits hermac dism it can exhibit both male and female forms throughout its life other forms of reef fish let's think fish and the panthans the angel fish have a more socially driven uh Arrangement when it comes to which individuals dis display which sex at any given time this is in contrast to the chalk bass and several other small micro groupers and that they exhibit simultaneous from aism and that an adult chalk basslet can actually be a functional male and female at the same time this is something which is fascinated and vexed fish biologists were trying to understand how this dual nature of the Sexes uh has ramifications in how the chalk bass undergo their social dynamics and more specifically how they select their mates now this is relatively poorly understood but for the most part uh it can be concluded especially as we see here that chalk bass unlike other groupers commonly can exist around each other without abject aggression being displayed now when it comes to their actual spawning because there is no definitive male and definitive female during that one spawning event chalk basslets like other simultaneous hermaphrodite serranids have exhibited a behavior that scientists are now calling egg sharing where essentially they take turns being both where one chalk basslet will present itself and secrete eggs that the other chalk basslet will secrete sperm fertilize and allow waft into the tide and then they'll change turns and the other one will secrete the eggs and the other the sperm this is fascinating because both fish in theory are able to double their reproductive potential at any given time but just like other hermaphrodites that we see in the reef aquarium hobby bergia come immediately to mind even though they are functionally male and female at the same time it has not yet been recorded in instance where a chalk basslet fertilized itself and they are still dependent on one another to to achieve successful reproduction speaking of successful reproduction the chalk basslet does not enjoy an extremely intense demand in the re aquarium industry hence it is still available widely available relatively cheap but many companies for seeing the increased demand of this wonderful species over time uh a colleague of mine comes to mind Mr till Duce over in bogus Del Tor uh Panama is actually working with these species and has figured out ways to get to spawn in captivity and actually rear the larae out through metamorphosis this is very exciting because as more and more people see and recognize the chalk basslet as a wonderful example of a relatively cheap fish that can be successfully kept and purchased in even a smaller more conservative sized aquarium demand is sure to rise in the future especially as increased uh collection of chalk bassets occurs and it's very very encouraging to know that there are companies working with the species and working towards being able to produce it sustainably aquacultured this is wonderful When comparing it to the larger groupers that we also have to keep in mind enjoy tremendous food value millions of groupers will be raised in aquaculture just for the food market so it's no big deal if a select handful of pretty ones enter the reef aquarium hobby now with the people such as the average aquarist loving and enjoying the chalk basslet us loving and enjoying the chalk basslet in the context of our coral reef production and with people like the good people at bcus mariculture producing and aquacultural bass uh fully we can uh really see a future where this fish will be ever more appreciated and be offered uh in an increasingly sustainable way so in conclusion the chalk basslet sanus toruga a species that stays small and can be fit into a relatively modest aquarium a species that shares the charismatic and ravenous feeding behavior of larger groupers and can take a single feed and survive days if not a week Plus on that single larger feed but at the same time doesn't grow to those massive sizes that a massive larger grouper does um but at the same time as well doesn't have the nuanced extremely high metabolism feeding demands as let's say its cousins in the enthan chalk bass are infamously known as being being beginner friendly they are ravenous feeders they don't like to starve to death they can handle big swings in nutrients they can handle a wide range of flows and light intensities yes they're very hard to kill unless they jump they can't hand a life without water so the chalk basslet a wonderful beginner fish that can be enjoyed by novices and Adept Reef aquaris alike I love this species and I hope you do too I would love to end this episode with a question how many of you keep the chalk basslets do any of you keep an Atlantic or a Caribbean biome tank that you like to use the chalk basslets in even though that they are relatively cheap would you pay a little more to have a fully aquaculture chalk Basset in your tank it's a curious line that all Reef Aquarius must walk moving into the future um and without further Ado please like subscribe feed the algorithm like a hungry chalk basslet slurping down an entire cube of Frozen Peis and we will see you next time [Music]